{"title":"Gavin Francis","description":"\u003cp\u003eGavin Francis explores the delicate interplay between human experience and the natural world through evocative travel narratives and insightful reflections. His writing journeys to remote landscapes, from the icy expanses of Antarctica to the rugged terrains of Arctic Europe, blending vivid adventure with thoughtful observation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlongside his travel tales, Francis delves into themes of health and resilience, offering profound meditations on the mind, body, and recovery. Readers can expect richly crafted works that illuminate the complexities of human endurance amidst both the wild and the clinical.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"intensive-care-by-gavin-francis-9781788167338","title":"Intensive Care","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eScotsman\u003c\/i\u003e 2021 Non-Fiction Highlight\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Searing yet beautiful ... less a hot take than an astute manifesto for what matters most in life, as well as in medicine.' - Rachel Clarke, author of \u003ci\u003eBreathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eYour Life in My Hands\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Well written, often entertaining and occasionally deeply moving; an unmissable account of a year we will all try too hard to forget.' - \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Inspiring. I can't recommend it too strongly. You will learn a lot from it, and you will find much more that is encouraging.' - Allan Massie, \u003ci\u003eScotsman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIntensive Care\u003c\/i\u003e is about how coronavirus emerged, spread across the world and changed all of our lives forever. But it's not, perhaps, the story you expect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGavin Francis is a GP who works in both urban and rural communities, splitting his time between Edinburgh and the islands of Orkney. When the pandemic arrived in our society he saw how it affected every walk of life: the anxious teenager, the isolated care home resident, the struggling furloughed worker and homeless ex-prisoner, all united by their vulnerability in the face of a global disaster. And he saw how the true cost of the virus was measured not just in infections, or deaths, or ITU beds, but in the consequences of the measures taken against it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this deeply personal account of nine months spent caring for a society in crisis, Francis will take you from rural village streets to local clinics and communal city stairways. And in telling this story, he reveals others: of loneliness and hope, illness and recovery, and of what we can achieve when we care for each other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854610878700,"sku":"9781788167338","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/89c236394c2461bdd8f1d3e23c1f25e9.jpg?v=1759267597"},{"product_id":"recovery-by-gavin-francis-9781800810488","title":"Recovery","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives—until we are forced to contend with what they really mean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how—and why—we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCharacterised by Francis's beautiful prose and his view of medicine as 'the alliance of science and kindness', \u003cem\u003eRecovery\u003c\/em\u003e is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854803226860,"sku":"9781800810488","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/be4030de591631b1096e2a970d7b5f78.jpg?v=1759264818"},{"product_id":"island-dreams-by-gavin-francis-9781786898180","title":"Island Dreams","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eIsland Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e, Gavin Francis examines our collective fascination with islands. He blends stories of his own travels with psychology, philosophy, and great voyages from literature, shedding new light on the importance of islands and isolation in our collective consciousness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eComparing the life of freedom of thirty years of extraordinary travel from the Faroe Islands to the Aegean, from the Galapagos to the Andaman Islands with a life of responsibility as a doctor, community member, and parent approaching middle age, \u003ci\u003eIsland Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e riffs on the twinned poles of rest and motion, independence and attachment, never more relevant than in today's perennially connected world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIllustrated with maps throughout, this is a celebration of human adventures in the world and within our minds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072300400876,"sku":"9781786898180","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5510843482824.jpg?v=1765092096"},{"product_id":"the-bridge-between-worlds-by-gavin-francis-9781805300137","title":"The Bridge Between Worlds","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a world increasingly preoccupied by borders, bridges celebrate the possibility of connection, allowing the flow of goods, people and ideas. Bridges are among our grandest physical structures with the power of transforming lives and economies, but we also stand (or fall) upon the simple arch of bones in our feet. Text is a bridge between writer and reader, and conversation builds bridges of understanding between minds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDr Gavin Francis has spent his life fascinated by the power of bridges to improve human connection. In \u003ci\u003eThe Bridge Between Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e he examines bridges both actual and metaphorical, on a journey through more than twenty countries, across four decades of travel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Rome's Ponte Sant'Angelo to Brooklyn, Victoria Falls to London, Singapore to Siberia, this thought-provoking book reflects on connections between nations and between individuals. Francis demonstrates what the building of bridges has meant to our civilisation, how crossings can enrich our lives, and the price we pay when we tear them down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072371343596,"sku":"9781805300137","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21015673482830.jpg?v=1765098927"},{"product_id":"true-north-travels-in-arctic-europe-by-gavin-francis-9781837261956","title":"True North: Travels in Arctic Europe","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDriven by a yearning to experience the vast skies and frozen beauty of the North, Gavin Francis goes in search of the people living along the northern limits of Europe. From the first Greek explorers to the Vikings to modern polar adventurers, he travels through history and legend to find out why—and how—we are drawn to the North.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis's encounters in the Arctic teach him as much about that sense of longing for the North, and of belonging to the North, as the seafarers, warriors, monks, and poets whose stories he follows. In Shetland, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, and Lapland, Francis finds a way of life characterised by both peace and unease, threatened as it is by the shadow of climate change and the tense, ever-increasing importance of Arctic Europe in global power politics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072389726444,"sku":"9781837261956","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3604383482842.jpg?v=1765101129"},{"product_id":"empire-antarctica-by-gavin-francis-9781837263912","title":"Empire Antarctica","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the Costa Biography Prize, RSL Ondaatje Prize, Banff Adventure Travel Prize and Saltire Book of the Year Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBook of the Year for the \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, \u003ci\u003eScotsman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA travel book pick for the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGavin Francis spent fourteen months in one of the remotest places in the world: Halley, a research station in Antarctica. Storm-locked and frozen, it is said to be easier to evacuate a casualty from the International Space Station than it is to bring someone out of Halley in winter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the icy emptiness of Antarctica, where one misstep outdoors can mean death but the confined corridors of Halley can drive you mad, Gavin challenges himself to thrive at the ends of the earth. In the penguin colonies, a species utterly adapted to the harsh environment, he finds community, inspiration and joy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47288437047532,"sku":"9781837263912","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3623943482842.jpg?v=1770552746"},{"product_id":"island-dreams-by-gavin-francis-9781786898203","title":"Island Dreams","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eIsland Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e, Gavin Francis combines stories of his own travels with psychology, philosophy and myth, shedding new light on the importance of islands and isolation in our collective consciousness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis draws on thirty years of island adventures from the Faroe Islands to the Aegean, from the Galapagos to the Andaman Islands. He contrasts these quests for freedom with the demands for commitment required as a doctor, community member and parent. \u003ci\u003eIsland Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e riffs on the twin poles of rest and motion, independence and attachment, never more relevant than in today's ever-connected world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47424404390124,"sku":"9781786898203","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781786898203.jpg?v=1774768536"},{"product_id":"the-unfragile-mind-by-gavin-francis-9781800819757","title":"The Unfragile Mind","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrancis combines the precision of science with a profound insight into the human condition\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eAdventures in Human Being\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eRecovery\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBetween a quarter and a fifth of young people in the UK now suffer from a mental disorder. One in four adults are prescribed psychiatric medication. These numbers represent a huge and recent expansion in mental health labelling but reveal nothing of the experience of those seeking help.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Unfragile Mind\u003c\/em\u003e, Gavin draws on conversations with patients, colleagues, and his thirty years of practice to explore the chequered history of psychiatry, the nature of mental health and ill-health, and the problems - including mood disorders, trauma, anxiety and addiction - that he addresses daily.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe mind, he argues, is dynamic and adaptive - better addressed not with rigid labels and protocols, but with curiosity, kindness, humility and hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48126637932780,"sku":"9781800819757","price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781800819757-the-unfragile-mind.jpg?v=1785973225"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/gavin-francis.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}