Can ‘smart thinking’ books really give you the edge? Trust your gut, boost your memory, de-bias your decision making… can we train our brains to perform better?
Inflamed by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel review – modern medicine’s racial divide The colonial legacy of healthcare is laid bare in an urgent study of how medicine has progressed – and who has been left behind
Through the Looking Glasses by Travis Elborough review – the spectacular life of spectacles From Henry VIII on his charger to the sex symbol Michael Caine, this close-up history of glasses illuminates their special kind of cool
Spike by Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja; and Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green – review Two urgent and fascinating accounts from the frontlines show how scientists succeeded, and failed, at saving us from Covid-19
This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan review – the trip of a lifetime This fascinating insight into our relationship with mind-altering plants weaves personal experimentation with cultural history
Hello, Stranger by Will Buckingham review – how we find connection in a disconnected world An elegant and moving exploration of what it means to connect with strangers turns into an elegy for a much-missed way of life
Head First by Alastair Santhouse review – a medical memoir with elegance and integrity In a passionate blend of anecdote and evidence, a consultant psychiatrist shows how the mind and the body are irrevocably connected, despite medicine’s desire to separate and specialise
Neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth: ‘Coronavirus has changed us all’ The neuroscientist and psychiatrist explains Zoom fatigue - and why the conditions of the pandemic can induce an ‘altered state’
The Devil You Know by Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne review – hard to unsee A forensic psychotherapist looks beyond the lurid headlines to give a clear-eyed and compassionate insight into patients’ stories
In brief: Leave the World Behind; The Breakup Monologues; Diving for Pearls – reviews Hidden pasts in Dubai, locked-down disaster and a frank, enjoyable relationships guide