The Beating Heart: The Art and Science of Our Most Vital Organ

An investigation into the human heart by a distinguished cardiologist, exploring representations of the heart and how our understanding of its function has developed over 2,500 years. In The Beating Heart, Robin Choudhury explores how the heart has been represented over time and across cultures. He investigates the interplay between the heart depictions of successive eras and the prevailing cultural discourse – religious, social, philosophical – of each. In parallel, he considers how the ‘scientific’ understanding of the function of the heart has unfolded over 2,500 years, from the observations of Aristotle, through detailed anatomical descriptions beginning in the Renaissance, to the emergence of experimental physiology in the seventeenth century, culminating in the twentieth in full understanding of the molecular and cellular processes by which the heart beats autonomously. The Beating Heart is a beautifully illustrated journey of discovery across four millennia of human history, in the company of an author whose medical knowledge of the heart is matched by his fascination with the visual arts.

About the Author :
Robin Choudhury is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford and a practising cardiologist. His clinical expertise is in the treatment of heart attack and he runs a laboratory working on mechanisms of heart injury and repair. He is a Fellow of Balliol College and of the Royal College of Physicians, and is a former Wellcome Senior Research Fellow. He has published over 200 academic papers and book chapters. He is co-editor of the Handbook of Cardiology Emergencies.

Review :
The Beating Heart offers a remarkable exploration of how the human heart has been studied and portrayed across a wide range of cultures and disciplines. Robin Choudhury takes us on this fascinating journey with clear prose, eye-opening insights and a brisk narrative. Much more than a book of scientific divulgation, The Beating Heart is writing in action. Like the premodern heart, this book is open, porous, sentient, and in love. Like the modern heart, it has muscle. At its centre there are vivid images of bleeding, beating, and disembodied hearts that explain and celebrate the organ that still today — thanks to (and perhaps despite) poets, artists, philosophers and doctors — signifies ‘I exist’. A thrilling and deeply enriching journey of discovery into the mysteries of the organ that, from ancient times to our own day, has been seen as the very centre of human life – whether biological or spiritual, ethical or emotional. One of the most exciting and enlightening books I have ever read. An absorbing and visual feast that should be compulsory reading for all who study medicine and… anyone interested in what it is to be human. From the Upanishads to William Harvey to Frida Kahlo, Robin Choudhury traces a 2,000-year-old human obsession with what is essentially a mechanical pump that has endured as the eternal symbol of love. Every page of this richly illustrated biography is a marvel. In contemporary parlance, you could say, I heart this glorious book. Engaging and erudite, Choudhury traces the evolution of our understanding of the human heart from Aristotle to Leonardo to 4D mapping today. Rich in artistic and anatomical imagery, The Beating Heart is a fascinating study of our most vital organ. A fantastic journey through the cultural and scientific history of the heart. Drawing on literature, philosophy and popular culture and exploring the work of artists as diverse as Tracey Emin, Frida Kahlo and Giotto, the author illustrates his point with a dazzling collection of visual depictions of the heart: woodcuts, prints, paintings, murals, anatomical drawings, kinetic sculptures and emoticons.