Book an appointment: doctors to prescribe novels in new scheme
The Reading Well for Young People campaign lists books to help young people deal with mental-health issues and will be available at surgeries and libraries
Forget mindfulness, stop trying to find yourself and start faking it
Why is the history of Chinese philosophy now the most popular course at Harvard? Top tips on how to become a better person according to Confucius and co
Adventures in Human Being by Gavin Francis review – a tour round our bodies
A beautifully written guide to our wonders and weaknesses
Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus review – getting to the bottom of ‘anal theory’
It might be shortlisted for the oddest title of the year award, but Jonathan Allen’s book is a serious work of theory, exploring the backside as a site of humiliation and disgust
States of Mind edited by Anna Faherty review – ‘a compelling collection’
Mark Haddon introduces this fascinating book, which looks at the nature of consciousness through literature, science, art and case studies
Mental illness is always a problem, so we will always need books about it
The current prominence of mental illness on bookshelves is good for all of us – so it’s important that reading about it is not a passing fad, writes Joanna Cannon
Gavin Francis: ‘Sex is given as much importance as death’
The GP and author explains how he conceived of a journey around the human body in the holistic spirit of medieval medicine
Top 10 books about cancer
Treatment of this cruel disease has advanced hugely in recent years, but writers from Philip Roth to Christopher Hitchens show the awful human cost it still exacts
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig review – one man’s battle with depression
A timely memoir of mental illness reads as a highly personal and creative response to crisis
Matt Haig: ‘As therapy shows, words can be medicine’
Reasons to Stay Alive, the novelist’s book about his own depression, was much easier to write than to live through, he explains