Doctors prescribe books in England

Read two chapters and call me in the morning.

It's no great surprise that I love to read. And if a doctor prescribed a book to me, I'd be quite happy to take it twice daily!

So I'm pretty tickled that the NHS is trying a experiment with prescribing books. To be fair, they're self-help books, to help readers address depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. The result? They've found that the books prescribed (and some were better than others) were less effective than actual therapy, but more effective than nothing. And since many people end up with nothing, due to waiting lists or the expense of therapy, "better than nothing" is a term that quite applies.

I prescribe reading my book. It'll be out in two more days!