A gimlet eye analyses the anatomy of the self

Non-fiction: Adventures in Human Being. By Gavin Francis. Profile Books, €20.

Gavin Francis draws on sources such as Leonardo da Vinci for his new work

Before he started training as a general practitioner, Gavin Francis spent over a year in Antarctica working as an expedition medic at one of the most isolated research stations in the world. Francis vividly conjured his personal journey and the continent’s stark landscape in his memoir Empire Antarctica, which won the 2013 Scottish Book of the Year Award.

In Adventures in Human Being, Francis is again navigating arresting territory, but this time it’s ...