Adventures in Human Being : A Grand Tour From the Cranium to the Calcaneum

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. We assume we know our bodies intimately, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory. How many of us understand the way seizures affect the brain, how the heart is connected to wellbeing, or the why the foot carries 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 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.-- We all have plenty of long-held ideas about our bodies, but for many of us our bodies remain uncharted territory. In Adventures in Human Being, physician and award-winning author Gavin Francis leads readers on a journey into the hidden pathways of the human body, from the brain's pea-sized pineal gland--the so-called seat of the soul--to the delicate machinery of the hand, and from the cranium to the calcaneum, the largest bone in the foot. Drawing on his work as a General Practitioner in Scotland, as well as his experiences traveling and practicing medicine in Africa, Asia, Antarctica, and the Arctic, Francis blends case studies, first-hand accounts, and episodes from medical history, philosophy, and literature to reveal not only what can go wrong with our bodies, but also how our ideas about our anatomy have evolved. Mirroring the structure of classic anatomy books, Adventures in Human Being proceeds from the brain down to the feet, stopping along the way to reflect on how seizures occur, what vertigo really means, and why kidney transplants work. At its heart, Adventures in Human Being is a reflection on what it means to be human: for behind each disease, degeneration, or miraculous recovery lies a story of suffering and survival, lucky and unlucky, fragile and resilient. Poetic, eloquent and profoundly perceptive, Adventures in Human Being will transform the way you view your body-- A note on confidentiality -- Prologue -- Brain. Neurosurgery of the soul ; Seizures, sanctity & psychiatry -- Head. Eye : a renaissance of vision ; Face : beautiful palsy ; Inner ear : voodoo & vertigo -- Chest. Lung : The breath of life ; Heart : on seagull murmurs, ebb & flow ; Breast : two views on healing -- Upper limb. Shoulder : arms & armor ; Wrist & hand : punched, cut & crucified -- Abdomen. Kidney : the ultimate gift ; Liver : a fairy-tale ending ; Large bowel & rectum : a magnificent work of art -- Pelvis. Genitalia : of making babies ; Womb : thresholds of life & death ; Afterbirth : eat it, burn it, bury it under a tree -- Lower limb. Hip : Jacob & the angel ; Feet & toes : footsteps in the basement -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on sources -- List of images -- Index. Gavin Francis. Includes bibliographical references and index. 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. '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.