The Sublime Engine

Starred review from February 21, 2011
The brothers Amidon refer to their book as a "biography of this remarkable machine" and it’s a fitting description for such a tidy volume. Chapters begin with entertaining and illustrative historical tales, before reviewing the roles that people have assigned to the heart, as a metaphor for what is "most essential in a human being" and the place "in which Jesus Christ dwelled" (from 399 BCE, an era that also looked heavenward to explain the myocardial infarction). The authors liberally sprinkle their effort with charm and literary allusions, to The Scarlet Letter, Measure for Measure, (where love is "a sort of cardiac shock") and other texts. In fact, The Sublime Engine is that rare book: so entertaining that its ability to educate seems effortless. The authors turn the heart into a beloved friend for whom we should care desperately; readers may in fact be more inspired to "start jogging and eat fewer cheeseburgers" by Amidon (author of Human Capital) and Amidon (a practicing cardiologist) than by their own GP, which makes a final tale of two very different men who suffer heart attacks, and the disparity of care that they receive, even more, yes, heartbreaking.

February 1, 2011
As the bodys main power source and traditionally presumed seat of emotions, the human heart has inspired more natural philosophy and literature than any other organ. The brothers and coauthors Amidon, one a novelist, the other a cardiologist, call their unusual collaboration a biography because it presents a multifaceted picture of the hearts influences on mythology, science, and popular culture through the ages. In six lyrically written chapters, they trace humanitys perennial fascination with the heart through the eyes of historys greatest artists and medical explorers, beginning with the Greeks and fancifully ending with a peek into the future of cardiological innovation. Particularly attention-grabbing are the stories of groundbreaking researchers, such as Sir William Harvey, who discovered the circulatory system, and German internist Werner Forssmann, who proved the value of catheterization by inserting a tube in his own heart. The only shortcoming of this fascinating and engaging survey is the Amidons admitted neglect of the Asian perspective, but the end result should appeal to both poets and physicians.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2010

Novelist Stephen Amidon (Security, 2009, etc.) and his brother, cardiologist Thomas Amidon, examine the "different ways that we have thought about the heart ever since it first took root in the Western imagination."

The authors begin with an account of the Egyptian practice of mummifying the bodies of their elite. All internal organs were removed and disposed of, with the exception of the heart, believed to be the repository of the soul. As part of their religious rituals, physician-priests preserved the heart separately but also studied its physical function in the body. According to a papyrus dated approximately 1500 BCE, they developed a rudimentary notion of the circulatory system. Greek physicians, who were banned from dissecting corpses, believed the heart to be the source of bodily heat because of its role in sustaining life but debated whether the capacity for thought and emotion was located in the heart or the brain. Looking at the Middle Ages, the authors assert that "[t]heology trumped biology," with the body seen as the seat of sin. During the Renaissance, there was a rebirth of science and art, and Leonardo da Vinci studied human anatomy. Although he adopted mistaken Greek views of the heart's function, he made realistic drawings of coronary arteries. In the 16th century, William Harvey explained the action of the circulatory system and the heart's role as a pump--a discovery the Amidons rank with those of Newton and Galileo--while his contemporary Shakespeare explored its vast metaphorical content. The authors review the great advances in the treatment of heart disease over the past century and look optimistically to the future.

An enjoyable celebration of the collaboration of visionaries.

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