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The Guardian - UK

Presented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby

Neurosurgery and crimes of passion – books podcast

How much do we know about the brain? More than the 19th-century "alienists" who were the precursors of today's psychiatrists, but less than we know about most other bodily organs.

This week's Books podcast travels back in time with the novelist and cultural commentator Lisa Appignanesi, to see what three historic trials for crimes of passion tell us about changing attitudes to sanity. We also journey to the frontiers of brain science, to learn from the brain surgeon Henry Marsh about this fast-evolving medical specialism and the pressures on those who work in it.

Reading list

Trials of Passion by Lisa Appignanesi (Virago)
Do No Harm by Henry Marsh (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

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