Bookshelf: M > R
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Cure
By Jo Marchant
A deeper dive into the research behind mind-body medicine, including the open-label placebo work described above.
Recommended on: The placebo effect
Heal and Move On: Seven Steps to Recovering from a Break-Up
By Andrew G. Marshall
Breaks the recovery process into concrete stages, drawing on the author’s three decades as a Relate-trained marital therapist – useful for anyone who wants a clearer sense of what comes next.
Recommended on: Divorce and separation
The Mind-Gut Connection
By Emeran Mayer
From a leading gastroenterologist and researcher in the field – the science behind this page, in full.
Recommended on: Diet & the gut
I’m Fine (But Not Really)
By Dr Peter Meades
A practical, no-nonsense guide for men who’ll never book a therapy session, from a psychotherapist with over 25 years in the NHS.
Recommended on: I’m Fine (But Not Really): a review
The Humor Code
By Peter McGraw & Joel Warner
A different research angle, travelling the world to test a theory of what actually makes things funny.
Recommended on: Humour & laughter
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook
By Matthew McKay, Jeffrey Wood & Jeffrey Brantley
Practical and exercise-based, covering STOP alongside the wider set of DBT skills it belongs to – one of the most widely used DBT workbooks available.
Recommended on: The STOP technique
Yoga Nidra
By Richard Miller
The clinical originator’s own account of the practice NSDR is built on, drawing on decades of research with veterans, trauma survivors and chronic pain patients.
Recommended on: A closer look at NSDR
Co-Intelligence
By Ethan Mollick
Looks directly at using AI as a genuine thinking partner, in work and beyond, from a Wharton professor who studies this closely.
Recommended on: A thinking partner
The Myth of the Chemical Cure
By Joanna Moncrieff
A more critical psychiatric perspective worth weighing alongside Kramer’s, from a UK psychiatrist and researcher.
Recommended on: SSRIs & anxiolytics
Together
By Vivek Murthy
From the former US Surgeon General, on the health cost of loneliness and the case for connection – a public-health perspective on a personal subject.
Recommended on: Close relationships
Self-Tracking
By Gina Neff & Dawn Nafus
A look at the wider culture of wearables and personal data, including where tracking genuinely helps and where it doesn’t.
Recommended on: Biofeedback
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
By James Nestor
A highly readable tour through the history and science of breathing, and how much of what we assume about it turns out to be wrong. The book most responsible for breathwork’s current popularity.
Recommended on: Breathing practices
Digital Minimalism
By Cal Newport
Takes on the exact tension this page describes, between the device offering calm and the device causing the need for it.
Recommended on: Mindfulness apps
Blue Mind
By Wallace J. Nichols
The popular-science book named on this page, and the one that first brought this field wider attention – engaging, though some claims run ahead of the evidence.
Recommended on: Water: rivers & sea
The Ritual Effect
By Michael Norton
A practical, behavioural-science approach from a Harvard researcher, on turning ordinary habits into something with more weight.
Recommended on: Personal rituals
Drugs Without the Hot Air
By David Nutt
From a leading UK researcher and former government drugs advisor, built around evidence rather than advocacy.
Recommended on: Psychedelics
Such Stuff as Dreams
By Keith Oatley
A deeper dive into the psychology of why fiction affects us the way it does, from a leading researcher in the field.
Recommended on: Reading
How to Do Nothing
By Jenny Odell
Takes on this exact idea directly, as a form of resistance to the attention economy – more cultural critique than self-help, but a natural pairing.
Recommended on: Unstructured rest
Made for Each Other
By Meg Daley Olmert
An accessible look at the biology behind the human-animal bond, drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology and archaeology.
Recommended on: Animals & pets
Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
By Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
An accessible, well-researched case for why deliberate rest makes us more productive, not less – directly relevant to the default mode network science above.
Recommended on: Unstructured rest
The Extended Mind
By Annie Murphy Paul
On how thinking has always happened partly outside the brain – in bodies, spaces and other minds – long before AI entered the picture.
Recommended on: A thinking partner
Expressive Writing: Words That Heal
By James Pennebaker & John Evans
The method described above, in full, from the psychologist who developed it – practical and workbook-like rather than academic.
Recommended on: Journalling & writing
How to Change Your Mind
By Michael Pollan
The definitive, balanced, journalistic account of the psychedelic research renaissance and its history.
Recommended on: Psychedelics
How to Break Up with Your Phone
By Catherine Price
A practical, evidence-based 30-day plan rather than a vague call to unplug, from an award-winning health and science journalist.
Recommended on: Digital detox & silence
The Power of Fun
By Catherine Price
A practical, more everyday way into the same territory, distinguishing genuine fun from mere pleasure or distraction.
Recommended on: Play
Get Some Headspace
By Andy Puddicombe
The book that preceded the app, from the former monk who founded Headspace and still voices most of its sessions.
Recommended on: Mindfulness apps
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
By John Ratey
A psychiatrist’s accessible, well-evidenced case for exercise as one of the most powerful tools available for mental health – not just mood, but attention, memory and resilience too.
Recommended on: Physical exertion