Education
Born in Fife in 1975, Francis studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, after which he worked in A&East at the old Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
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book
True North: Travels in Arctic Europe
(The stark, vast beauty of the remote Arctic Europe landsc...)
The stark, vast beauty of the remote Arctic Europe landscape has been the focus of human exploration for thousands of years. In this striking blend of travel writing, history and mythology, Gavin Francis offers a unique portrait of the northern fringes of Europe. His journey begins in the Shetland Isles, takes him to the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard and on to Lapland. Following in the footsteps of the region's early pioneers, Francis observes how the region has adapted to the 21st century, giving an observed insight into the lives of people he encounters along the way. As with all the best travel writing, "True North" is an engaging, compassionate tale of self-discovery, whilst blending historical and contemporary narratives in the tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Robert Macfarlane.
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Adventures in Human Being (Wellcome) by Gavin Francis (2015-04-30)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSKCU2U/?tag=2022091-20
(Adventures in Human Being) Author: Gavin Francis published on (May, 2015)
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Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum by Gavin Francis (2015-10-13)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017WQQNE6/?tag=2022091-20
Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum
( We assume we know our bodies intimately, but for many o...)
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 hidden pathways of 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 life and in death. When assessing a young woman with paralysis of the face, Francis reflects on the age-old difficulty artists have had in capturing human expression. A veteran of the war in Iraq suffers a shoulder injury that Homer first described three millennia ago in the Iliad. And when a gardener pricks her finger on a dirty rose thorn, her case of bacterial blood poisoning brings to mind the comatose sleeping beauties in the fairy tales we learn as children. 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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465079687/?tag=2022091-20
Adventures in Human Being (Wellcome)
( We have a lifetime's association with our bodies, but f...)
We have a lifetime's association with our bodies, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory. In Adventures in Human Being, Gavin Francis leads the listener on a journey through health and illness, offering insights on everything from the ribbed surface of the brain to the secret workings of the heart and the womb; from the pulse of life at the wrist to the unique engineering of the foot. Drawing on his own experiences as a doctor and GP, he blends firsthand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over the millennia. If the body is a foreign country, then to practise medicine is to explore new territory: Francis leads the listener on an adventure through what it means to be human. Both a user's guide to the body and a celebration of its elegance, this audiobook will transform the way you think about being alive, whether in sickness or in health. Gavin Francis is an award-winning writer and doctor and a contributor to The Guardian, The New York Review of Books and London Review of Books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1781253412/?tag=2022091-20
Gavin Francis
Edit ProfileCareer
He was raised in Fife, Scotland, and now lives in Edinburgh where he works as a General Practice. His 2012 book Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins was named the 2013 Scottish Book of the Year. After qualifying as a physician, Francis spent ten years travelling, during which time he visited all seven continents. A keen traveller, Francis has spent time working in India and Africa, has made several trips to the Arctic, and is reported to have crossed Eurasia and Australasia by motorcycle.
He was working at the Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital when he decided to undertake a 15-month position as the resident doctor with the British Antarctic Survey.
Francis arrived at the Halley Research Station in Antarctica via the RRS Ernest Shackleton, a supply ship, on Christmas Eve, 2002, after a two-month voyage. His experiences would eventually form the basis for his second book, Empire Antarctica (2012).
His first book, True North:Travels in Arctic Europe (2008), detailed his experiences travelling Arctic Europe from Unst to Svalbard. Francis has contributed articles and reviews to The Guardian, to which he began contributing in 2010, the London Review of Books, and the New York Review of Books, where he has contributed several pieces since 2013.
In addition to book reviews, his contributions occasionally consisted of prose ruminations on medical topics such as stethoscopes and the human brain, an approach that led to his being commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to produce a collection of essays in this style.
The collection, Adventures in Human Being (May 2015), is being published by Profile Books in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection. lieutenant is part of a series of collaborations which launched with the publication of Val MacDermid"s Forensics: An Anatomy of Crime in August 2014. 2013 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year: Empire Antarctica.
Achievements
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2013 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year: Empire Antarctica 2013 Ondaatje Prize: Empire Antarctica (shortlist) 2013 Saltire Prize Book of the Year: Empire Antarctica (shortlist) 2013 Costa Book of the Year: Empire Antarctica (shortlist) 2013 Banff Mountain Book Competition: Empire Antarctica (shortlisted finalist).
Works
book
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Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum
( We assume we know our bodies intimately, but for many o...)
-
True North: Travels in Arctic Europe
(The stark, vast beauty of the remote Arctic Europe landsc...)
-
Adventures in Human Being (Wellcome)
( We have a lifetime's association with our bodies, but f...)
- Adventures in Human Being (Wellcome) by Gavin Francis (2015-04-30)
- (Adventures in Human Being) Author: Gavin Francis published on (May, 2015)
- Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum by Gavin Francis (2015-10-13)
-
Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum
