Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo – digested read

‘A stray sock on the floor can end in coats piled on a chair … sometimes even in death’

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker – review

A frustratingly ambiguous history of autism sheds controversial new light on the actions of Hans Asperger

Do we really need more guides to mindfulness?

From Ruby Wax to poetry anthologies, 2016 brings a glut of mindfulness titles. But does the art of living in the here and now require so many special guides?

Robert Spitzer obituary

Psychiatrist who transformed the ‘world bible’ of psychiatric diagnosis

Unforbidden Pleasures review – taking liberties

Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips’s study of desire and restraint asks more questions than it answers

Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour by Dita Von Teese – digested read

‘Mais non! I have just noticed that I have yet again failed to get dressed – all I am wearing is stockings!’

John Forrester obituary

Historian and philosopher who wrote extensively on Freud and psychoanalysis

NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman review – an enlightened take on autism and difference

This sparklingly humane book makes the case that there is no such thing as neurologically ‘normal’

Steve Silberman on winning the Samuel Johnson prize: ‘I was broke, broke, broke’

His first book was about the Grateful Dead. His second, about autism, has just taken the Samuel Johnson prize. Meet neuro-warrior Steve Silberman, friend of Allen Ginsberg and ‘gay coach’ to Oliver Sacks

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert review – lessons in life from the Eat, Pray, Love author

With sufficient Courage and Enchantment, everyone can unleash their inner ice skater