Riley, Alex – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk Henley-on-Thames Sat, 08 Nov 2025 10:41:26 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Bell-Background-Blue-32x32.png Riley, Alex – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk 32 32 Super Natural https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/super-natural/ Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=48877 From scorching deserts to frozen seabeds, from the highest peaks of the Himalaya to the hadal depths of the oceans, there are habitats on this Earth that appear inimical to life – yet in which it flourishes nevertheless. During the midday heat of the Sahara, silvery ants sprint from their nests to feed. In North American forests, wood frogs awaken each spring from solid blocks of ice. At the site of the Chernobyl disaster, fungi harness radiation to thrive. Transporting readers to far-flung environments we could never call home, Super Natural paints an awe-inspiring portrait of life’s resilience and ingenuity under the harshest circumstances. We meet creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivations: of water, oxygen, food, sunlight. Alex Riley shows how, at nature’s extremes, the rules of life as we know them are rewritten – and how, here, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth, and beyond.

]]> A Cure For Darkness https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/a-cure-for-darkness/ Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/a-cure-for-darkness/ ‘Boldly ambitious, deeply affecting, and magisterial in scope’ Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes

‘Expansive and thoughtful, it illuminates the complexity and elusiveness of his subject’ New Statesman

‘A rich and generous picture of research into depression to date’ Financial Times

What is depression? Is it a persistent low mood or a complex range of symptoms? Is it a single diagnosis or a range of mental disorders requiring different treatments? And is there a way of curing such a complex, and diverse, condition?

A sufferer of depression himself, science writer Alex Riley has spent years thinking about these issues as he was prescribed antidepressants and underwent cognitive behavioural therapy. Throughout his treatment, he wondered-are antidepressants effective? Do short-term talking therapies actually work? And what is on the horizon for those who don’t respond to these first-line treatments? A Cure for Darkness explores all of these questions and more, as the author embarks on a journey to illuminate one of the world’s most prevalent disorders.

Weaving personal and family history, the book tracks treatments through centuries of science, from the ‘talking cure’ to electroconvulsive therapy to magic mushrooms. Reporting on the field of global mental health from its colonial past to the present day, Riley discovers new and exciting therapies, including how a group of grandmothers stands on the frontline of a mental health revolution. A gripping narrative journey, A Cure for Darkness delves deep into the science of mental health and finds hope at the new frontiers of treatment.

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