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.