So what if he was afraid of bananas?
The subject of Georgina Ferry's Max Perutz and the Secret of Life was decidedly odd, but he also happened to be one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, says Robin McKie.
Heavens above
Michael White's Galileo Antichrist depicts the struggle between science and faith, says Simon Callow.
National treasures
Japan's centuries-old tradition of exquisite craftsmanship has survived both modernisation and westernisation. Ian Buruma admires how everyday objects and rituals are transformed into art.
Sense of place
Location is everything in Joyce Carol Oates's The Falls, says John Mullan.
Secrets and lies
Elizabeth Lowry on Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul and Maureen Freely's Enlightenment, two novels that bravely address the identity crisis of modern Turkey.
Gone to pot
Olivia Laing follows Horatio Clare's road to excess in Truant.
The invisible bluesman, found at last
Michael Gray's Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes uncovers a legendary bluesman, says Sean O'Hagan.
This Turkey’s been overstuffed
It's shocking, ambitious and nearly put its author in jail. What a shame, then, that Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul is so hard to read, says Geraldine Bedell.
Come the revolution
Victorian painters largely ignored the sweat and steam of industrial Britain. It was only when the workshops, mills and mines began to represent a vanishing way of life that artists chose to celebrate them. Ian Jack considers hard labour in art.
Joy and pain
Steven Isserlis misses the music in Robert Schumann, John Worthen's otherwise fine tribute to a great artistic temperament.
Poetry’s great curmudgeon
Nicholas Lezard finds himself unexpectedly enthralled by The Man Who Went into the West, Byron Rogers' artful biography of RS Rogers.
Street-corner blues
Will Hodgkinson applauds Michael Gray's exhaustive and insightful biography of Blind Willie McTell, Hand Me My Travellin' Shoes.
Upstairs, downstairs
Lives & letters: The Bloomsbury set left behind a mountain of material detailing their lives. But what of their servants? Alison Light explores the 'sordid' power struggle between Virginia Woolf and her live-in cook, Nellie.
Sylvia bares her soul
A star at 22 thanks to Seventies soft-porn hit Emmanuelle, Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel's life since has been the stuff of soap opera. Her strangely gripping memoir reveals all, says Carole Cadwalladr.
There may be trouble ahead
Volume two of Nigel Hamilton's fine biography tells how Bill Clinton soared as President after a disastrous start, says Peter Preston.