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Shapeshifters: On Medicine & Human Change [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2018] Gavin Francis
To be alive is to be in perpetual change: growing, healing, learning, aging. In Shapeshifters, award-winning writer and doctor Gavin Francis considers the transformations in mind and body that continue across the arc of human life.
Some of these changes we have little choice about. We can't avoid puberty, the menopause, or our hair turning grey. Others may be welcome milestones along our path - a much-wanted pregnancy, a cancer cured, or a long-awaited transition to another gender. We may find ourselves turning down dark paths, towards the cruel distortions of anorexia, or the shifting sands of memory loss. New technologies can upgrade us, and even without them our bodies can transform in rare, almost magical, ways - with gigantism, or the sun-sensitivity and facial hair that led porphyria sufferers, once upon a time, to be suspected as werewolves.
Medicine now has unprecedented power to alter our lives, but that power has limitations. As he helps patients face transformations both temporary and sustained, Francis draws on history, art, literature, myth and magic to show how the very essence of being human is change.
Some of these changes we have little choice about. We can't avoid puberty, the menopause, or our hair turning grey. Others may be welcome milestones along our path - a much-wanted pregnancy, a cancer cured, or a long-awaited transition to another gender. We may find ourselves turning down dark paths, towards the cruel distortions of anorexia, or the shifting sands of memory loss. New technologies can upgrade us, and even without them our bodies can transform in rare, almost magical, ways - with gigantism, or the sun-sensitivity and facial hair that led porphyria sufferers, once upon a time, to be suspected as werewolves.
Medicine now has unprecedented power to alter our lives, but that power has limitations. As he helps patients face transformations both temporary and sustained, Francis draws on history, art, literature, myth and magic to show how the very essence of being human is change.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
65 people are currently reading
1508 people want to read
About the author
Gavin Francis
21 books138 followersGavin Francis was born in Scotland in 1975, and has travelled widely on all seven continents. He has crossed Eurasia by motorcycle, and spent a year in Antarctica. He works as a medical doctor as well as a writer.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
December 14, 2019
A hearty mix of general references to varied cultural sources (books, myths, historical facts, etc) and medical stories. FAscinating enough to read in one sitting.
August 6, 2018
(3.5) Gavin Francis is a physician with a practice near Edinburgh. His latest book is like a taster course in medical topics. The overarching theme is the modifications the body undergoes, so there are chapters on, for example, body-building, tattoos, puberty, prosthetic limbs, dementia and menopause. Over his years in general practice Francis has gotten to know his patients’ stories and seen them change, for better or worse. These anecdotes of transformation are one source for his book, but he also applies insight from history, mythology, literature, etymology and more. So in a chapter on conception he discusses the Virgin Mary myth, Leonardo da Vinci’s fetal diagrams, the physiological changes pregnant women experience, and the case of a patient, Hannah, who had three difficult, surprise pregnancies in quick succession.
We are all in the process of various transformations, Francis argues, whether by choice or involuntarily. I was less convinced by the author’s inclusion of temporary, reversible changes such as sleep, hallucinations, jet lag and laughter. And while each chapter is finely wrought, I felt some sort of chronological or anatomical order was necessary to give the book more focus. All the same, I suspect this will be a strong contender for next year’s Wellcome Book Prize because of its broad relevance to human health and its compassionate picture of bodies in flux.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
We are all in the process of various transformations, Francis argues, whether by choice or involuntarily. I was less convinced by the author’s inclusion of temporary, reversible changes such as sleep, hallucinations, jet lag and laughter. And while each chapter is finely wrought, I felt some sort of chronological or anatomical order was necessary to give the book more focus. All the same, I suspect this will be a strong contender for next year’s Wellcome Book Prize because of its broad relevance to human health and its compassionate picture of bodies in flux.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
May 2, 2018
“no one is immortal, nothing is eternal, everything is in flux . . .”
In this fascinating book, medicine and culture intersect. Gavin Francis takes as his theme the many and various changes that the human body can undergo in the course of a lifetime. An Edinburgh GP, Francis draws on twenty years of clinical experience with patients (and sometimes on interviews with other clinicians or people with unusual conditions) to explore alterations in the body. Changes dictated by the natural human lifecycle; transformations that are the result of faulty genetics, disease, or trauma; and, some “improvements” that are cosmetic or elective—all make their appearance in this book.
Francis uses informal patient histories as springboards for wide-ranging reflection on myths, history, religion, philosophy, and the arts. The literature of antiquity figures prominently, but there are also references to modern works by Kafka, Atwood, Eugenides, and others. As one might expect in a book focused on the body in flux, puberty, pregnancy, anorexia, and hermaphroditism are covered; however, there are also unanticipated excursions into lycanthropy (which refers both to the transformation of a person into a werewolf and a form of madness characterized by the delusion that one is an animal), anabolic steroid use (and its less commonly known effects on personality and mood), and the changes a newborn’s heart usually undergoes (and sometimes doesn’t) when the infant takes her first breaths of air.
Francis serves up a veritable feast of information about anatomy, physiological processes, and cultural material related to the body—some of it quite esoteric and arcane. His book can be demanding at times if you, like me, are not as scientifically literate as you’d like to be. I found reading the book on an electronic device to be advantageous when it came to visualizing—comprehending—some of the topics under discussion. It was useful, for example, to look at a diagram of the “double spiral of opposing helical fibres” in the middle layer of the ductus arteriosus—an important blood vessel in the fetus which allows blood to bypass developing lungs. The drawing helped me to understand how this channel for blood usually closes when a newborn begins to breathe. Francis does provide some useful photographs in the book, but I wouldn’t have minded a helpful diagram or two as well.
Shapeshifters is an unusual and captivating work of nonfiction that put me in mind of the works of the great American anatomist/pathologist- writer, F. Gonzalez-Crussi. It is not an easy read, but it is a rich and rewarding one—one of those rare books that merits a second reading.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of the book for review purposes. Thanks to Gavin Francis for writing it.
In this fascinating book, medicine and culture intersect. Gavin Francis takes as his theme the many and various changes that the human body can undergo in the course of a lifetime. An Edinburgh GP, Francis draws on twenty years of clinical experience with patients (and sometimes on interviews with other clinicians or people with unusual conditions) to explore alterations in the body. Changes dictated by the natural human lifecycle; transformations that are the result of faulty genetics, disease, or trauma; and, some “improvements” that are cosmetic or elective—all make their appearance in this book.
Francis uses informal patient histories as springboards for wide-ranging reflection on myths, history, religion, philosophy, and the arts. The literature of antiquity figures prominently, but there are also references to modern works by Kafka, Atwood, Eugenides, and others. As one might expect in a book focused on the body in flux, puberty, pregnancy, anorexia, and hermaphroditism are covered; however, there are also unanticipated excursions into lycanthropy (which refers both to the transformation of a person into a werewolf and a form of madness characterized by the delusion that one is an animal), anabolic steroid use (and its less commonly known effects on personality and mood), and the changes a newborn’s heart usually undergoes (and sometimes doesn’t) when the infant takes her first breaths of air.
Francis serves up a veritable feast of information about anatomy, physiological processes, and cultural material related to the body—some of it quite esoteric and arcane. His book can be demanding at times if you, like me, are not as scientifically literate as you’d like to be. I found reading the book on an electronic device to be advantageous when it came to visualizing—comprehending—some of the topics under discussion. It was useful, for example, to look at a diagram of the “double spiral of opposing helical fibres” in the middle layer of the ductus arteriosus—an important blood vessel in the fetus which allows blood to bypass developing lungs. The drawing helped me to understand how this channel for blood usually closes when a newborn begins to breathe. Francis does provide some useful photographs in the book, but I wouldn’t have minded a helpful diagram or two as well.
Shapeshifters is an unusual and captivating work of nonfiction that put me in mind of the works of the great American anatomist/pathologist- writer, F. Gonzalez-Crussi. It is not an easy read, but it is a rich and rewarding one—one of those rare books that merits a second reading.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of the book for review purposes. Thanks to Gavin Francis for writing it.
November 26, 2021
This was a truly fascinating and engrossing read. Gavin Francis writes with a tremendous spirit and love of people, his desire to help his patients move beyond what ails them to an improved state of living is palpable.
The chapter on Anorexia was particularly interesting. Anorexia is a "serious, life-threatening psychiatric psychiatric and medical illness." It takes a multi-pronged approach to treat it effectively. "Effective mental health therapists are part-priest and part-conjuror: they find ways to re-invoke an individual's boundaries, dissolve his or her delusions, and summon an authentic, engaged self from the shadow beneath which they've fallen."
Another chapter that drew my interest was the one on the topic of Puberty. I truly appreciated the straightforward community midwife's approach when talking to new parents. Her advice to the parents who are struggling: "For the first six or seven years kids just need you [..] the following six or seven years are just lovely, as the children learn about the world, and get slowly more independent." Finally, for the next six or seven years, "They go somewhere you can't follow [...] But mostly they come back."
Other chapters I found most interesting were on the topics of Gender, and Menopause. Interestingly, Francis includes quotes from author Ursula Le Guin on the topic of menopause. She describes in an essay the type of person aliens might take back to study and describes a woman in her sixties, "wise, patient, witty and shrewd [...] As a woman in the third stage of life she 'has experienced, accepted, and acted the entire human condition - the essential quality of which is Change.'"
In the chapter on Memory, I was interested to learn that "no one understands the exact mechanism which makes people with dementia so vulnerable to a worsening of memory when they have an infection."
Then, this poignant thought was tattooed on a patient's torso "in a flowery copperplate: 'worrying is praying for the worst to happen.'" Instead of worrying, I endeavor to adopt a positive attitude and live a healthy lifestyle with plenty of Laughter (another chapter in this book).
Final thought, "Medicine is in some ways the art of postponing death." Indeed, I am very grateful for the art of medicine and those that dedicate their lives to the service of others through the healthcare professions.
The chapter on Anorexia was particularly interesting. Anorexia is a "serious, life-threatening psychiatric psychiatric and medical illness." It takes a multi-pronged approach to treat it effectively. "Effective mental health therapists are part-priest and part-conjuror: they find ways to re-invoke an individual's boundaries, dissolve his or her delusions, and summon an authentic, engaged self from the shadow beneath which they've fallen."
Another chapter that drew my interest was the one on the topic of Puberty. I truly appreciated the straightforward community midwife's approach when talking to new parents. Her advice to the parents who are struggling: "For the first six or seven years kids just need you [..] the following six or seven years are just lovely, as the children learn about the world, and get slowly more independent." Finally, for the next six or seven years, "They go somewhere you can't follow [...] But mostly they come back."
Other chapters I found most interesting were on the topics of Gender, and Menopause. Interestingly, Francis includes quotes from author Ursula Le Guin on the topic of menopause. She describes in an essay the type of person aliens might take back to study and describes a woman in her sixties, "wise, patient, witty and shrewd [...] As a woman in the third stage of life she 'has experienced, accepted, and acted the entire human condition - the essential quality of which is Change.'"
In the chapter on Memory, I was interested to learn that "no one understands the exact mechanism which makes people with dementia so vulnerable to a worsening of memory when they have an infection."
Then, this poignant thought was tattooed on a patient's torso "in a flowery copperplate: 'worrying is praying for the worst to happen.'" Instead of worrying, I endeavor to adopt a positive attitude and live a healthy lifestyle with plenty of Laughter (another chapter in this book).
Final thought, "Medicine is in some ways the art of postponing death." Indeed, I am very grateful for the art of medicine and those that dedicate their lives to the service of others through the healthcare professions.
October 29, 2019
Los pocos datos interesantes, y son muy pocos, de verdad, quedan nublados por el inmenso relleno sin sentido y por la alusión constante a pseudoterapias.
July 20, 2021
A collection of 24 medical essays, written over 20 years based on different types of medical conditions in his anonymous patients.
The main theme deals with how we cope with the irreversible changes done to human body (intentionally or otherwise).
People with interest in medical field would appreciate and enjoy it better than I could.
The main theme deals with how we cope with the irreversible changes done to human body (intentionally or otherwise).
People with interest in medical field would appreciate and enjoy it better than I could.
April 13, 2018
-Netgalley Review-
I walked in reading this book with very few expectations; I have never read anything by this author before, but I was interested in medical writings, and tales of the human body intrigues me as a layman with no medical expertise. This book offers a sharp and comprehensive look into the nature of humanity, how it works, and what the future have in store for us as individuals and as a collective.
The book describes humans as, to paraphrase lightly, creatures in constant change and flux. With philosophical discussion our transformations from birth to adolescence to our eventual death, the book offers a well-written medical perspective juxtaposed with philosophical and cultural context from history. An interesting read that enriched my cultural landscape and my understanding of the human body, which admittedly never extentded beyond high-school biomechanics and biology classes. The writing was not confusing nor is it filled with jargon, yet it conveys the medical expertise of the author and his intended message just fine.
An amazing read that I finished in three days due to the amazing writing and the intrinsic value offered by the book as it concluded on a philosophical note that brought his anecdotal case studies and knowledge full circle.
Would recommend to readers interested in Medical sciences and and/or philosophy in relation humans. This is an enriching read that offer sharp insights regardless of your level of medical knowledge and is bound to fascinate.
I walked in reading this book with very few expectations; I have never read anything by this author before, but I was interested in medical writings, and tales of the human body intrigues me as a layman with no medical expertise. This book offers a sharp and comprehensive look into the nature of humanity, how it works, and what the future have in store for us as individuals and as a collective.
The book describes humans as, to paraphrase lightly, creatures in constant change and flux. With philosophical discussion our transformations from birth to adolescence to our eventual death, the book offers a well-written medical perspective juxtaposed with philosophical and cultural context from history. An interesting read that enriched my cultural landscape and my understanding of the human body, which admittedly never extentded beyond high-school biomechanics and biology classes. The writing was not confusing nor is it filled with jargon, yet it conveys the medical expertise of the author and his intended message just fine.
An amazing read that I finished in three days due to the amazing writing and the intrinsic value offered by the book as it concluded on a philosophical note that brought his anecdotal case studies and knowledge full circle.
Would recommend to readers interested in Medical sciences and and/or philosophy in relation humans. This is an enriching read that offer sharp insights regardless of your level of medical knowledge and is bound to fascinate.
January 6, 2019
This was an interesting read - I basically say this about all medical/biology related books but it's true. I find these subjects very interesting and intriguing especially if they're written in a way that's both informative but not too academic that it becomes dull or that it becomes too difficult for me to go through. Since not all the chapters are necessarily connected with one another, I may have skipped two or three chapters at most that I didn't really want to read about.
This book discusses multiple changes that happen in our body. What it feels like to go through it, how his patients dealt with it, how he dealt with as a doctor and exploring the meaning behind it. Some of those bodily changes that are discussed is what happens when you get enough sleep or a lack of sleep, what happens to our body during puberty and menopause, pregnancy, castration and gender... among other topics. Each chapter feels like a quick and brief essay on the topic with a little back story on it's origin or how it came to be or what was like years ago before the advancement of medicine. Even though each chapter was short I felt like it took my a while to finish.
(I received a free e-book copy of this title from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
This book discusses multiple changes that happen in our body. What it feels like to go through it, how his patients dealt with it, how he dealt with as a doctor and exploring the meaning behind it. Some of those bodily changes that are discussed is what happens when you get enough sleep or a lack of sleep, what happens to our body during puberty and menopause, pregnancy, castration and gender... among other topics. Each chapter feels like a quick and brief essay on the topic with a little back story on it's origin or how it came to be or what was like years ago before the advancement of medicine. Even though each chapter was short I felt like it took my a while to finish.
(I received a free e-book copy of this title from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
November 22, 2025
Bu kitabı 4-5 yıl önce kapağını beğendiğim için almak istiyordum sonradan birdenbire aklıma gelince ve artık çalıştığım için alabildim. Kitaptan bir beklentim de yoktu açıkçası. Yazar felsefe/mitoloji/edebiyat örnekleri eşliğinde tıp dallarındaki deneyimlerini kısa kısa anlatmış. Alanım olmadığı için bu kitabı okumak bana farklı bakış açıları kattı diyebilirim, genel olarak keyif aldım. Yalnız çoğu non-fiction kitap gibi yavaş yavaş okunması gerekiyor, böyle sular seller gibi akmıyor yani.
April 24, 2019
Gavin Francis, a Scottish General Practitioner, highlights his decades of experience in patient care, focusing on the transitions and body changes in life: puberty, pregnancy, sex and gender, mental health, amputations/ trauma, illness, end of life.
September 25, 2025
Pozycja, która nie do końca wpasowuje się w moje przyzwyczajenia czytelnicze, ale zdecydowanie mogę polecić!! Autor skomplikowane przypadłości medyczne opisał z niesamowitą łatwością i humorem, co pomaga zwykłemu czytelnikowi zrozumieć dane choroby i zanurzyć się na chwilę w świecie medycyny.
July 20, 2023
bardzo fajna lekturka mozna duzo sie dowiedziec przy bardzo lekkim jezyku
May 31, 2018
I absolutely love Gavin Francis’s writing. He writes about medical history and his own experiences as a doctor with such flourish, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was fiction.
Shapeshifters looks into how bodies change and how bodies adapt. It looks at pregnancy, puberty, death, laughter, menopause, mental health and more. Francis weaves in historical writing on these topics, drawing particularly on ancient publications which I found fascinating.
My favourite parts though were his experiences intertwined with the topics. I loved following his patients (heavily anonymised I’m sure) through their journeys and I would happily read a full book of these sections.
The prose was beautiful and he explained biological processes in ways that didn’t overwhelm me, the least scientific person on Earth.
If you are interested in medicine, bizarre treatments throughout history of common issues we deal with today, and following the story of human existence from cradle to grave in an accessible and interesting way, this is the book for you.
Shapeshifters looks into how bodies change and how bodies adapt. It looks at pregnancy, puberty, death, laughter, menopause, mental health and more. Francis weaves in historical writing on these topics, drawing particularly on ancient publications which I found fascinating.
My favourite parts though were his experiences intertwined with the topics. I loved following his patients (heavily anonymised I’m sure) through their journeys and I would happily read a full book of these sections.
The prose was beautiful and he explained biological processes in ways that didn’t overwhelm me, the least scientific person on Earth.
If you are interested in medicine, bizarre treatments throughout history of common issues we deal with today, and following the story of human existence from cradle to grave in an accessible and interesting way, this is the book for you.
March 24, 2020
This book is a series of essays on a wide variety of "transformations" in human lives. Well written and brimming with erudition and references to the Classics and literature. Interesting and attention holding. He undoubtedly has travelled widely and experienced much, but, though less well travelled than the author, I have trained, like him, in General Practice in Scotland in the same era and currently work there full time as a GP and feel he claims more exposure across more specialities than he can really have had in 6 months per training post. He also appears to have more active inbolvement in the secondary care of his patients now than is usual in the UK. The use of American language for an American readership put me off rather too. In all I found it readable, interesting but arrogant.
December 25, 2019
Amazing. Very informative, easy to understand (in my opinion). This book answered some of the questions I’d had since childhood. I especially liked the stories from the author’s professional experience, it’s truly inspiring how much he’s managed to accomplish in life, how many places he visited, how many workplaces he changed. His love for humanity is evident in the way he depicts his patients and describes his concerns about their problems, whether they are health related or not.
Highly recommend this book to everyone interested in medicine, science, evolution, technological progress, life overall: you won’t be disappointed.
Highly recommend this book to everyone interested in medicine, science, evolution, technological progress, life overall: you won’t be disappointed.
July 13, 2018
A largely enjoyable read about different parts of medicine and how our bodies transform in every moment and also on a large scale. Medical reads are my bread and butter as I love and live to work and consider healthcare as a whole.
September 29, 2020
I got this book from Daedalus where it cost about $5 so I can get 6 books for the usual $30 for one. Hence I just get to read something that I might not want to pay $30 for. This was a little filler book to read when I couldn't face anymore political or heavy studies and yet with an interesting concept. Gavin Francis is a physician in Edinburgh, Scotland who has spent months in Antarctica and also in the deserts of central Africa. Since most women have spent years of their lives trying to change their shape, the subtitle "A journey through the changing human body" sounded intriguing. I am also well into the aging process which is also a major bodily change. There were moments when I was reminded of another physician's book Louise Aronson's ELDERHOOD.
The book is a lot of small chapters on different topics of bodily change. "In growth and recovery, in adapting and in aging, our bodies ineludibly change form--and with sleep, memory and learning so do our minds." Some quotes from specific chapters:
SLEEP: "Brain scans show that when sleeping, the analytical parts of our brains tend to fall silent, while more instinctual emotional areas come alive. To fall asleep is a kind of abandonment, of consciousness as well as of the body; sleep's inherent lack of control can make it a terrifying prospect for some."
SKIN: "To keep skin looking youthful, it's more important what you avoid than what you rub on: smoking, unhealthy food and sun exposure all add years to skin."
TATTOOS: "For the prisoner, the body can be the only possession left--and the only weapon of rebellion." "In the US a quarter of all young and middle-aged people have a tattoo and there are more than 100,000 removals each year."
PREGNANCY: "Leonardo di Vinci thought that a baby did not receive its own soul until birth."
GENDER: "As human beings our default form is female (XX)." "Elements of gender differentiation are deeply rooted in the brain and in hormones--there's little doubt that there's more to a sense of gender identity than socialization." "As a doctor my role is to ease suffering and promote health. Gender variance holds a mirror up to the polarization of gender in our society which instructs us relentlessly and emphatically to CHOOSE. We all benefit from allowing elements of our identity to be in flux."
JETLAG: There are identifiable genes which code for these traits and "clock" genes can predict whether you are by habit an early or late to bed." "The liver has a distinct body clock calibrated to customary mealtimes, just as the brain's clock is timed to sleep cycles."
BONESETTING: "Algebra which means bonesetting is Arabic (9th century Baghdad). The mathematics of algebra was named for bonesetting because it pulls apart 2 sides of an equation, balances them, then resolves them to find solutions--just as broken bone could be pulled apart in traction and then made to heal."
MENOPAUSE: "Menopause isn't a disease or a deficiency, or even a constellation of symptoms, but a natural consequence of having lived 4-5 decades as a woman." "It is a transitional phase which is part of the aging process."
LAUGHTER: "There are broadly 2 kinds of laughter: the kind that floods out in response to something funny, and the kind of laugh that we put into conversation to ease social interaction." "It isn't true that we laugh only in company--we do laugh alone but we are 30x more likely to laugh when we're with others, particularly people we like and who we want to like us (hence canned laughter on sitcom soundtracks)." I want to comment here that since we are in the age of the novel coronavirus and many entertainers are broadcasting from home, it has been interesting to watch Colbert telling jokes without the audience or canned laughter and some of them just fall flat. As we are learning with social distancing it is the shared laughter with others that we miss the most and I think seeing the smiles and facial reactions.
"Laughter reconciles us to the fact that we're changing social animals in a restless world, it allows us to smooth the roughness of dynamic social exchange. It's cathartic of social tensions and its work is to reinforce connections between individuals." "The evident truth is that children laugh often and with gusto, long before they've developed the intellect required to understand the meanings of jokes or care much about the opinions of others."
"Many people report the impulse to laugh at funerals, not out of insensitivity, but from some inarticulate need for catharsis and to release tension from the grief of the situation." Those of us of a certain age can still remember the Mary Tyler Moore show episode about the funeral of Chuckles the clown.
MEMORY: "Schrodinger says our ability to learn and hold memories is what most makes us human." "To learn something new is to be engaged in a deep and intimate way with our own humanity." "Much of what we consider the self is intimately connected to our ability to make new memories, which we use to build images of both present and future. Loss of memory may lead to a loss of self; memory is how we weave the world into existence. There really is no before or after for the mind. There is only a now that includes memories and expectations."
"Up to half of the dementia I see is cerebrovascular, as the body ages its blood vessels silt up and the result is a slower more forgetful brain."
DEATH: In this chapter he spends a morning with a pathologist doing an autopsy. Since I watch so many British murder mysteries on PBS I have recently become aware that it is a pathologist that performs the autopsy and the coroner is the legal person to present the conclusions to the authorities." My first job was in medical records doing transcription and in the 60's autopsies were performed fairly regularly so I typed many reports which was a good education in medicine and anatomy. The Scottish pathologist that Dr. Francis works with is a woman (like so many on the British TV shows) and says "It's fairly unusual for us to do a postmortem on a woman. It tends to be men who die violent or suspicious deaths." I would think that many women have violent and suspicious actions taken against them which would hence have them end up in a morgue too. In the 60's average people dying of diseases had them, I think more as studies of the diseases effects on the body leading to death.
TRANSFORMATIONS: Dr. Francis ends saying "At its best medicine invokes and influences human change, and the possibility of change means hope."
Since I partially thought of women's bodies trying to shift their shapes through diet and exercise, the only chapter in the book on that topic somewhat was on ANOREXIA which is the ultimate shifting of usually a woman's body. The only quote I took from that chapter was his question to a patient: "Do you think there's a part of you that would welcome death?" Now as an Elder that question seems to pop up again as we face the ravages of aging and precursors of our ceasing to be.
The book is a lot of small chapters on different topics of bodily change. "In growth and recovery, in adapting and in aging, our bodies ineludibly change form--and with sleep, memory and learning so do our minds." Some quotes from specific chapters:
SLEEP: "Brain scans show that when sleeping, the analytical parts of our brains tend to fall silent, while more instinctual emotional areas come alive. To fall asleep is a kind of abandonment, of consciousness as well as of the body; sleep's inherent lack of control can make it a terrifying prospect for some."
SKIN: "To keep skin looking youthful, it's more important what you avoid than what you rub on: smoking, unhealthy food and sun exposure all add years to skin."
TATTOOS: "For the prisoner, the body can be the only possession left--and the only weapon of rebellion." "In the US a quarter of all young and middle-aged people have a tattoo and there are more than 100,000 removals each year."
PREGNANCY: "Leonardo di Vinci thought that a baby did not receive its own soul until birth."
GENDER: "As human beings our default form is female (XX)." "Elements of gender differentiation are deeply rooted in the brain and in hormones--there's little doubt that there's more to a sense of gender identity than socialization." "As a doctor my role is to ease suffering and promote health. Gender variance holds a mirror up to the polarization of gender in our society which instructs us relentlessly and emphatically to CHOOSE. We all benefit from allowing elements of our identity to be in flux."
JETLAG: There are identifiable genes which code for these traits and "clock" genes can predict whether you are by habit an early or late to bed." "The liver has a distinct body clock calibrated to customary mealtimes, just as the brain's clock is timed to sleep cycles."
BONESETTING: "Algebra which means bonesetting is Arabic (9th century Baghdad). The mathematics of algebra was named for bonesetting because it pulls apart 2 sides of an equation, balances them, then resolves them to find solutions--just as broken bone could be pulled apart in traction and then made to heal."
MENOPAUSE: "Menopause isn't a disease or a deficiency, or even a constellation of symptoms, but a natural consequence of having lived 4-5 decades as a woman." "It is a transitional phase which is part of the aging process."
LAUGHTER: "There are broadly 2 kinds of laughter: the kind that floods out in response to something funny, and the kind of laugh that we put into conversation to ease social interaction." "It isn't true that we laugh only in company--we do laugh alone but we are 30x more likely to laugh when we're with others, particularly people we like and who we want to like us (hence canned laughter on sitcom soundtracks)." I want to comment here that since we are in the age of the novel coronavirus and many entertainers are broadcasting from home, it has been interesting to watch Colbert telling jokes without the audience or canned laughter and some of them just fall flat. As we are learning with social distancing it is the shared laughter with others that we miss the most and I think seeing the smiles and facial reactions.
"Laughter reconciles us to the fact that we're changing social animals in a restless world, it allows us to smooth the roughness of dynamic social exchange. It's cathartic of social tensions and its work is to reinforce connections between individuals." "The evident truth is that children laugh often and with gusto, long before they've developed the intellect required to understand the meanings of jokes or care much about the opinions of others."
"Many people report the impulse to laugh at funerals, not out of insensitivity, but from some inarticulate need for catharsis and to release tension from the grief of the situation." Those of us of a certain age can still remember the Mary Tyler Moore show episode about the funeral of Chuckles the clown.
MEMORY: "Schrodinger says our ability to learn and hold memories is what most makes us human." "To learn something new is to be engaged in a deep and intimate way with our own humanity." "Much of what we consider the self is intimately connected to our ability to make new memories, which we use to build images of both present and future. Loss of memory may lead to a loss of self; memory is how we weave the world into existence. There really is no before or after for the mind. There is only a now that includes memories and expectations."
"Up to half of the dementia I see is cerebrovascular, as the body ages its blood vessels silt up and the result is a slower more forgetful brain."
DEATH: In this chapter he spends a morning with a pathologist doing an autopsy. Since I watch so many British murder mysteries on PBS I have recently become aware that it is a pathologist that performs the autopsy and the coroner is the legal person to present the conclusions to the authorities." My first job was in medical records doing transcription and in the 60's autopsies were performed fairly regularly so I typed many reports which was a good education in medicine and anatomy. The Scottish pathologist that Dr. Francis works with is a woman (like so many on the British TV shows) and says "It's fairly unusual for us to do a postmortem on a woman. It tends to be men who die violent or suspicious deaths." I would think that many women have violent and suspicious actions taken against them which would hence have them end up in a morgue too. In the 60's average people dying of diseases had them, I think more as studies of the diseases effects on the body leading to death.
TRANSFORMATIONS: Dr. Francis ends saying "At its best medicine invokes and influences human change, and the possibility of change means hope."
Since I partially thought of women's bodies trying to shift their shapes through diet and exercise, the only chapter in the book on that topic somewhat was on ANOREXIA which is the ultimate shifting of usually a woman's body. The only quote I took from that chapter was his question to a patient: "Do you think there's a part of you that would welcome death?" Now as an Elder that question seems to pop up again as we face the ravages of aging and precursors of our ceasing to be.
December 27, 2020
Wow, did I actually finish a book? Yes, yes I did. Picked from my shelf randomly a few days ago. It was interesting, but the way the author dealt with some topics was disappointing. For example, he had a whole chapter dedicated to bodybuilding and the use of steroids, but the only thing it demonstrated to me was how little he knows, or cares, about bodybuilding, sports and steroids. Instead of having a nuanced discussion about it, he was just incredibly biased and ignorant. There were also many sentences here and there that I just didn't agree with, or seemed a bit 'off' - one of these being a warning against eating "too many carbohydrates". Ah, the ignorance.
A bigger issue was with the overall 'feel' of the book. I remember quite enjoying another book by Gavin Francis, Adventures in Human Being, but this time around his writing style seemed to lack sincerity. The countless literary references, although (mostly) interesting, seemed forced. It's like reading the work of someone who really wants to be considered clever, widely read, a good writer - imitating the likes of Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande. In their cases, things like literary references always serve a purpose. They aren't sprinkled all over the place. They're not trying to name-drop to make themselves sound intelligent.
I think I'm being too harsh on Gavin Francis at this point, but all of this combined with the fact that there was nothing ground-breaking or massively thought-provoking about 'Shapeshifters' means that it's not getting a particularly high rating from me.
A bigger issue was with the overall 'feel' of the book. I remember quite enjoying another book by Gavin Francis, Adventures in Human Being, but this time around his writing style seemed to lack sincerity. The countless literary references, although (mostly) interesting, seemed forced. It's like reading the work of someone who really wants to be considered clever, widely read, a good writer - imitating the likes of Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande. In their cases, things like literary references always serve a purpose. They aren't sprinkled all over the place. They're not trying to name-drop to make themselves sound intelligent.
I think I'm being too harsh on Gavin Francis at this point, but all of this combined with the fact that there was nothing ground-breaking or massively thought-provoking about 'Shapeshifters' means that it's not getting a particularly high rating from me.
February 7, 2025
After reading Oliver Sacks, I wasn't sure if Gavin Francis could measure up or match Sacks' evocative, empathetic style. However, after finishing Shapeshifters in one sitting, I must say that Gavin Francis truly holds his own.
Shapeshifters is a captivating collection of 24 essays, each exploring a different "transformative" aspect of human life, all viewed through the lens of a doctor. Francis delves into a wide range of human experiences—from birth and death to the liminal space in between (conception). He tackles complex questions around gender, identity, body image, sexuality, disfigurement, and mental illness with poise. What I found particularly impressive about this collection is the sheer breadth of topics Francis is able to cover in under 300 pages. He weaves each narrative with accessible medical and philosophical insights, and blends them seamlessly with his personal experiences as a doctor. His observations, often humble and grounded in his own challenges, confront preconceived notions in a way that is both endearing and thought-provoking.
The only drawback of the book is that each chapter is quite brief, and some sections felt as though they ended abruptly. However, I understand that this brevity is a limitation inherent to a book of this nature. The alternative would be a manuscript spanning 700 or more odd pages, filled with even more detail, making it both overwhelming and dense. Therefore, I don’t fault Francis for opting for a more concise approach here.
Overall, this is a wonderful read for anyone interested in understanding the human side of medicine— specifically, what it means to carry a diagnosis, and understanding how we are all enveloped in a broader social, historical, and philosophical context that we may not even be aware of.
Shapeshifters is a captivating collection of 24 essays, each exploring a different "transformative" aspect of human life, all viewed through the lens of a doctor. Francis delves into a wide range of human experiences—from birth and death to the liminal space in between (conception). He tackles complex questions around gender, identity, body image, sexuality, disfigurement, and mental illness with poise. What I found particularly impressive about this collection is the sheer breadth of topics Francis is able to cover in under 300 pages. He weaves each narrative with accessible medical and philosophical insights, and blends them seamlessly with his personal experiences as a doctor. His observations, often humble and grounded in his own challenges, confront preconceived notions in a way that is both endearing and thought-provoking.
The only drawback of the book is that each chapter is quite brief, and some sections felt as though they ended abruptly. However, I understand that this brevity is a limitation inherent to a book of this nature. The alternative would be a manuscript spanning 700 or more odd pages, filled with even more detail, making it both overwhelming and dense. Therefore, I don’t fault Francis for opting for a more concise approach here.
Overall, this is a wonderful read for anyone interested in understanding the human side of medicine— specifically, what it means to carry a diagnosis, and understanding how we are all enveloped in a broader social, historical, and philosophical context that we may not even be aware of.
February 21, 2019
This book is an expertly guided tour of how the human body is fundamentally changeable through both natural development and different diseases. Dr. Francis tells these medical tales with fascination, compassion, and strong, clear, evocative writing. And this is highly recommended reading for writers of science fiction, fantasy and mystery - there's so much good material here!
March 18, 2019
GP Gavin Francis talks about different medical changes to the human body from pregnancy to puberty to gender reassignment with some references to specific cases that have come into his orbit. He's knowledgeable on the subjects and discusses personal cases with warmth and empathy.
November 18, 2020
Душевна книжка, немало цікавого про людські тіла, хоча, як на мене, автор трохи перебирає із ліричним відступами
July 11, 2023
2.75
November 10, 2024
I didn't like the writing style.It feels more like a diary where the author explores various topics related to the human body and change, incorporating personal experiences and factual information they think relate to it.
Read
April 17, 2022nie mam pojęcia jak oceniać książki tego gatunku, ale zdecydowanie warta polecenia!
March 17, 2024
I like intertextuality of this book.
October 29, 2018
I loved this fascinating book by Edinburgh GP Gavin Francis. In it he tackles a huge range of mental and physical human transformation from the typical - birth, death, puberty - to the atypical - amputation, disease and even the "supernatural" such as the possible origins of lycanthropy and vampirism. He traces these through his own experience of practicing and medical case histories but what makes it so fascinating is his focus on sociocultural representations of transformation and their effect on our perceptions. For example, discussing the scalp he brings together the story of a patient who began growing a horn in the middle of her forehead and expands on this theme to consider horns in the Bible and other mythologies. He seamlessly brings together history, art, mythology, ethics and quotes writers as diverse as Plato and Margaret Atwood to bring a greater understanding of change and its impact on the individual as well as wider communities and cultures.
Francis's sensitivity to the experience of his subjects crosses over to his awareness of how these transformations manifest in everyday life and how they feed into current affairs, such as his discussion of pregnancy and menopause in the context of ownership over the female body. His honesty about things he has not experienced and questions that medicine has not answered for his patients or himself invite the same empathy that he shows.
The writing is intensely lyrical in a way rarely experienced with non-fiction. Francis eschews the clinical language of his profession (where this is appropriate) and demonstrates an impressive facility for effective metaphor. His descriptions of the body and the mind reveal the essential beauty to be found in all forms and states of life and are surprisingly vivid and moving, particularly his final section describing an autopsy in frank but thoughtful detail.
It's an enthusiastic, compassionate and beautifully written investigation of change and a testament to the individuality and mutability of the experience of being human.
Francis's sensitivity to the experience of his subjects crosses over to his awareness of how these transformations manifest in everyday life and how they feed into current affairs, such as his discussion of pregnancy and menopause in the context of ownership over the female body. His honesty about things he has not experienced and questions that medicine has not answered for his patients or himself invite the same empathy that he shows.
The writing is intensely lyrical in a way rarely experienced with non-fiction. Francis eschews the clinical language of his profession (where this is appropriate) and demonstrates an impressive facility for effective metaphor. His descriptions of the body and the mind reveal the essential beauty to be found in all forms and states of life and are surprisingly vivid and moving, particularly his final section describing an autopsy in frank but thoughtful detail.
It's an enthusiastic, compassionate and beautifully written investigation of change and a testament to the individuality and mutability of the experience of being human.
May 23, 2019
Od dłuższego czasu nie czytałam takiej książki. Dowiadujemy się z niej różnych ciekawych rzeczy, takich jak, że gdy mamy problem z porfirynami istnieje możliwość zaburzeń czucia, niedowłady, psychozy oraz napady padaczkowe. Można także odczuwać to jako wrażliwość na słońce, dlatego kiedyś mówiono, że ktoś przeszedł transformację w wilkołaka.
Kolejną ciekawostką są połączenia zmysłów w mózgu. Sygnały z oczu przechodzą przez tylną część mózgu i są odbierane kilka centymetrów ponad kręgami szyjnymi. Wiadomo powszechnie, że wszystko w ludzki ciele jest ze sobą połączone.
Autor opisuje i rozwiązuje medyczne mity, które od zawsze były między nami. Począwszy od transformacji w wilkołaka po anoreksję przez gigantyzm połączony z śmiechem, a skończywszy na śmierci.
Jeżeli nikt z Was jeszcze nie miał styczności z autorem to bardzo zachęcam do przeczytania i zobaczenia oczyma wyobraźni różnych ciekawostek na temat ludzkiego ciała.
Kolejną ciekawostką są połączenia zmysłów w mózgu. Sygnały z oczu przechodzą przez tylną część mózgu i są odbierane kilka centymetrów ponad kręgami szyjnymi. Wiadomo powszechnie, że wszystko w ludzki ciele jest ze sobą połączone.
Autor opisuje i rozwiązuje medyczne mity, które od zawsze były między nami. Począwszy od transformacji w wilkołaka po anoreksję przez gigantyzm połączony z śmiechem, a skończywszy na śmierci.
Jeżeli nikt z Was jeszcze nie miał styczności z autorem to bardzo zachęcam do przeczytania i zobaczenia oczyma wyobraźni różnych ciekawostek na temat ludzkiego ciała.
December 4, 2018
A fantastic book. I am biased as I do love my medical/anthropology/psychology/philosophy books, and this has it all in spades. Gavin Francis comes across as a very laid back yet knowledgeable medic which is reflected in his writing. I like the layout of chapters with a particular subject of curiosity, case studies remembered over a long career and some musings from Greek, French, and Latin philosophers among the many. I particularly enjoyed the chapters entitled Werewolves, Scalp, Anorexia, Gender and Menopause. The book is organised so that you can dip into certain chapters without having read the one before or after; each is a stand alone. I am ever fascinated by the human body, mind and our presence upon the Earth. If you are too, then I would suggest reading this book.
March 11, 2019
Not sure I can give this book a fair review. It wasn't the book I had imagined it to be and I am really disappointed not to be able to read the book I had imagined. It's really just more of the same as Adventures in Human Being, which is all right, but the title/blurb/artwork made me think it was going to be a more philosophical read about the indefinite divide between health and illness when all our bodies are in a constant state of flux. It wasn't. I want to read the book I imagined this was :(
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