How do we know chilli is hot and mint cool?

Rubbed on the skin, chilli peppers feel hot and mint leaves cool. Why? The answers might surprise you

Curvology by David Bainbridge review – the female body, dissected and confused

A study that sets out to identify the factors that influence eating disorders, body image and clothing choices collapses in a welter of contradictions

Lesser spotted: Melanie’s Marvelous Measles wiped out online

An anti-vaccination book for children has received more than 800 one-star reviews on Amazon

Tips from widows – a guide to getting through the grief

Jan Robinson collected the advice from a network of widows after her husband died suddenly. The result is a funny, comforting and therapeutic handbook for bereavement

Doctors Dissected review – an eloquent case for consistent GP care

Britain’s GPs face the questions under Jane Haynes and Martin Scurr’s wonderfully humane examination, writes Kate Kellaway

The Wellness Syndrome by Carl Cederström & André Spicer – exploitation with a smiley face

People who fail to look after their bodies are now demonised as lazy, feeble or weak-willed, writes Steven Poole

The Three Things That Will Change Your Destiny Today! by Paul McKenna – digested read

John Crace resolves to follow McKenna’s instructions for a happier life, based on the latest neuro-scientific findings in the Journal of Applied Wishful Thinking

The Offering by Grace McCleen – a vivid insight into mental illness

A psychiatric patient rebels against the men who play God – with moving results. By John Burnside

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole review – fascinating tales about the brain

Neurologist Allan Ropper’s journeys into the brain illuminate the number of strange ways it can go wrong, says Andrew Anthony

Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman, and Juvenescence by Robert Pogue Harrison – review

We worship youth – and at the same time respond to idealism with the injunction: ‘Grow up!’ What do we really want?. By Josh Cohen

The best psychology books of 2014

From moving accounts of how we deal with dying and suffering to two brilliant takes on Freud. By Lisa Appignanesi

Being Mortal review – a surgeon’s view of how we should end our days

Doctor and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande argues that we should focus less on prolonging life and more on making it meaningful, writes Geraldine Bedell

In Your Prime: Older, Wiser, Happier by India Knight review – sharp, slanted and bracingly unbothered

All about me – yes, but these tips on ageing are also full of wit and style, writes Kathryn Hughes

In Your Prime review – India Knight tackles ageing with wit

The 48-year-old author’s guide to the joys and challenges of middle age is like a funny, informative conversation, writes Kate Kellaway

Atul Gawande: ‘If I haven’t succeeded in making you itchy, disgusted or cry I haven’t done my job’

The books interview: The surgeon-author talks to Sukhdev Sandhu about the limits of medicine, our view of death, and battles over taste with the editor of the New Yorker