The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes review – shocking and important
A remarkable account of our addiction to the sweet stuff and the far-reaching implications for our health
Top 10 books about the body
From the horrors of Frankenstein to the wit of Sara Pascoe’s Animal, novelist Emma Glass picks her favourite reading about the wonders of the human body
How to Be Human: The Manual by Ruby Wax review – can mindfulness conquer all?
The comedian and campaigner is an engaging champion of mental health, but self-care may not always be enough
Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon’s Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table by Stephen Westaby – review
A heart-stopping memoir – and a notably down-to-earth example of the genre
Lost Connections by Johann Hari review – too many drugs, not enough understanding
Part personal odyssey and part investigation, this rigorous if flawed study finds fault with contemporary treatment of depression and anxiety
Is everything Johann Hari knows about depression wrong?
The Observer has published an excerpt from Johann Hari’s new book challenging what we know about depression. But do his own claims and arguments stack up?
A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto – digested read
John Crace simplifies Buddhist teaching on lightbulb cleaning, personal hygiene and other domestic essentials
Johann Hari: ‘I was afraid to dismantle the story about depression and anxiety’
The writer and author’s new book, Lost Connections, explores the problems with our understanding of mental health
Is everything you think you know about depression wrong?
In this extract from his new book, Johann Hari, who took antidepressants for 14 years, calls for a new approach
Byron Katie: ‘Just ask yourself, is that thought really true?’
Byron Katie was deeply depressed when a radical change left her joyful. She now uses her secret to help others – whether brutalised by war or merely stressed
The 100 best nonfiction books: No 98 – The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1621)
This compelling and occasionally comic study of melancholy became cult reading in the 17th century and has inspired artists from Keats to Cy Twombly
Your guide to a happy new year… by Dawn, Eddie and other celebrity self-help gurus
Famous faces, including many comedians with tales of recovery from their own traumas, are dispensing life lessons in the latest publishing trend
Prescribed reading: Five of the best books by doctors
As Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt wins a readers’ choice award, we recommend five other author physicians. Please add to our notes
The spray’s the thing: how actors use perfumes to get into character
Playing Thatcher? Dab on Bluebell. Got a part in Hairspray? Reach for the Madame Rochas. We lift the lid on how actors use smells – from the finest fragrances to cheap tinned mackerel – to nail a role
How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls – digested read
‘Nipping out for milk? Take a 12-inch knife, a defibrillator, three chicken tikka masalas and a solar-powered microwave oven’