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An eye-opening and heroic story of pioneering heart surgeons, structured around eleven operations.For thousands of years the human heart remained the deepest of mysteries; both home to the soul and an organ too complex to touch, let alone operate on.
Then, in the late nineteenth century, medics began going where no one had dared go before. The following decades saw the mysteries of the heart exposed, thanks to pioneering surgeons, brave patients and even sacrificial dogs.
In eleven landmark operations, Thomas Morris tells us stories of triumph, reckless bravery, swaggering arrogance, jealousy and rivalry, and incredible ingenuity: the trail-blazing 'blue baby' procedure that transformed wheezing infants into pink, healthy children; the first human heart transplant, which made headline news around the globe. And yet the heart still feels sacred: just before the operation to fit one of the first artificial hearts, the patient's wife asked the surgeon if he would still be able to love her.
The Matter of the Heart gives us a view over the surgeon's shoulder, showing us the heart's inner workings and failings. It describes both a human story and a history of risk-taking that has ultimately saved millions of lives.
List of contents
IntroductionChapter 1: Bullet to the HeartStowell Park, Gloucestershire
February 19th, 1945
Chapter 2: Blue BabiesBaltimore, Maryland
November 29th, 1944
Chapter 3: "A Sensible Hissing"Houston, Texas
January 5th, 1953
Chapter 4: Ice Baths and Monkey LungsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
May 6th, 1953
Chapter 5: Rubber Balls and Pig ValvesPortland, Oregon
September 21st, 1960
Chapter 6: Metronomes and Nuclear ReactorsStockholm, Sweden
October 8th, 1958
Chapter 7: "Strong and Peculiar Symptoms"Cleveland, Ohio
October 19th, 1967
Chapter 8: One Life, Two HeartsCape Town, South Africa
December 3rd, 1967
Chapter 9: Clinical Trial by MediaSalt Lake City, Utah
December 2nd, 1982
Chapter 10: Fantastic VoyageLausanne, Switzerland
June 12th, 1986
Chapter 11: I, Robot (Surgeon)Boston, Massachusetts
November 7th, 2005
About the author
Thomas Morris
