[A] beautifully written investigation of grief ... As an exploration of love and loss, as a portrait of a person and of the nature of personhood, this book is about as true as any I have read

A wonderful, strange and genre-defying book

A rewarding mind to spend some time with

The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars is a work of extraordinary insight and imagination. Broks is a 21st century Dante of the human psyche, guiding us on a journey full of surprise, erudition, and wit

In this gorgeous kaleidoscope of a book, the neuroscientist Paul Broks takes us image by image, story by story, into an exploration of life with all its brilliant hues of grief and despair, joy and resilience, biology and society. There's science here, and curiosity, and humanity, all forming a remarkable portrait of who we are - and who we hope to be

Broks weaves many threads - memoir, neuroscience, and metaphysics - into a rich fabric of reflection, speculation and deep feeling. This is a work that defies categorization, fusing non-fiction and imagination into a single instrument of piercing insight and emotional honesty

Truly remarkable prose . . . Throughout, Broks is like a naturalist taking you through the wilderness of the human mind, and he's a companionable guide.

The Heat of the Moment places the reader at the centre of life-or-death situations . . . and sets out a mini-charter for the sorts of decisions most of hope we shall never have to make, such as how to save first, and when instinct should override procedure.

Homeless as a teenager, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has spent the last 18 years dealing with everything from fires to car crashes and terrorist attacks. Who better to write a book about life-or-death situations?

A riveting account of the events the author has experienced, endured and overcome with courage, commitment and determination. This compelling book tracks her life, work and ambition in equal measure . . . This book presents a wonderful insight into the human side of firefighting and the decision-making of a talented and professional female fire officer.

Brilliant! It describes with sparkling emotional intelligence everything that is real about decision-making. Full of fire, passion, science and judgement, truly a giant contribution to research'

Where the book really shines is in its ability to seamlessly weave together the three strands: personal life, firefighting life and her incredible work into decision-making . . . Fascinating.

The Heat of the Moment provides a unique personal insight into the world of the firefighter. The author’s experiences are presented in a frank and revealing way, and combined with insights from her broad understanding of academic psychology. The result is an inspirational and illuminating read.

A compelling book from start to finish. Cohen-Hatton uses her own experiences as a firefighter to expose the psychology behind her decisions and emotions. A great read and accessible to all.

A compelling and exciting read. A great insight into decision-making on the front line of firefighting . . . Immersive stories, tension and fantastic lessons to take away. I loved it!

One of the UK's most senior firefighters share heart-in-the-mouth stories from her 18 years in the emergency services, taking us to the very heat of battle; from scenes of devastation and crisis, to the quieter moments when these unassuming heroes question both themselves and the decisions they are forced to make. As we all as being extraordinarily courageous, Cohen-Hatton has an impressive professional track record: her award winning research into decision-making in the emergency services has transformed policy at a global level.

A fascinating read

This book is incredible!

WOW! I just could not put it down! . . . It will enlighten people about the human aspects of firefighting, the challenges of decision-making under pressure and the way in which university research has helped to understand and improve the way leaders approach critical decisions. It’s certainly made me think about how I can use the principles discussed to help people in a variety of leadership positions.

This book will change the way you think. Forever.

As well as being a fire-fighter, she’s a fire-thinker, and that’s what makes this book stand out.

An inspiring, vivid account of the dangerous world of firefighting

Wang . . . eloquently balances personal narrative and empirical research to offer a powerful series of insights into a woefully misunderstood world.

This beautifully written work will expand your thinking about severe mental illness and mental illness in general

The Collected Schizophrenias is illumination and important--not only because it educates and challenges--but because it forces us to consider how much we still have to work to undo historical and systematic damage, to challenge our own broken, misguided partiality towards what it means to be healthy and sane

[The Collected Schizophrenias] organizes the confusion, terror and complexity of [Wang's] experience into an imperfectly cohesive, profoundly illuminating whole.

Penetrating and revelatory.

This mesmerizing collection of essays has achieved the rarest of rarities--a meaningful and expansive language for a subject that has been long bound by both deep revulsion and intense fascination

A brilliant guide to the complexities of thinking about illness, and mental illness, in particular. It will bring hope to others searching to understand their own diagnoses

A masterful braiding of the achingly personal and the incisively researched. . . . This book is a vital, illuminating window onto the world we all already live in, but find all too easy to ignore

You won't find any pity-baiting, sensationalism, or false positivity here; Wang is so candidly aware that I'd trust her over my own diary

Esmé Weijun Wang offers us an all-access pass to her beautiful, unquiet mind. . . Rarely has a book about living with mental illness felt so immediate, raw, and powerful

The Collected Schizophrenias is at once generous and brilliantly nuanced, rigorous and bold. It had me rethinking what it is to be well or ill.

Esmé Weijun Wang sends out revelatory dispatches from an under-mapped land, shot like arrows in all directions from a taut bow of a mind. . . . Her work changes the way we think about illness - which is to say that it changes us

A remarkable book - intelligent, impassioned, consistently moving - that can’t help but make readers revisit the sharpest spikes of life, where nurses often are. Christie Watson looks directly at the fragility of human existence, and the importance of what we choose to value. I can't think of many better uses of writing, nor of writing more likely to make me a better person

I defy anyone to finish this without weeping and giving thanks to the NHS ... An important book that should be on every reading list

Christie Watson’s book brings home the incredible strength and determination that nurses working in our critically underfunded NHS must possess – and how wildly underappreciated they are

Gripping and tender

A remarkable reflection on care, empathy and compassion ... packs massive emotional impact ... I urge you to read it

This tender, truth-telling memoir will break your heart into little pieces ... This book is a salient reminder that at some point we are all going to need care and we can only hope we'll get someone like Christie who understands the need for "sympathy, compassion, empathy" in our most vulnerable moments

The award-winning novelist writes about her 20 years as a nurse, taking us from life to death of the wards in a moving account

As Watson observes, the ability to step into another’s shoes is essential for both nurse and novelist. So too is an eagle eye, and it is the details that prove so unforgettable ... I found myself compelled to go back, and freshly moved and humbled

A highly emotional and eloquent retelling of different patients, staffers, experiences and departments ... A much-needed human voice

[Watson] writes with such considered awareness of medical procedure and resources, human frailty and resilience, that you know she dug deep for this book ... You are also privy to an extraordinary world and appreciate Watson's lasting belief: that most of us are inherently kind - and the better for showing it

The Language of Kindness is teeming with humanity ... [It] puts other memoirs to shame, by narrating an ordinary working life which nevertheless confronts the dark, the sublime, the transcendental

Her book makes harrowing, heart-rendering reading.

An engaging and authentic portrait of modern care ... Through Watson’s inclusion of relevant statistics and historical facts, as well as her meticulous observation skills, readers will better understand the value of nurses

Hypnotic prose ... quiet brilliance ... This is a wake-up book in the best possible way, a study in-the-round: amusing, hilarious even, enthralling and sad, and definitely an indictment of our time

We hear far less often from nurses and therapists… It’s time we heard their side of the story. And who better to tell it than this nurse-turned-award-winning literary novelist.

Anecdotal story-telling wrapped up in hypnotic prose… This is a wake-up book in the best possible way, a study in-the-round: amusing, hilarious even, enthralling and sad, and definitely an indictment of our time.

A remarkable book. I learned more in chapter 3 than I have in all the other books I’ve read this year. Watson illustrates why a nurse has a harder job than 99 per cent of lawyers (I am one) and deserves to be paid more. Absolutely brilliant!

The Language of Kindness flows so beautifully, and naturally. Christie adds real warmth to very factual, and medical information … I urge all of you to read this book

[Watson] beautifully describes the life-affirming impact of nurses doing and saying the right thing

[Watson] tells us things we need to know

[The Language of Kindness is] a tender and beautifully written account of how this process – learning how to be kind – challenges, teaches, sometimes harms, and then completes a person

At the heart of Christie Watson’s philanthropic memoir…lies a remarkable thesis on life, death and the kaleidoscopic narratives…that weave us together

This stunning read reminds us that nurses are human after all

Christie Watson's memoir of 20 years as an NHS nurse is completely absorbing. The best books tell us about life as well as lives and I've read nothing recently that I found so moving and, even in its descriptions of suffering and death, so uplifting. Watson has an eye for detail that is practical, compassionate and very often funny

Christie captures life as a nurse in the humblest manner, and anyone in or considering nursing is encouraged to read it

Watson’s prose…fizzes with real life, each story and encounter containing its own epic narrative sweep

This brilliant and profound book left an indelible mark on me this year

Moving and compassionate…The Language of Kindness… is a sensitive, perceptive and blunt account of a nurse’s journey

An astounding account of life as a nurse

The Language of Kindness exerts the power of a gripping novel threaded with science, philosophy, history and ethics. Like poetry, it resists paraphrase. A quick summary is out of the question, this brilliant life-changing book has to be experienced.

Watson evokes the topography of each arm of nursing in vivid detail.

I defy anyone to finish this without weeping and giving thanks for the NHS… An important book that should be on every reading list.

The Language of Kindness could not be more compelling or more welcome. It's about how we survive, and about the people who help us do so

[A] powerful account of her life as a nurse… reading her memoir is a truly uplifting experience.

A nurse’s voice has never really been heard before on this scale. Now’s the time for it to ring loud.

[Watson] is an elegant, eloquent writer who brings an immediacy to her work. You are right there beside her all the way as she provides a fascinating insight into the trails and triumphs of life in an NHS hospital… a rallying call for kindness and compassion that every one of us should embrace.

Through Watson, we are taken on an absorbing, all-seeing tour through the doors of the hospital