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Shapeshifters : a journey through the changing human body / Gavin Francis.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First US editionDescription: 282 pages : illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781541697522
  • 1541697529
Subject(s):
Contents:
Transformation -- Werewolves: agitation at the full moon -- Conception: the first and second reason for existing -- Sleep: the chamber of dreams -- Bodybuilding: unhelmed by fury -- Scalp: of horns, terror and glory -- Birth: reshaping the heart -- Rejuvenation: an alchemy of youth and beauty -- Tattooing: the art of transformation -- Anorexia: the enchantment of control -- Hallucination: a sphere of devils -- Puberty: suddenly accelerated youth -- Pregnancy: the most meticulous work -- Gigantism: two giants of Turin -- Gender: the two lives of Tiresias -- Jetlag: the brain that holds the sky -- Bonesetting: an algebra of healing -- Menopause: third face of the goddess -- Castration: hope, love, and sacrifice -- Laughter: some eminency in ourselves ; Prosthetics: humanity 2.0 -- Memory: palaces of forgetting -- Death: the celebration of life - Transformations.
Summary: "From birth to death, a lyrical exploration of the role of transformation in human life. To be alive is to be in perpetual metamorphosis: growing, healing, learning, aging. In Shapeshifters, physician and writer Gavin Francis considers the inevitable changes all of our bodies undergo-such as birth, puberty, and death, but also laughter, sleeping, and healing-and those that only some of our bodies will: like getting a tattoo, experiencing psychosis, suffering anorexia, being pregnant, or undergoing a gender transition. In Francis's hands, each event becomes an opportunity to explore the meaning of identity and the natures-biological, psychological, and philosophical-of our selves. True to its own subject, Shapeshifters combines Francis's lyrical imagination and deep knowledge of medicine and the humanities for a life-altering read."--Publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 612 F818 Available 33111009206851
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From birth to death, a lyrical exploration of the role of transformation in human life

To be alive is to be in perpetual metamorphosis: growing, healing, learning, aging. In Shapeshifters , physician and writer Gavin Francis considers the inevitable changes all of our bodies undergo -- such as birth, puberty, and death, but also laughter, sleeping, and healing-and those that only some of our bodies will: like getting a tattoo, experiencing psychosis, suffering anorexia, being pregnant, or undergoing a gender transition. In Francis's hands, each event becomes an opportunity to explore the meaning of identity and the natures-biological, psychological, and philosophical-of our selves. True to its own subject, Shapeshifters combines Francis's lyrical imagination and deep knowledge of medicine and the humanities for a life-altering read.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 248-261) and index.

Transformation -- Werewolves: agitation at the full moon -- Conception: the first and second reason for existing -- Sleep: the chamber of dreams -- Bodybuilding: unhelmed by fury -- Scalp: of horns, terror and glory -- Birth: reshaping the heart -- Rejuvenation: an alchemy of youth and beauty -- Tattooing: the art of transformation -- Anorexia: the enchantment of control -- Hallucination: a sphere of devils -- Puberty: suddenly accelerated youth -- Pregnancy: the most meticulous work -- Gigantism: two giants of Turin -- Gender: the two lives of Tiresias -- Jetlag: the brain that holds the sky -- Bonesetting: an algebra of healing -- Menopause: third face of the goddess -- Castration: hope, love, and sacrifice -- Laughter: some eminency in ourselves ; Prosthetics: humanity 2.0 -- Memory: palaces of forgetting -- Death: the celebration of life - Transformations.

"From birth to death, a lyrical exploration of the role of transformation in human life. To be alive is to be in perpetual metamorphosis: growing, healing, learning, aging. In Shapeshifters, physician and writer Gavin Francis considers the inevitable changes all of our bodies undergo-such as birth, puberty, and death, but also laughter, sleeping, and healing-and those that only some of our bodies will: like getting a tattoo, experiencing psychosis, suffering anorexia, being pregnant, or undergoing a gender transition. In Francis's hands, each event becomes an opportunity to explore the meaning of identity and the natures-biological, psychological, and philosophical-of our selves. True to its own subject, Shapeshifters combines Francis's lyrical imagination and deep knowledge of medicine and the humanities for a life-altering read."--Publisher.

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