The best science books of 2015

Going feet first into evolutionary theory, the race to crack the genetic code and a memorable journey around the coast of Britain

• Best of culture in 2015: see this year's cultural highlights, chosen by the Guardian's writers and critics

Gavin Francis has a remarkable pedigree as a medical writer. He has been a paediatrician, an obstetrician and a doctor in a geriatric ward. He has also been a medic on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions and worked in community clinics in Africa and India, before ending up in a family doctor's clinic in Edinburgh. For good measure, he is also an award-winning travel writer.

This, in short, is a man who knows his way around the world, and the human body, and also knows how to write about it. The end result is the admirable Adventures in Human Being (Wellcome Collection), my choice for science book of the year.