Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control by Daniel Pick review
This brilliant exploration of psychological manipulation takes in both Mao’s China and the American dream
Summer books: Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, David Nicholls and more pick their favourites
Authors recommend their favourite recent reads, from addictive novels and fascinating cultural history to a game-changing graphic memoir
Summer reading: the 50 hottest new books for a great escape
From pageturning thrillers and comic novels to an antidote to doomscrolling – our pick of the best new fiction and nonfiction. Plus 10 brilliant paperbacks, and 10 great reads for children and teens
Does anyone ever really feel ‘grown up’? I asked some older people to find out
I’m an adult, with the white goods and paperwork to prove it. So why don’t I feel it? I went on a quest to find out
How Minds Change by David McRaney review
A fascinating exploration of how beliefs are formed ends up asking whether it’s always right to want to win the argument
The big idea: have we been getting sleep all wrong?
Eight hours a day is a myth. Embracing our individual sleeping patterns could be the key to a better night’s rest
Zero by Jeremy Hunt review – this is going to hurt
You can’t fault the former health secretary’s proposals for improving patient care, but his slick prose fails to acknowledge the damage inflicted on the NHS by his party during his tenure as health secretary
Preventable by Devi Sridhar review – a resolutely global view of Covid
One of the best-known public intellectuals of the pandemic gives her account of two years that shook the world
Bittersweet by Susan Cain review – a mawkish manifesto for the happy-sad
The author of Quiet again bangs the drum for the world’s sensitive souls, but her unflagging earnestness is depressingly short of nuance and humour
The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight review – astonishing adventures in precognition
How the Aberfan disaster prompted one psychiatrist to launch a nationwide search for ‘seers’ who could predict the future