It seems as if a new genre is emerging. Take, for example, Henry Marshâs Do No Harm, Adam Kayâs This Is Going To Hurt, Paul Kalanithiâs When Breath Becomes Air, Rachel Clarkeâs Your Life In My Hands, Atul Gawandeâs Being Mortal, Caroline Eltonâs Also Human â the number of medical memoirs has coalesced into its own form. To this we can add Shapeshifters by Gavin Francis, a book which elegantly elides memoir, case study and literary criticism. Of course, Francis has form in this form, with his previous work, Adventures In Human Being. This is a more diffuse and more essayistic collection, but it is nonetheless as compelling as it is affecting. | 