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David M Friedman charts the transformation of man's best friend from supernatural phenomenon to leisure accessory in his cultural history of the penis, A Mind of Its Own

My Ab Fab family

In the sitcom inspired by Jessica Howie's mum, Lynne Franks, the daughter Saffy was the sensible one. Real life was a bit different.

Hoist by his own polemic

Steven Pinker's invective against Marxists, feminists and all those who think they can change human minds in The Blank Slate is entertaining, but is it justified?

Slim hope

Anorexia, as Kate Chisholm explains in Hungry Hell, has been with us for centuries. So why don't we understand it better?

No way out but burnout

Burnout is ruining the lives of huge numbers of people, many of them still in their twenties. Yet a new theory suggests that a breakdown could turn out to be a breakthrough.

Truth and its consequences

Simon Hattenstone on Sunbathing in the Rain by Gwyneth Lewis - a survivor's recollection of depression

Caring, but little sharing

Elaine Showalter finds that Adam Phillips's essays on the relationship between psychoanalysis and democracy, Equals, are more pithy than persuasive

If you have ears…

In Equals, Adam Phillips explores one of the greatest and most fundamental gifts man has - the ability to listen and be listened to