"Twins: Genes, Environment and the Mystery of Identity"

"A brilliant and thought-provoking examination of how the study of twins informs our understandings of free will, individual identity and human nature. How do we come to be who we are? How free are we to decide on the direction of our lives? Given the moral injunctions against experimenting on humans, the experience of twins, identical in their genes, upbringing or both, are crucial evidence in answering these questions. Lawrence Wright's brilliant book looks at twin research and shows how it increasingly illuminates our understanding of the old nature ir nurture, genes or environment debate.

Twins is a remarkable piece of science writing, and 1 of the best and most accessible examples of how Darwinian ideas, evolutionary psychology and mosern genetics are illuminating human nature.

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Tongue First: Adventures in Physical Culture

"Tattoos, nude beaches, sensory deprivation. Just saying yes to mind-altering drugs. Napping, go-go dancing, Rolfing, acupuncture, boxers versus BVDs. The politics of blue eyeshadow or a shaved head. And, of course, sex. Join author Emily Jenkins as she participates in all of the above physical adventures - and many more - in her spirited and humorous quest to figure out how what we do on the outside reveals who we are on the inside. "

"Real Events Revisited: Fantasy, Memory and Psychoanalysis"

"The idea of a ""real event"" has haunted much of recent feminism's engagement with psychoanalysis, for the psychoanalytic conception of fantasy is often perceived as being at odds with the real-life events which explain or inflect women's place in the culture. There have been Jeffrey Masson's and Alice Miller's widely publicized critiques of Freud's move away from the ""seduction theory"" of neurosis to the theory of the Oedipus complex, which put sexual fantasy at the fore of both personality formation and illness. Far greater recognition of the extent of child abuse - beginning with Cleveland in 1987 - has caused heated debate and widespread social concern. More recently, the focus of the debate has swung to the adult woman, on the possibility of ""false memories"" of abuse. At the heart of the problem of sexual abuse lie questions about children's and adult's minds, about lying and denial, repression and memory, reality and fantasy. A re-evaluation of the concept of fantasy should be of interest in a wide range of fields, such as gender studies, cultural studies and the clinical community.

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"Journey to the Centre: Lessons in Unifying Body, Mind and Spirit"

"A practical guide to mastering the art of centreing, based on the Zen principles that the author has lived by and taught for many years. Centring can be applied to many activities and lifestyles in order to increase performance, productivity and power, and to let go of stress and insecurity. "

Histories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture

"Hysteria has traditionally been seen as female territory but in this pertinent and lucid book Elaine Showalter argues that it is a disease that is universal. Hysterical disorders, far from dying out with the end of Victorian sexual repression, have in fact flooded the media in the 1980s and 1990s. From Gulf War syndrome to Satanic ritual abuse, these epidemics of psychogenic disease and memory have much to tell us about the anxieties of Western culture. Elaine Showalter's piercing study has provoked controversy all over the world and has opened a debate that will continue to intensify as the millenium draws near.

'Daring and provocative,' Independent"