The Society of Timid Souls by Polly Morland – review
In an age of so many real and imagined terrors, can we learn to be brave? By Kathryn Hughes
What Do Women Want?: Adventures in the Science of Female Desire by Daniel Bergner – review
On prosmiscuity, porn, monogamy ... this study of female sexuality overturns some tenacious assumptions, writes Emma Brockes
Dan Brown, diets and Swedish fiction: what we’ve read so far in 2013
Liz Bury: Official sales figures of digital and print books for the first half of the year show a preoccupation with diets and thrillers
Is our love of nature writing bourgeois escapism?
We can't get enough of books about discovering yourself in the wilderness. What's it all about, asks Steven Poole
The Old Ways: a Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane – review
Nicholas Lezard's paperback of the week: In the final book in his trilogy about landscape and the human heart, Robert Macfarlane turns his attention to sacred encounters and wild walks
Semantic Polarities and Psychopathologies in the Family – review
It may have an unlovely title, but Tim Parks promises this rigorous book will offer you a liberating way of thinking about every family, including your own
The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine – review
Do criminals have different brains? Do murderers have an unusually low pulse rate? By Raymond Tallis
The Norm Chronicles by Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter – digested read
John Crace reduces a book about the statistical probability of accidental death to a more manageable 600 words
One in four people have a mental illness – let’s get organised
Ruby Wax: Everyone who suffers any type of mental anguish should have a place to meet – a walk-in centre similar to Alcoholics Anonymous
Microlives: the key to living longer and more healthily?
A new book suggests a radical new way of assessing the health risks and benefits of everything from smoking to jogging. How does it work?