The University of Alberta professor and former Canada Research Chair in health law and policy is a misinformation expert; you may remember his serious bestseller with the tongue-in-cheek title Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?. Now that fake news and fake experts have become ubiquitous, Caulfield’s analysis widens to the larger and more chaotic information environment, increasingly filled with lies, rage and spin (in part, he says, because that behaviour is incentivized. The book strikes a conversational tone as it outlines the challenges of discerning the real from the fake, because misinformation not only influences small daily decisions but larger ones that impact health and politics.

The life coach is back and writing  – this time with her 25-year-old daughter, Sawyer – about a new mindset hack she calls the Let Them theory. The self-development tool went viral on TikTok, to the point where enthusiasts were getting tattoos of the two words. Its simplicity belies a long lineage: It’s deeply rooted in ancient philosophy (from the Stoics, Buddhism and radical acceptance), and, in practice, it’s a way to reframe negative thoughts. It’s primarily about letting go of trying to exert control over every situation in life and learning how to stop investing precious energy on how others respond and behave. It’s also about navigating adult relationships, but the appendix offers useful guides on how it applies to parenting (or grand-parenting) young children, as well as teens and young adults.

In 50 personal essays, the Appalachia native takes stock and looks at midlife with fresh eyes. McGaha, who lives an ordinary life in a North Carolina hollow, says the premise came to her after grandmother – then in her late 80s – said her favourite age had been 55. In her 55th year, the author considers what joy looks and feels like for women at that age. Like actor Richard E. Grant’s affecting memoir, A Pocketful of Happiness, readers will inevitably be encouraged to spot, and make, their joy.

No less than Paul McCartney joins a chorus that includes author Michael Connelly, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir in endorsing this latest informative dive by the American-Canadian neuroscientist and musician. The author of hit This is Your Brain on Music, who divides his time between Montreal and California, plumbs the role of music in human emotion, as well as the latest discoveries around the health benefits of performing and listening to music. It’s a wide-ranging and eye-opening read that mingles anecdotes from Levitin’s own experience with those from performers (like Joni Mitchell) in his orbit. He adds in wave mechanics, musicology and neuropsychology, but it’s still a highly accessible read with practical tips for soothing jangled nerves and frayed emotions.

This anthology assembles 18 essays and important interviews by the anthropologist, social-justice activist and bestselling co-author of The Dawn of Everything, who died in 2020. Amidst increasing economic and ecological turmoil, the collection considering creativity, capitalism and inequality arrives right on cue, or as one reviewer put it: “I have a feeling we’ll need his courage and focus a lot.” Graeber’s big ideas offer inspiration, encouragement and even optimism. To complete his partial quotation used for the title: “The hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make and could just as easily make differently.” (Jan. 21)

Now that Meta has canceled third-party fact checking and taken off hate-speech guardrails for all its platforms, this manifesto by a freelance New York tech journalist is even more timely in its critique of the (failed) digital utopia promised by Silicon Valley startups. They’ve grown in influence to become global powers, yet our attention as users is still their hottest commodity. As social platforms create more biased and algorithm-driven spaces to increase engagement, Pepi posits healthier and smarter ways of being online in the modern attention economy  and even proposes a non-profit social media platform.

To understand the stress and exhaustion that plague North American society, the former Washington Post reporter  – who now runs the Better Life Lab at the liberal think tank, New America – has penned this exploration. Combining interviews with real people and case studies from around the world, it’s a call to rethink the nature of work we reward. She challenges, for example, the accepted work week that’s measured in hours and days, rather than by productivity and accomplishment, as well as the distinction between formal paid work and informal at-home labour (still mostly done by women), and proposes policy changes to make work – and life – happier and more equitable.