The Matter of the Heart: A History of the Heart in Eleven Operations

I bought this book after reading a review in the scientific magazine Nature. There are two opposite risks with this kind of work; it may either explain things too simply in order to be understood or it may address all the problems as if the reader were a specialist in the field. Thomas Morris avoids both pitfalls. His writing is clear, elegant and well documented. For all the 11 surgical procedures on the heart, he shows us, first, why cardiac surgery was regarded as impossible because it was too risky, then what procedures were tested and introduced to avoid these risks, and finally the dramatic successes in curing thousands of patients. In fact, cardiologists of many countries, eve small ones, were involved in these successes. This history is as exhilarating as the recent history of computing. I just have a small critique of the book: it should have simple diagrams to support the text.

A really well written account of the progress in the treatment of heart disease. It is amazing that so much progress was made, as the surgeons were always faced with treating only the very worst cases - people who were very near death, for whom experimental treatment was the last resort. Another example of how the world is so much a better place now than it was just one or two generations ago.

Well written and researched book. A lot of detail about many different people involved in cardiac surgeryso it will also appeal to medical historians as well as those reading for pleasure and general interest.

I worked in Cardio - Thoracic Theaters from 1969 until 1979. The changes in that time remarkable. Very well written and informative.

as described

Fascinating book, and well written.

very good service and extremely interesting book

The book itself is fine, but the seller described it as "very good" condition which is wrong. I would say it is "acceptable".