New Health Books
Last updated: February 19, 2024
“Another must-read, out in March, is The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. It’s by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of one of my favourite books, The Happiness Hypothesis. Since 2010, rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide have risen sharply among teenagers around the developed world, and Haidt explores why. This is something that touches all of us: I live in rural Oxfordshire, but the bridge at the end of my road is currently closed after more than one person jumped off it. Instinctively, I blame it on social media, but look forward to reading a more nuanced analysis of what’s going on—as well as some possible solutions.” Read more...
Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in Early 2024
Sophie Roell, Journalist
“Neuroscientist Charan Ranganath looks at the latest science of memory in Why We Remember—which will perhaps provide me with insight into why, now I’m in my 50s, I forget everything.” Read more...
Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in Early 2024
Sophie Roell, Journalist
“Ramakrishnan puts together all the evidence we have about the molecular and cellular biology of ageing and of cancer—and how this relates to mortality, and makes a very interesting point that I had never thought about, which is that there is a tension in the way our cells work in holding off ageing, but also holding off cancer. The two work at loggerheads; you don’t want to get cancer, but also you don’t want your cells to grow too old and to get too damaged to function. Preventing one can enable the other.” Read more...
“In Princeton University Press’s Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life series (which includes text in the original Latin or Greek facing the translation), there’s How to Be Healthy: An Ancient Guide to Wellness, about the ancient Greek physician Galen (129-c216). Medical knowledge has advanced quite a bit since the 3rd century, so the book is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, with the author and translator, Katherine Van Schaik, admitting she had to omit many of his better-known works. But we can still see the advice on (say) ‘Avoiding Distress’ from this ‘careful physician’ who offers ‘some ancient wisdom that we today might consider modern, were it not so old.'” Read more...
Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in Early 2024
Sophie Roell, Journalist
