Sophie McBain

Hallucinations can be strange, alarming, even sometimes exciting. They affect the mentally ill and the chemically altered, but also those suffering from migraine, Parkinson’s, and even grief. Researcher Ben Alderson-Day talks us through this odd phenomenon as he selects five of the best book on hallucination.

Birth is a transformational experience but it’s also an emotionally fraught one, with sometimes traumatic consequences, says midwife Leah Hazard. Here she recommends five books that discuss the deep psychological impact of childbirth, the debate over interventionism, and the inequalities baked into the practice of obstetrics.