The Rules of Contagion by Adam Kucharski review – outbreaks of all kinds

Modellers have a saying: “If you’ve seen one pandemic, you’ve seen … one pandemic.” But patterns can be established to do with how things spread

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel review – a utopian vision that begins with food

We are out of step with our planet, so how should we live? Cheap food is an oxymoron and anarchism’s time may have come, argues this wide-ranging, stimulating book

The Crying Book by Heather Christle review – why do we weep?

A personal examination of tears – what causes them, why we cry – which takes in biological science, relationship break-up, poetry and Donald Trump

Can We Be Happier? by Richard Layard review – a breathless tribute to the “science of happiness”

This hard sell from the former ‘happiness tsar’ may be a work of passion but it is slapdash, paternalistic and liable to cause some misery

Richard Layard: ‘It’s in politicians’ self-interest to make policies for happiness’

The economist on the science of happiness – and how it can help us rethink the world

You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy review – a modern epidemic of self-absorbed talk

Restaurants are noisy, social media connections are shallow, giving a TED talk is living the dream. What happened to conversation?

The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan review – psychiatry’s dubious past

Brilliant detective work reveals that a famous study of psychiatric hospitals was mostly fiction, but what are the implications?

Good Husbandry by Kristin Kimball review – a new life on a community farm

Sustainability and a love of the land are at the heart of a couple’s approach to farming. But grit and perseverance are essential

How to Fail by Elizabeth Day review – learning from things going wrong

The novelist shares lessons from the challenges in her own life and those of famous interviewees

Not Speaking by Norma Clarke review – tight trousers and celebrity hairdressers

This is an explosive family memoir ... but the remarkable stories are also an exploration of the effect Thatcherism had on Britain