It’s entirely possible to die of a broken heart
The numbers invite awe: three billion beats in a lifetime; 100,000 miles of vessels. But on the hospital floor, wonder…
The burden of freedom: Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan, reviewed
It’s 1830, and among the sugar cane of Faith Plantation in Barbados, suicide seems like the only way out. Decapitations…
Unlucky in love: Caroline’s Bikini, by Kirsty Gunn, reviewed
‘The most interesting novels are a bit strange,’ Kirsty Gunn once told readers of the London Review of Books. ‘They…
Why I now find listening to Beethoven nauseating
Stephen Bernard has led an institutionalised life. Behind the doors of the church presbytery, at public school, on hospital wards…
How Joseph Lister transformed surgery from butchery to a healing art
Every operation starts the same way. Chlorhexidine scrubbed under nails, lathered over wet hands, palm-to-palm, fingers interlaced, thumbs, wrists, forearms.…
Read Nicola Barker’s H(A)PPY to the guitar music of Agustin Barrios
It is an unexpected pleasure when fiction has a soundtrack to accompany the work of reviewing. H(A)PPY is ‘best enjoyed…
The perfect place to fall in love? The mortuary
I grew up with a skeleton in the attic. My mother’s clinical training bestowed on our family a short man’s…
How to improve bedside manners
‘A tricky part of my job,’ the GP said, scrolling through the next patient’s notes, ‘is breaking good news.’ As…
Siri Hustvedt’s thoughts on art, science and the human condition
This past autumn has felt more uncomfortable than usual to be a woman looking at men looking at women. From…
Want to feel better? Be kind to your bugs
There are more bacteria in your gut than there are stars in our galaxy. Ed Yong’s book explaining their possibilities is as wondrous as a sacred text, says Kate Womersley
Tommy Wieringa’s Job-like hero has an age-old problem
With a title like A Beautiful Young Wife, this is of course about the decline of an older husband. Professor…
The enduring mystery of the human body
It’s not unreasonable to expect that the anatomy syllabus for a medical degree should include breasts. Last year I performed…
The race from the Big C to the Big D
The ‘journey’ — at least the one played out in public — begins with an announcement that you are incurable.…
A deadly role reversal
Who would you trust to take a blade to your brain? Medical schools and hospitals, arbiters of this outrageous intimacy,…
Oliver Sacks bids farewell in style
‘I cannot say there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myself, but I hope it is not…
The kindness of strangers is a pleasing mystery
When I applied to medical school, an experienced doctor offered me some advice: ‘Don’t give them reason to think you’re…
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