Review by Booklist Review
The human heart holds a preeminent position in biology, culture, and myth as a dynamic organ and a powerful symbol. Zoologist Schutt (Cannibalism, 2017) offers readers a smorgasbord of cardiovascular science, history, and unusual tidbits. Schutt covers the basic anatomy and physiology of the human heart and circulatory system and delves into comparative anatomy, revealing unique aspects of the cardiovascular systems of icefish, horseshoe crabs, earthworms, and bats, to name just a few. Medical history is briefly considered, including bloodletting, the invention of the stethoscope, and cardiac catheterization. Schutt describes an unsuccessful transplant of a baboon heart into a human baby born with a congenital heart defect in 1984, the extraction and preservation of a nearly 400-pound heart from a dead blue whale, and the effect of emotional stress on the heart ("broken heart syndrome" or Takotsubo syndrome). Trivia abounds: Giraffes have the highest blood pressure of any mammal, 280/180 mmHg. The maximum heart rate of hummingbirds is 1,260 beats per minute. This is an easy-to-read and fascinating look into the complexity and wonder of the heart in its many forms.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"The history of cardiovascular medicine has no shortage of strange stories and bizarre treatments," writes zoologist Schutt (Cannibalism) in this show-stopping exploration of cardiac biology. In three parts, Schutt muses on various aspects of the heart, balancing scientific facts and light anecdotes. Part one, "Wild at Heart," provides an evolutionary history of the heart and the circulatory system, and introduces antarctic icefish, the only vertebrates with clear rather than red blood. "What We Knew and What We Thought We Knew" takes a retrospective look at early ideas on the heart, surveying how it was once thought to be the "center of emotion," and "From Bad to Better" covers such cardiovascular discoveries as cardiac catheterization and the origin of the stethoscope (a Parisian physician invented it in the 1810s). Along the way, Schutt discusses such curiosities as the possible maladies that befell Charles Darwin (serious heart disease, based on his letters) and the fact that beached, putrefying blue whales don't explode from the buildup of internal gases as happens with sperm whales. The author successfully pairs accessible science with strong storytelling, describing how Greek, Egyptian, and medieval scholars helped advance human knowledge (and at times misled it). The result is informative, playful, and impossible to put down. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Zoologist Schutt (American Museum of Natural History; author of the best-selling Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History) turns his wry lens on the heart and circulatory system in this entertaining read. Divided into three parts, the book begins with a survey of the animal kingdom that explains the heart's anatomy, physiological functions, and evolution. Schutt covers a lot of ground here and discusses serious science, but his witty style keeps it readable. The book's second part traces the progression of medical knowledge about the heart and circulatory system. Here, Schutt is in his element, highlighting "strange stories and bizarre treatments" like bloodletting and early attempts at blood transfusion. He discusses the medical pioneers from around the world who established many of the present day's understandings (and misunderstandings) of the heart and circulation, including Galen of Pergamon, Ibn al-Nafis, Andreas Vesalius, and William Harvey. The book's final part covers advances in modern cardiology, particularly René Laënnec's 1816 invention of the stethoscope, and the first cardiac catheterization, by Werner Forssmann in 1929. The book includes helpful black-and-white illustrations of the heart's anatomy. VERDICT An engaging, often droll look at the engine of life and the long history of efforts to understand it.--Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A professor of biology writes "a story about hearts and the circulatory systems associated with them." By definition, the heart is an organ that receives fluid containing oxygen and nutrients from the body and then pumps it back out. Tiny, one-celled organisms--and some not so tiny (flatworms, corals, jellyfish)--don't need one; they acquire these necessities by simple diffusion from the outside. More than 500 million years ago, writes Schutt, who is also a research associate in residence at the American Museum of Natural History, muscles evolved, forming the earliest circulatory system that moved fluids around. Hearts evolved later. The heart allows animals to grow large and move fast, but it isn't essential. Insects don't have one, but they don't grow large. Although most readers give priority to their own heart, the author waits until the book's halfway point to take it up. Nonetheless, few will object to his detours, including the especially enjoyable sections on the horseshoe crab and the blue whale. Ten chapters on the human heart deliver a scattershot but satisfying mixture of history, biology, and high-tech medicine. We are aware of our heart, perhaps more than other organs, so common sense convinced people throughout history that it was the seat of consciousness and personality. The rise of scientific research led to more accurate information, but it was a bumpy process, as revealed by Schutt's informative and gruesome history of transfusions and transplantation. This is not a self-help book, but readers will learn details of common heart diseases and their treatments. Schutt peppers his text with jokes, asides, and cute footnotes, but tolerant readers will learn a great deal. Wynne's clean, black-and-white line drawings, especially the diagrams of complex biological systems, provide a helpful visual accompaniment to the text. A fine overview of an essential organ. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
