In Praise of Folly

Theodore Dalrymple is a psychiatrist who acts as expert-witness in murder trials and has a column in The Oldie magazine. After working as a doctor in Africa and the Gilbert Islands, he returned to Britain and has worked in prisons and hospitals in the East End of London, the Midlands, and Birmingham. He is a contributor to The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Spectator, and the British Medical Journal. He is the author of several books, including the acclaimed Spoil Rotten, The Knife Went In, Litter, and the Pleasure of Thinking.

• 1 Everywhere is Interesting - `I've been to England' 2 Natural Selection - The Staffordshire Bull Terrier 3 Shame - A Most Democratic Institution 4 Pain in the Room - Shocking Pink 5 Bullying - Guinea Pigs 6 Heredity - Twisting Round a Stick 7 Insanity - Paler in the Shade 8 Religion - Strange Positions 9 Free Will - Headless Frogs 10 Respect - Our Own Book 11 Change - A Pugilist at Work 12 Love - Chien professeur 13 Suffering - Drought and Leanness 14 `I feel it more' - D.H. Lawrence 15 Politics - Trinidadian Oranges 16 Causality - Kindred Delusions 17 Siren Questions - Delia Bacon 18 Coincidences - Oversmoking 19 Metaphysics - More Moral Children 20 Genius - The Indoor Aquarium 21 Goodness - The Conquest of Britain 22 Truth - Criticism that Truly Stings 23 Consciousness - `I say, Jeeves' 24 Excess - Holy Fools 25 Roles - Dylan Thomas 26 Hellfire

‘Moves from the elegiac to the entertainingly ruthless in a single paragraph.’ The Oldie: ‘Characteristic acuity about human nature.’ Catholic Herald: 'One of our most celebrated essayists.' Mail on Sunday