Pump [Release date Sep. 21, 2021] : a natural history of the heart

A journey into the heartbeat of life on Earth. Millennia ago, when we first began puzzling over the mysteries of the human body, one organ stood out as vital. The heart was warm, it was central, and it moved as it pumped blood. The ancient Egyptians treated it with reverence, mummifying it separately from the body so that the soul inside it could be weighed. Aristotle believed that it was the seat of consciousness. Over the centuries, science has dispelled the myths, but our fascination with the heart has endured. From the origins of circulation, still evident in some microorganisms today, to the enormous hearts of blue whales, we journey with Bill to beaches where horseshoe crabs are being harvested for their life-saving blood, and under the sea to learn about the worlds most natural antifreeze, flowing through the veins of icefish. And we follow him through human history, too, as scientists hypothesize wrongly and rightly about what is arguably our most important organ, ultimately developing the technologies that have helped us study the heartand now, in the most cutting-edge labs, the tools that will help us regenerate it. Deeply researched and engagingly told, Pump is a fascinating natural history sure to be loved by readers of Mary Roach and Bill Bryson. "Fascinating . . . Surprising entertainment, combining deep learning with dad jokes . . . [Schutt] is a natural teacher with an easy way with metaphor.”— The Wall Street Journal In this lively, unexpected look at the hearts of animals—from fish to bats to humans—American Museum of Natural History zoologist Bill Schutt tells an incredible story of evolution and scientific progress. We join Schutt on a tour from the origins of circulation, still evident in microorganisms today, to the tiny hardworking pumps of worms, to the golf-cart-size hearts of blue whales. We visit beaches where horseshoe crabs are being harvested for their blood, which has properties that can protect humans from deadly illnesses. We learn that when temperatures plummet, some frog hearts can freeze solid for weeks, resuming their beat only after a spring thaw. And we journey with Schutt through human history, too, as philosophers and scientists hypothesize, often wrongly, about what makes our ticker tick. Schutt traces humanity’s cardiac fascination from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who believed that the heart contains the soul, all the way up to modern-day laboratories, where scientists use animal hearts and even plants as the basis for many of today’s cutting-edge therapies. Written with verve and authority, weaving evolutionary perspectives with cultural history, Pump shows us this mysterious organ in a completely new light. Cover 1 Also Bill Schutt 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 11 Prologue: A Small Town with a Big Heart 16 Part 1: Wild at Heart 28 1. Size Matters I 30 2. Size Matters II 41 3. Blue Blood and Bad Sushi 56 4. Insects, Sump Pumps, Giraffes, and Mothra 86 5. On the Vertebrate Beat 104 6. Out in the Cold 116 7. Ode to Baby Fae 141 Part 2: What We Knew and What We Thought We Knew 150 8. Heart and Soul: The Ancient and Medieval Cardiovascular System 154 9. What Goes in . . . 179 10. The Barber’s Bite and the Strangled Heart 189 Part 3: From Bad to Better 208 11. Hear Here: From Stick to Stethoscope 210 12. Don’t Try This at Home . . . Unless Accompanied by a Very Special Nurse 217 13. “Hearts and Minds” . . . Sort Of 224 14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted? 232 15. What’s Snakes Got to Do, Got to Do with It? 244 16. Grow Your Own 258 Acknowledgments 270 Notes 274 Schutt, a zoologist, tells an incredible story of evolution and scientific progress with a likely look at the hearts of animals, from fish to bats to humans. He takes us on a tour from the origins of circulation, still evident in microorganisms today, to the tiny hardworking pumps of worms, to the golf-cart-size hearts of blue whales. And we journey with Schutt through human history, too, as philosophers and scientists hypothesize, often wrongly, about what makes our ticker tick. Throughout, Schutt shows us this mysterious organ in a completely new light. -- Adapted from jacket "Zoologist Bill Schutt delivers a look at hearts from across the animal kingdom, from insects to whales to humans. Illustrated with black-and-white line drawings"-- Provided by publisher