Marcus Aurelius on the good luck of your bad luck; magnetism, the hippocampus and what makes us ourselves; autumn and the sensual urgency of aliveness

Midweek pick-me-up: The songs of trees — how a dozen of the world's most interesting trees reveal the art of relationship

How to become a gifted listener; a tender illustrated fable about our capacity for change; the courage to defy cynicism and revise the world's givens

Midweek pick-me-up: The meaning of true love, in a tender and surprising vintage illustrated meditation by Edward Gorey