Heart: A History: Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2019

Description

The spark of life, fount of emotion, house of the soul - the heart lies at the centre of every facet of our existence. It's so bound up in our deepest feelings that it can even suffer such distress from emotional trauma as to physically change shape. Practising cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar beautifully weaves his own experiences with the defining discoveries of the past to tell the story of our most vital organ. We see Daniel Hale Williams perform the first open-heart surgery and Wilson Greatbatch invent the pacemaker - by accident. Amid gripping scenes from the operating theatre, Jauhar tells the moving tale of his family's own history of heart problems and, looking to the future, he outlines why the way we choose to live will be more important than any device we invent.

Sandeep Jauhar is director of the Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He is the New York Times bestselling author of two medical memoirs and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He lives on Long Island with his wife and their son and daughter.

'A book of unusual depth and richness about a subject that concerns us all...Heart: A history is elegantly conceived and still more elegantly executed...Sandeep Jauhar writes with a vital, pulsating energy.' * TLS * 'Jauhar weaves his own personal and family story into his history of the heart...very effectively... This gives a certain dramatic tension to the book, as it tells the fascinating and rather wonderful history of cardiology.' * Henry Marsh, New Statesman * '[An] absorbing book about the vital organ that keeps us alive.' * Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year 2018 * 'This is a vital book. A charming, honest and unflinching exploration of a most fascinating organ: the heart. Cardiologist and author Sandeep Jauhar beautifully weaves medical research with philosophy, science with personal stories - of patients and doctors, including his very own. The depth of his knowledge is remarkable but the breadth of his compassion even more so.' -- Elif Shafak, Chair, 2019 Wellcome Book Prize 'A moving narrative echoing to the beat of "this organ, prime mover and citadel".' * Nature * 'Gripping... Jauhar hooks the reader of Heart from the first few pages... Most chapters launch with a riveting scene... Fun facts are sprinkled throughout... Heart is chock-full of absorbing tales that infuse fresh air into a topic that is often relegated to textbooks or metaphors about pumps, plumbing, or love.' * New York Times Book Review * 'Dr. Jauhar expertly weaves little-known tales from medical history into his own personal and professional experiences to create a richly detailed book about the human heart. Thoroughly engrossing and full of historical gems.' -- Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art 'Jauhar...is our trusty guide through a compelling story about what makes each and every one of us tick... Both primer and ode, Heart is a fascinating education for those of us who harbour this most hallowed organ but know little about it.' * Washington Post * 'Sandeep Jauhar writes with the eye of a doctor and the heart of a poet. His latest book, Heart: A History, is a superb tribute to our most vital organ.' -- Marilyn Yalom, Stanford University, author of The Amorous Heart: An Unconventional History of Love 'Part-memoir, part-history of his medical specialty, Heart links the physical organ with the emotional one.' * Spectator * 'The cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar has become a Dante of modern medicine... Heart: A History is something of a "Paradiso," pointing to the field's brightest and noblest stars while recognizing just how much darkness is still left in the firmament... Poignant and chattily erudite.' * Wall Street Journal * 'Cardiologist Jauhar moves beautifully between "dual tracks" of "learning about the heart...but also what was in my heart,"... Covering enough physiology to make scientific details easily understood, Jauhar emphasizes how brave, desperate, and sometimes foolhardy experiments led to important developments, such as the heart-lung machine... Jauhar is thoughtful, self-reflective, and profoundly respectful of doctors and patients alike; readers will respond by opening their own hearts a little bit, to both grief and wonder.' * Publisher's Weekly, starred review * 'In Heart: A History, Sandeep Jauhar, one of the most talented physician-writers of our era, takes us on an enlightening, uplifting journey through the major milestones and advances of heart disease - while at the same time anchoring his intimate, personal experiences.' -- Eric Topol, Scripps Research Institute, author of The Patient Will See You Now