Author Guide · Memoir & Mental Health
Books Written by
In 2013, two decades after she became the script editor of Absolutely Fabulous, Ruby Wax finished a master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at Kellogg College, Oxford. The comedian British viewers knew from The Full Wax and Ruby Wax Meets… had spoken openly for years about depression, and her books turned that into a second career: a memoir, then a run of books on the mind that began with the number-one bestseller Sane New World. In 2015 she was appointed an honorary OBE for services to mental health. This guide covers her 7 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 2002–2023 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Ruby Wax has written seven books: the memoir How Do You Want Me? (2002), then Sane New World (2013), A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled (2016), How to Be Human (2018), And Now for the Good News… (2020), A Mindfulness Guide for Survival (2021) and I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was (2023). Start with Sane New World, the book that began her writing on mental health.
Where to Start with Ruby Wax
If you want her best-known book
→ Sane New World (2013) — depression, the brain and mindfulness, explained by someone who has been there.
If you want her life story
→ How Do You Want Me? (2002) — from Evanston to British television.
If you want a practical guide
→ A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled (2016) — mindfulness for people under pressure.
If you want her most recent and personal book
→ I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was (2023).
7 Ruby Wax Books, in Order
How Do You Want Me?
Her memoir of growing up in Evanston, Illinois, as the daughter of Austrian Jewish parents who had left Vienna in 1938, moving to Britain in the 1970s and building a career in comedy and television. It topped the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Sane New World
Written after her Oxford degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, the book explains how the brain produces stress and depression and how mindfulness can help, drawing on her own experience of depression. It was a number-one bestseller.
A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled
A practical guide to mindfulness for people who feel frazzled, building on the approach she set out in Sane New World.
How to Be Human
Her third mental health book, written with a neuroscientist and a monk. She also made a 2018 television series, Ruby Wax: How to Be Human.
And Now for the Good News…
Published by Penguin Life in 2020, a book that looks for reasons for hope as a counterweight to bad news.
A Mindfulness Guide for Survival
Published in 2021, this is a further practical mindfulness guide in the line of A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled.
I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was
A return to memoir, in which Wax writes about a further period of depression and psychiatric treatment, years after she had become known for writing about mental health. She turned it into a touring one-woman show.
In What Order to Read Ruby Wax
The books do not continue from one another, so you can read by need. They do fall into three groups: the 2002 memoir; the four explanatory and practical books on the mind (2013–2021); and the 2023 book, which goes back to her own life.
Read Sane New World before the two mindfulness guides, since it explains the thinking behind the exercises. I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was reads best once you know the earlier books, because part of its subject is how she relapsed after writing them.
A reading path
1. Sane New World (2013)
2. A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled (2016)
3. How to Be Human (2018)
4. How Do You Want Me? (2002)
5. I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was (2023)
The years · 1953–2023
Quick facts about Ruby Wax
- Known for
- Ruby Wax is known for her American-accented comedy and interviews on British television and, since 2013, for writing and campaigning about mental health.
- 1953
- Born in Evanston, Illinois
- 1985
- Stars in Girls on Top on ITV
- 1992
- Script editor of Absolutely Fabulous
- 2013
- Sane New World
- Born
- 19 April 1953, Evanston, Illinois; US and UK citizen, living in Britain since the 1970s
- Education
- Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; master’s in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, Kellogg College, Oxford (2013)
- Television
- The Full Wax (1991–1994), Ruby Wax Meets…; script editor of Absolutely Fabulous
- Honours
- Honorary OBE (2015) for services to mental health
- Academic
- Visiting professor in mental health nursing, University of Surrey (2015)
- Stage
- Losing It (2010), a stand-up show about her mental health
The red mark is 2013: Sane New World, the first of her books about the mind.
How Ruby Wax Writes: Comedy as a Way In
Wax writes the way she performs: fast, first-person and self-mocking, with jokes at her own expense used to carry material that would otherwise be heavy. Her 2010 stand-up show Losing It, about her mental health and a stay in a psychiatric clinic, came before Sane New World and set the tone for it.
From Sane New World onwards she combines that voice with what she studied at Oxford: explanations of how the brain responds to stress, alongside exercises. In How to Be Human she widens the method into a three-way conversation with a neuroscientist and a monk, with herself as the one asking the questions.
The practical books are built for use, with exercises, while the two memoirs are narrative. I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was brings the two together: the author of several books on mental health writing about becoming ill again.
Watch
Ruby Wax on mental health
Ruby Wax talks to the Institute of Art and Ideas in 2024 about attention, meaning, depression and laughter.
Frequently asked questions about Ruby Wax’s books
How many books has Ruby Wax written?
Seven: How Do You Want Me? (2002), Sane New World (2013), A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled (2016), How to Be Human (2018), And Now for the Good News… (2020), A Mindfulness Guide for Survival (2021) and I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was (2023).
What are Ruby Wax’s books in order?
How Do You Want Me? (2002), Sane New World (2013), A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled (2016), How to Be Human: The Manual (2018), And Now for the Good News… (2020), A Mindfulness Guide for Survival (2021) and I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was (2023).
Where should I start with Ruby Wax?
With Sane New World (2013), which explains her approach to depression and mindfulness. If you want her life story first, read the memoir How Do You Want Me? (2002).
What is Ruby Wax’s most famous book?
Sane New World (2013), a number-one bestseller and the start of her writing on mental health. Her 2002 memoir How Do You Want Me? also topped the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Is Ruby Wax qualified to write about mental health?
She has a master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Kellogg College, Oxford (2013), and an earlier postgraduate certificate in psychotherapy and counselling from Regent’s College, London. She also writes from her own experience of depression.
Who co-wrote How to Be Human?
How to Be Human: The Manual (2018) was written with a neuroscientist and a monk.
Did Ruby Wax write for Absolutely Fabulous?
She was the script editor of Absolutely Fabulous throughout its run, from 1992 to 2012, and appeared in two episodes.
Is I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was a memoir?
Yes. Published in 2023, it is about a further period of depression and psychiatric treatment. It also became a touring one-woman show.
Is Ruby Wax still alive?
Yes. She was born on 19 April 1953 in Evanston, Illinois, and lives in Britain. In 2025 she appeared on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
Footnotes
- Ruby Wax — Wikipedia
- A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled — Penguin
- And Now for the Good News… — Penguin
- Penguin Life announce new book from Ruby Wax — FMcM, 2020
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The only reason I went into comedy was to make Alan laugh.”
— Ruby Wax on her friend and flatmate Alan Rickman, who directed many of her comedy shows (quoted on Wikipedia)
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