After years of sleepless nights, British writer and editor Marina Benjamin penned Insomnia, a lyrical, witty and humane account of a malady that’s a source of deep angst for its sufferers and often afforded scant analysis by others. She sits do

Worried Sick: Living in the Age of Anxiety

Sep 24th, 2019 1h 2m

It has been said that we’re in the grip of an anxiety epidemic. Pundits point to all manner of causes – inequality, social media, the gig economy, populist politics – but what are the true origins of this angst and what can be done to allay our

Angela Saini: Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong

Sep 27th, 2018 57m 6s

In Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, award-winning journalist and former BBC reporter Angela Saini sets out to understand exactly what differences do or don’t exist in how men and women think and feel. She examines everything from how scie

James Maskalyk: Life on the Ground Floor

Sep 25th, 2018 54m 6s

Life on the Ground Floor is emergency room physician and bestselling author James Maskalyk’s gripping memoir of time spent between a resource-poor hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a trauma centre in Toronto, Canada. Reminiscent of the wor

Johann Hari: Lost Connections

Sep 7th, 2018 56m 5s

Having challenged the conventional wisdom of addiction theory in his previous book, the New York Times bestselling author Johann Hari has returned with a radical – and controversial – new way of thinking about depression and anxiety. Lost Conne

Robert Dessaix: The Pleasures of Leisure

Jan 16th, 2018 47m 58s

At last! A serious conversation on the advantages of being relaxed, rested, comfy, and a little lazy. Robert Dessaix is one of Australia’s most highly regarded writers. His timely book, The Pleasures of Leisure, reminds us that working longer h

Henry Marsh: Admissions — A Life in Brain Surgery

Jul 10th, 2017 57m 20s

For more than 40 years, Henry Marsh’s job has been to diessect "the most complex structure we know of in the universe, where everything that makes us human is contained". Henry has written a searing, provocative and deeply personal memoir, Admi

Susan Elderkin: An A-Z of Literary Remedies

Feb 13th, 2017 1h 53m

Bored? Try a little Balzac. Broken hearted? There’s a Bronte for that. Meet Susan Elderkin, the author, critic and journalist who is helping pioneer the radical new technique of bibliotherapy. You present your symptoms; your trusted bibliothera

Let Nature be Your Teacher

Sep 14th, 2016 1h 4m

In an age where we're living so much of our lives online, how do we reconnect with the natural world? Hear from Jeanette Winterson, who lives in a wood in the rural Cotswolds and has a share in a smallholding of a rare breed of sheep called the

2015 Opening Address: Mohsin Hamid – Life in the Time of Permawar

Aug 24th, 2015 25m 46s

Mohsin Hamid has written three novels, Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, as well as a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations. He has bee

Norman Doidge: The Brain’s Way of Healing

Jun 11th, 2015 1h 11m

'The Brain’s Way of Healing' chronicles the amazing stories of men and women who have trained their brains to stop processing chronic pain, reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s and treat eye disorders. Dr Doidge sits down with presenter of ABC RN’s

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