Mecca: The Sacred City review – an important study of one of the great religious sites

Ziauddin Sardar tells the story of Mecca with rare insight and passion, writes William Dalrymple

William Burroughs’s drugs cure inspires Alzheimer’s researcher

Author’s search in South America for the shamans’ plant hallucinogenic yagé and use of apomorphine to control his addiction leads neurologist to call for clinical trials

Reading group: choose a book to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall in November

Sam Jordison: It’s a quarter of a century since the Berlin Wall came down – so how best to explore that divided world in fiction?

Sufism: ‘a natural antidote to fanaticism’

Jason Webster on why the republication of Idries Shah book about Sufism – whose enthusiasts have included Winston Churchill, Ted Hughes and Doris Lessing – couldn’t be more timely

Swiss Guard’s Vatican cookbook promises feast fit for a pope

Book includes recipes chosen by Vatican officials and some of the pontiff’s favourite Argentinian dishes

Dumbledore, Satan or Percival? How Chinese parents are offered tips for choosing an English name

It’s common for Chinese people to take a western name for business purposes. A satirical website has discussed the pitfalls to avoid choosing an inappropriate option

Reverend Richard Coles on sex, pomposity and faking HIV

Leo Benedictus: Did the Radio 4 presenter really go cruising in lay-bys? Is he actually friends with atheist-in-chief Richard Dawkins? And how accurate is his Wikipedia entry? Britain’s top media vicar Googles himself

Lynching of boy underlines how the curse of caste still blights India

Sai Ram, burned alive because of a stray goat, was just one of 17,000 Dalits to fall victim to caste violence in the state of Bihar

Book reviews roundup: 1946, Nora Webster and My Story: Julia Gillard

What the critics thought of 1946 by Victor Sebestyen, Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín and My Story by Julia Gillard

A Farewell to Arms review – Hemingway novel becomes multimedia theatre show

The author’s tough-guy take on the first world war is transferred to the stage with outstanding technical and dramatic flair, writes Alfred Hickling

The best books on Argentina: start your reading here

Pushpinder Khaneka’s tour of Argentina covers the tango and Buenos Aires, the dirty war and an eclectic overview of the country and its people

Who is the real Italian novelist writing as Elena Ferrante?

As the fame of the Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay author grows, so does the guessing game about her identity

Frieze: even sleeping security guards are art in a world of elaborate disguises

Shows feature reimagining of Sigmund Freud’s study and Paris art collector’s flat in combination of old and new art

Robert Downey Jr hammers Iron Man into Captain America 3

Downey to be given prominent role in third Captain America film, which will see Steve Rogers and Tony Stark on opposite sides in the Marvel civil war

Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflicts review – an optimistic analysis

Jonathan Powell’s advocacy of dialogue with Islamist terrorist groups glosses over some fundamental obstacles, writes Jason Burke