May 7, 2018
Swartz (coauthor of Power Failure), a Texas Monthly executive editor, delivers a riveting medical thriller in this story of the quest to create an artificial heart. The starring role belongs to a quirky and brilliant workaholic Houston heart surgeon in cowboy boots, Bud Frazier. The book begins and ends with the spotlight on him; along the way, the author takes readers on a rollicking ride with similarly fascinating characters. They include single-minded Australian inventor Daniel Timms and driven surgeon Michael DeBakey, who helped make Baylor College of Medicine into a world-class institution while alienating many colleagues along the way. A few of these people are described in terms more reminiscent of a romance novel than a nonfiction account, including surgeon (and DeBakey rival), Denton Cooley, who “was so handsome... he could make the wives of patients momentarily forget their husbands’ dire circumstances.” Readers will be on the edge of their seats waiting to see how Frazier and company overcome a variety of obstacles, such as the objections of a risk-averse FDA, the fallout from the death of the first artificial-heart recipient, and a last-minute shortage of funds. Told in an appropriately over-the-top style, this is a quintessentially Texas story: sprawling, unpredictable, and teeming with risk and opportunity.
June 15, 2018
This story of the development of a variety of heart-assisting or heart-replacing devices focuses on key individuals at premier hospitals in Houston. The only thing grander than the goal is the size of doctors' competing egos as they vie to be first to develop or implant a working artificial heart. Desperate patients are treated little better than the calves used for experiments. The hospitals proclaim them to be examples of success while the media reports horrible failure when critically ill volunteers die days later. Informal and chatty in tone, this history could pass for a soap opera except for the stories that are cut short. Readers are introduced to a couple who fall in love, marry, and then the husband feels ill. They disappear from the narrative till much later, when the husband receives an experimental device but succumbs to his illness four weeks later. After many promising attempts readers will wonder if there will ever be a viable, long-term artificial heart. VERDICT For fans of nonfiction with a little suspense and drama. Not recommended for animal lovers or people looking for a more academic treatment. [See Prepub Alert, 2/26/18.]--Susanne Caro, North Dakota State Univ., Fargo
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 15, 2018
The legacy of heart-saving innovations viewed through the eyes of pioneering cardiologists.Because heart disease, which "kills more people around the world than all the cancers combined," is the primary threat to human health across the globe, it's vital that researchers continue to develop new ways to fight and survive it. Spotlighting the efforts of a long series of medical trailblazers, Texas Monthly executive editor Swartz (co-author: Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, 2003) charts the evolution of cardiac technologies. The author focuses on the personalities responsible for these breakthroughs and examines four Texans in particular and how their work has radically altered the surgical success and survival rates of heart patients worldwide. Swartz profiles several enterprising physicians at the forefront of this movement who were spurred to act swiftly "because advances in treating and curing heart disease weren't coming fast enough." Among them are determined coronary pioneer Michael DeBakey, risk-taking surgeon Denton Cooley, surgeon and "innovation evangelist" Billy Cohn, and the Texas Heart Institute's Oscar "Bud" Frazier, a Vietnam veteran and tireless career cardiac surgeon whose specialty was transplantation and the left ventricular assist device. All four--in addition to many others--demonstrated drive and the creative innovation necessary to revolutionize the way heart patients survived and thrived through the development of new techniques and lifesaving devices. Even casually interested readers will become fascinated by Swartz's vivid depiction of Frazier at work in the operating room. The author also analyzes the evolution of some admittedly dicey medical procedures and mechanical devices like the artificial heart, and she includes details on animal testing, a crucial necessity but no less heartbreaking for pet lovers. "Science isn't always pretty," writes the author, "metaphorically or literally." The author adds breadth and perspective with sections covering the case histories of desperate patients who came to the Texas Heart Institute for medical intervention.Swartz is a witty, savvy, seasoned journalist, and she offers a welcome history of significant medical advances.
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