Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum - Hardcover

Francis, Gavin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465079687 ISBN 13: 9780465079681

Publisher: Basic Books, 2015

Synopsis

"Adventures in Human Being, with its deft mix of the clinical and the lyrical, is a triumph of the eloquent brain and the compassionate heart." -- Wall Street Journal

We assume we know our bodies intimately, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory, an enigma of bone and muscle, neurons and synapses. How many of us understand the way seizures affect the brain, how the heart is connected to well-being, or the why the foot holds the key to our humanity? In Adventures in Human Being, award-winning author Gavin Francis leads readers on a journey into the human body, offering a guide to its inner workings and a celebration of its marvels. Drawing on his experiences as a surgeon, ER specialist, and family physician, Francis blends stories from the clinic with episodes from medical history, philosophy, and literature to describe the body in sickness and in health, in living and in dying. At its heart, Adventures in Human Being is a meditation on what it means to be human. Poetic, eloquent, and profoundly perceptive, this book will transform the way you view your body.

About this title

About the Author

Gavin Francis is a physician and the award-winning author of four books, including Adventures in Human Being, Empire Antarctica; and True North. A regular contributor to the London Review of Books, Guardian, and New York Review of Books, Francis lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465079687
• ISBN 13: 9780465079681
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272