New Health Books
Last updated: November 20, 2024
“Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (The Coddling of the American Mind, The Happiness Hypothesis) has a new book out, The Anxious Generation, which has been a huge hit in the United States, sitting on the bestseller lists for weeks. In it, he argues that the age of the smartphone has royally messed up our adolescents. ‘Continuous access to social media, online video games, and other internet-based activities’ disturbs their sleep, fragments their attention, and acts, effectively, as an addictive substance. He links the rise of social media to a spike in mental illness and anxiety.” Read more...
Notable Self-Help & Psychology Books of 2024
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
“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
