New Delhi July 18 (IANS) Charting the dynamism of human body and mind writer-doctor Gavin Francis traces the linkage between mankind and its inevitable transformation in his book "The Shapeshifters: On Medicine and Human Change".
The book draws on Francis real-life experiences to explain bodily transformations like prosthetics castration tattooing hallucinations werewolves and bodybuilding among others.
It takes the reader through familiar and expected bodily milestones -- like pregnancy or menopause -- and the ones that take us by surprise -- "being thrown into the shadows of dementia or having a limb amputated".
The Shapeshifters (Profile Books/Rs 599/282 pages) explores the "unprecedented power of medicine to alter our lives and the limitations of that power".
The cover page of the book correlates within the human body terms like "memory hallucination aging puberty gender menopause birth death" to show the strong connection of the human body with change.
While largely avoiding medical jargon the book borrows from art history myth and magic to show how the very essence of being human is change.
Having authored "Adventures in Human Being" previously Francis has shared his clinical experience in the book acquired over the course of his medical practice.

--IANS sj/mag/sed