The power of giving up on a goal and why you should sniff your surroundings more

Among readers, there are two main camps: the completionists, and those who DNF (do not finish). Giving up on a bad book is one thing, but it can be much harder to walk away from a goal that's taken years of effort. Endurance runner Jane Davies joins researcher Hugh Riddell to explore the power of shifting or simply walking away from a goal. Olfactory historian William Tullett has dedicated his career to understanding how an oft-overlooked sense has shaped not only our day-to-day lives, but human history. He argues we could learn a lot from stopping not just to smell the roses, but even the grislier scents too. Poetry has always been a pure, earnest and powerful way for humans to express themselves. A recent UK study revealed that 24 per cent of people aged eight to 18 read poetry at least once a month. In the digital age, what's behind this surge of young people turning to this timeless form of expression?