Fascinating and irresistibly page-turning, The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind is an Oliver Sacks-meets-When Breath Becomes Air account of insanity caused by over a dozen brain tumors. Barbara Lipska's remarkable story illuminates the many mysteries of our fragile yet resilient brains and through her harrowing journey of recovery, she shows us that nothing is impossible.

In this fascinating book, a neuroscientist describes the terrifying symptoms she suffered as a result of multiple brain tumours. We learn about how the brain can produce bizarre and bewildering symptoms from the point of view of someone who has personal experience of aspects of the mental illness that she spends her life studying... Completely compelling and powerful, and hard to put down.

A spellbinding investigation into the mysteries of the human brain, led by a scientist whose tenacity is as remarkable as her story.

A superb memoir from a highly respected neuroscientist ... [a] remarkable account of sanity lost and regained.

A riveting science story about how brains go bad, interwoven with the remarkable personal story of one brain going spectacularly bad. A total nail-biter.

An extraordinary chronicle. Barbara Lipska's story is inspiring and painful, but most of all it is a tribute to the human spirit told with the insight of a scientist and the love of a truly compassionate soul. I was hooked from the first page and could not put this down until the final sentence.

The real thing here is not the cause of death, but the nature of the life. Black is genuinely moving about the respect we should have for the dead … There is much to admire in this book.

Poignant and thoughtprovoking… it is the book’s humanity which will connect with readers.

Let [Sue Black] take you by the hand and lead you on a journey which will inspire your awe and devotion … A wonderful surprise of a book.

Most of us are terrified of death, but Sue Black shows us that death is in fact a wondrous process, intimately tied with life itself. Written with warmth and humanity, All That Remains reveals her life among the dead, who can surely count her as their best friend.

Many crime readers delight in the disgusting, the dark and the dangerous. Black’s reverence for human remains and her fearless intimacy with death in its many guises may well be a necessary antidote.

Sue Black has been intimately involved with the aftermath of death for her whole professional career and in her book she weaves in details of her amazing and active life with her analysis of death in a narrative that is personal, touching, occasionally tragic but also instilled with her wonderful sense of humour.

Dame Sue Black writes about life and death with great tenderness but no nonsense, with impeccable science lucidly explained, and with moral depths humanely navigated, so that we can all feel better about the path we must all inevitably follow. I am genuinely glad I read this book.

Compelling, brave and extremely accessible.. A must for anyone who thinks about the basics of living and dying. And there are jokes as well.

No scientist communicates better than Professor Sue Black. All That Remains is a unique blend of memoir and monograph that admits us into the remarkable world of forensic anthropology.

Where on earth would the world be without Sue Black?

Editor's Choice: An enthralling book about forensic science and the many faces of death.

Professor Black’s elegant exploration of death crafts a bridge that allows us, the living, to journey into her mesmerizing world. Her intimate examination of each layer and facet of death, is both intelligent and tender. Through her unflinching eye, we come to understand that life and death are indeed two parts of a continuous whole and that there is much insight to be gained if we approach each of these with curiosity rather than fear.

If you ever wondered about the life of a forensic anthropologist, Sue Black reveals the truth behind the TV screens.

A beautifully written memoir full of reflections on the deaths of strangers and family members.

She often finds herself dealing with the most macabre cases of murder. But the no-nonsense Scot is an upbeat character with a dry sense of humour, clearly identifiable in her memoir.

Ideal reading if you're a cheerful soul who likes to think about death. And think how it'll brighten your conversation on holiday.

Books of the Year

Best of the Year: Memoir
This book captures the profundity of human life while displaying a sense of humour, and peels back the skin to reveal a world few of us ever discover

Dame Sue Black, the woman who inspired the hit television show Silent Witness and has done for forensic science what Strictly has done for ballroom dancing, is an unlikely but deeply worthy national treasure.... Black's memoir, like her story, is curiously vibrant and life-affirming.

You can't help but warm to this retired professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology who chose "the many faces of death" as her medical speciality, yet is herself so vividly alive. Like [David] Nott, Black travelled the world at times, sifting maggots, bullets and human body parts in war zones. Despite it all, she remains convinced that our humanity transcends the very worst of which our species is capable.

All That Remains provides a fascinating look at death - its causes, our attitudes toward it, the forensic scientist's way of analyzing it. A unique and thoroughly engaging book.

This fascinating memoir, dealing with everything from bodies given to medical science to the trauma caused by sudden, violent ends, offers reassurance, and even hope, to the fearful and cynical.

A forceful defense of the democratic, humanist institutions that [Pinker] says brought about these changes, and a declaration that reason, science and humanism can solve the problems to come.

Vindication has arrived in the form of Steven Pinker's latest book. ENLIGHTENMENT NOW: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is remarkable, heart-warming, and long overdue.

Pinker offers numbers to show that the world has, on the whole, become safer, healthier and wealthier. These benefits are more pronounced in the West, but even in developing countries conditions have improved ... His optimism is resilient

Extremely hopeful... Steven Pinker argues that people are happier, healthier, wealthier, and safer than they've ever been ... we're living in the best moments humans have experienced yet

Pinker is a deep and important critic of the visceral hostility to nature and science now so sadly prevalent on the left and right, a defender of reason and the Enlightenment ... Pinker is right

An erudite defence

Modern life has gotten much better despite ever-present complaints. Technology has reduced the need for physical labor. Mortality rates are down. IQ scores are on the rise. Wars are less frequent and less deadly ... the Enlightenment's championing of reason, science, humanism and moral progress is a model for our own times

Pinker is right ... Much good news today tends to be underreported, even unreported. Human beings today lead longer, safer, healthier, wealthier and indeed happier lives than at any point in recorded history ... Pinker surveys the stupendous advancements that the human race has made in modern times according to a dizzying range of metrics

An engaging, compelling set of reasons to be cheerful ... it is a welcome antidote

The world is better than ever before. And Steven Pinker can prove it.

A substantial and wide-ranging book on the state of our world today ... In forensic detail, Pinker enumerates the myriad ways in which life is getting better ... The book is packed with statistics vaunting the gifts of progress

After devouring all 453 pages and 75 graphs of psychologist Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now, I admit defeat. The defeat of defeatism. This man has done the math. Since the 18th century things have been getting better in pretty much every dimension of human wellbeing.

Steven Pinker has a cure for your despair ... life is better than it has ever been. Pinker's case is compelling

Useful and exciting ... Pinker doesn't declaim, he demonstrates - with dozens of graphs and charts - that humankind has spent two centuries winning the battle against entropy in all fields: from health to peace, the environment to democracy, wealth to happiness, to equality between men and women. He asks us crucial questions ... Steven Pinker is right

Enlightenment Now seeks to undo, with facts and figures, the pessimism that has paralysed the world ... We must read this book and absorb its message

Guys, it's really not that bad. In fact, it's the best it's ever been ... Pinker urges people to look at the bigger picture and dive into the data

Things are not as bad as your Facebook news feed makes them seem ... a cheerful, contrarian tract for dark times

Compelling ... At a moment when liberal Enlightenment values are under attack, from the right and the left, this is a very important contribution ... An impressive and useful accomplishment

What makes Invisible Women so compelling is the mountain of data she draws on… a brilliant exposé

Every man should read this book… [Invisible Women] chats, in page after steely, meticulous page, precisely how the world…is designed around men, and how this puts women at an impossible disadvantage

Funny, exasperating and anger-inducing, there is something for everyone

The essential book of the year, mayhap the decade

A staggering expose of design prejudice and an impassioned call to action

Perez takes the truism that ours is a world designed for men and backs it with evidence. Impressively collating vast amounts of research

A must-read for men and women alike

This calm, dispassionate, hilarious, entertaining, maddening, infuriating narrative is a highly readable manifesto for real change

This well-researched book turns everything we accept as normal on its head…[Invisible Women] succeeds in making a powerful case for change in a non-preachy, educative style… It is not entertainment; it is a thesis – and a powerful one at that

This incredibly well-researched and engaging book highlights how the lack of gender-focused data results in the needs of more than half of the population being ignored. The numerous examples cited by Criado-Perez – ranging from infrastructure to healthcare – are shocking and sobering… Invisible Women offers valuable insight into the transformative power of diversity and equality to drive better economic outcomes

Such an insightful book and a good read for everyone

Incredibly topical and relevant in a rapidly changing world, Criado Perez’s multi-award-winning exposé on data bias has seen her become an authority on modern day inequalities

Invisible Women...is already a classic, but I can't recommend it enough

A powerful, insightful book

Compelling... revelatory... Criado Perez provides bountiful evidence of her thesis

A huge eye-opener

A witty, furious page-turner

Invisible Women is highly recommended to both men and women as an incredibly readable piece of journalism... Many of you will also find you cannot put down this passionate and informative book until you've finished it... illuminating and engaging

Compelling

Filled with hair raising facts and figures, [Invisible Women] investigates the jarring matter of discrepancy and representation in our modern world... make no mistake, once you begin reading, it's hard to stop

A deeply important and useful book... Fast, funny, angry and vital... A proper game-changer.

Criado Perez keeps the gobsmacking revelations flowing in a conversational manner, making the reader feel like she’s having lunch with a funny, knowledgeable and passionate friend