The shape we’re in

Review: Bodies by Susie OrbachFat is no longer simply a feminist issue - it's a commercial one too, says Hilary Mantel

Lessons on the body politic

Review: Bodies by Susie OrbachWilliam Leith salutes a timely and powerful polemic by Susie Orbach on the western obsession with achieving physical perfection

Drawing on experience

Mark Drinkwater on Living with a Black Dog, a picture book which offers practical and humorous tips on living with depression

On a mission to see the bright side

Review: The Optimist by Laurence ShorterA one-gag stand-up routine that places the rewards of a quick fix above the pleasures of deeper self-discovery, says Simon Garfield

Mad, Bad and Sad

Review: A History of Women and The Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present by Lisa Appignanesi

Mad, Bad and Sad

Review: Mad, Bad and Sad by Lisa AppignanesiThis ambitious study exhilaratingly covers two centuries of developments, finds John Dugdale