The most interestingly subversive meditation on modern life I have read for many years... Phillips ranges over a wide field, including reflections on Hamlet and the tyrannical power of conscience. Elegant, forceful and rich in insight, this is a book that can be read again and again

The best living essayist writing in English

[A] playfully digressive style... He is the finest living decipherer of affective life [and] the Bob Dylan of psychoanalysis

There is a lot of philosophy and psychoanalysis packed into these 200 pages

Adam Phillips is single-handedly continuing the tradition of the world's best essayists

He's brilliant

Phillips radiates infectious charm

Publisher's description. Adam Phillips elegantly unfolds the concept of the 'unforbidden', from the Old Testament to Freud and beyond, exploring the philosophical, psychological and social complexities that govern human desire and shape our reality.

A fascinating look at the science of food and how our perception is shaped by all our senses, not just taste

If simply changing the name of a dish on a menu or the color of the plate on which it is served can dramatically alter our perception of taste and food quality, then everyone in the restaurant industry needs to read this and take a deeper look at the scientific secrets Professor Spence reveals in Gastrophysics

Wonderfully curious and thought-provoking . . . brilliant

Spence cheerily whisks the reader through the senses like a magician . . . a mind-bending menu of fascinating insights

Revealing, very interesting and well worth understanding . . . highly enlightening

Spence takes a jovial pleasure in puncturing our perceptions and showing that there's a lot more going on in our mouths than what we think we're tasting . . . Spence has given us much food for thought

A chatty whirl through the latest discoveries and their real-world applications

I wanted to reach out and thank you for your absolutely brilliant book Gastrophysics. As a thirty year restaurant veteran just venturing out on my own into the wild world of consulting, I found your research confirmed many of my long-held beliefs while adding tons of things I had never considered.

It can't fail to entertain, inform and ultimately dazzle

This is a book to open the eyes and broaden the mind.

As always, Solomon gets into the far corners of things, including people’s minds… He’s also very sharp on South Africa, China, Libya, Romania, and Brexit Britain, among others. He’s an expert on turmoil.