Cancer
The race from the Big C to the Big D
The ‘journey’ — at least the one played out in public — begins with an announcement that you are incurable.…
Why I will never read Jane Eyre
Have you ever set your face against a book? This year sees Charlotte Brontë’s bicentenary and the novelist Tracy Chevalier…
The frightening, fascinating, inspiring story of radiation
About a century ago, scientists started meddling with an unfamiliar force of nature and the rest of us were terrified.…
The upside of cancer
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer with metastases in April 2013. It was a bit of a shock, but when…
A deadly role reversal
Who would you trust to take a blade to your brain? Medical schools and hospitals, arbiters of this outrageous intimacy,…
A close encounter with a puff adder
On New Year’s Day I took the family out for an evening walk on the ranch. Along the verges, lush…
Oliver Sacks bids farewell in style
‘I cannot say there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myself, but I hope it is not…
Nick Robinson’s diary: What dog will donate its vocal cords to me?
Scientists are experimenting with growing replacement vocal cords in the lab, as well as transplanting them from dogs. That was…
Warning: this book only contains strong language
Dan Marshall, the author of this memoir, loves to swear. ‘It’s very difficult for me to write a sentence without…
Make-up, chocolates, deodorant and sand: two weeks in cancer scares
Killer facts The World Health Organisation added processed meats to its list of ‘known’ carcinogens. A few of the other…
I’m an old hand at cancer. I’ve had it nearly half my life
I’m an old hand at cancer. I’ve had it nearly half my life
Is medical screening bad for your health? Michael Mosley dons a pair of ‘dignity shorts’ to find out
When the link between tobacco and lung cancer was first established in the early 1950s, one obvious question arose: should…
The brave thing now: don’t write about your death
In the social media age, breaking ‘the last taboo’ is de rigueur
Watch your backs, everyone: I haven’t slept for three years
Insomnia has a lot to answer for. I have not been sleeping well for years but a few months ago…
The chemically castrated are useless at crosswords: true or false?
After hitting me with the cancer diagnosis, the urologist offered me the choice of a longer life in exchange for…
The boy who rebuilt the sun on earth
In 2008, when Taylor Wilson was 14, he created a working nuclear fusion reactor, ‘a miniature sun on earth’. At…
After the initial shock of my cancer diagnosis, I’ve never been happier
On Sunday morning, I was kicking a football in the back garden with my grandson. I had bought him his…
Channel 4’s No Offence reviewed: ‘hugely entertaining and wildly unconvincing’
With Clocking Off, Shameless and State of Play among his credits, Paul Abbott is undoubtedly one of the most respected…
Belle Gibson and the pernicious cult of ‘wellness’
Our desperation to believe in power of lifestyle change makes us vulnerable to charlatans
Twelve miles of indefatigable misery
The taxi-driver wound his window one third of the way down and put a priestlike, confessional ear to the freezing…
That’s another year gone and, against the odds, I’m still here
A fruity voice on the train’s announcement system said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, make sure you have all your belongings, family…
Forget Poirot, Holmes or Marlowe: there is nothing urgent or even logical about Chilean detective work
If nothing else, a private investigator who has learned his trade from the works of Simenon stands out from the…
A woman who wears her homes like garments
Depending on your approach, home is where your heart is, where you hang your hat, or possibly where you hang…
A funny weepie that paints itself into a contrived corner
The Fault in Our Stars, which is based on the bestselling young-adult novel by John Green, is about two teenagers…
Are pigeons braver than dogs?
Animal spirit A labrador blown up with her handler while sniffing for bombs in Afghanistan in 2008 became the 64th…
