The song of the holy fools

For the Tantric minstrels of Bengal, taking music to the people, the divine is something you find within. William Dalrymple joins a never-ending tour.

Put your feet up – it’s your last chance

You can read as many parenting manuals and attend as many classes as you like, but no one tells it straight like a new mum. A new book offers hard-earned pearls of wisdom for expectant mothers.

A man in two minds

Deirdre Bair's diligent biography of Carl Jung reveals his divided personality, but the more we know about him the less real he becomes, says Adam Phillips

The first cut was the deepest

Does plastic surgery change the 'inner you'? Catherine Bennett tries to find out in Virginia L Blum's Flesh Wounds

Borderline personality

Jacqueline Rose reveals her understanding of women on the edge of reason in a collection of essays on psychoanalysis, On Not Being Able to Sleep, says Nicholas Lezard

No ifs, no butts

Packing It in the Easy Way by Allen Carr may be persuasive but it's not addictive, says Jo Revill

Tell me something I don’t know

Allen Carr is the giving-up-smoking guru, helping millions kick the habit. Sally Vincent has been a dyed-in-the-wool smoker for decades. And then they met...

Rely on your better half

Trauma is real but the cure is all in the mind. Chris Brewin assesses the evidence in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Health check

Bedside Stories, Michael Foxton's account of life as a junior doctor, makes Phil Whitaker chuckle

Pull yourself together!

Blake Morrison is not impressed by Frank Furedi's Therapy Culture, a critique of the modern world that harks back to a supposed 'golden age' of the stiff upper lip

Feel the fear… and read it anyway

Can't sleep? Can't get a job? Can't get a boyfriend? Don't worry. There's a book out there for you. Polly Vernon investigates the astonishing growth of the 'Mind Body Spirit' genre and asks whether 'self help' is really any help at all.

Sparing the rod

Mary Marsh and Anne Atkins discuss whether or not parents should be legally prevented from smacking their children.

Happiness is… being sad

From Adam Ant to Nick Hornby, everyone seems to be opening up about depression. But is the therapy culture actually making us ill?