In celebration of last Sunday’s World Kindness Day artist Michael Landy talks about his project Acts of Kindness with its curator Cathy Haynes. Acts of Kindness is an Art on the Underground…
There is a certain respect, and a general duty of humanity, that attaches us not only to animals, who have life and feeling, but even to trees and plants. We owe justice to men, and mercy and…
It’s a truism to say that life can be difficult and involve a great deal of stress, strain and at times, suffering. We all recognise that work can be fraught and stressful, with constant targets…
Trampled across, shat upon, dumped on. We let the wasteful abuse of these poor downtrodden sods carry on day after day. Most people are blind to it until they end up tripping up and only then realize…
So you think compassion means being nice to people? Sure, it’s Latin root literally means ‘to suffer with another’, which is pretty close to the psychological concept of ‘affective empathy’, where…
Dear Bibliotherapist, My partner is struggling after recently losing a close friend . She is keeping it all bottled up and making our home life unbearable. Can you suggest anything I can read to…
When I was five, I lied. I told friends at my primary school that an author had dedicated a book to me. In print. And everything. This white lie got me in a bit of hot water. “Bring it in and show us…
When he was a student at Yale University, Stephen Greenblatt wandered to the local bookstore to pick up some holiday reading, and his eye was caught by a strange-looking book with a painting by Max…
A string of articles that share a startling pair of words have appeared in the press recently: ‘Capitalism’ and ‘Failed’. Communism, of course, is a word we easily associate with the word failure….
Happiness is just a neurochemical spurt. Different happy chemicals produce different ways to experience happiness. Endorphin happiness is triggered by physical pain. The body’s natural morphine masks…
