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Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. If America could send a man to the moon, shouldn’t the best surgeons in the world be able to build an artificial heart? In Ticker , Texas Monthly executive editor and two time National Magazine Award winner Mimi Swartz shows just how complex and difficult it can be to replicate one of nature’s greatest creations.
Part investigative journalism, part medical mystery, Ticker is a dazzling story of modern innovation, recounting fifty years of false starts, abysmal failures and miraculous triumphs, as experienced by one the world’s foremost heart surgeons, O.H. “Bud” Frazier, who has given his life to saving the un-savable.
His journey takes him from a small town in west Texas to one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions, The Texas Heart Institute, from the halls of Congress to the animal laboratories where calves are fitted with new heart designs. The roadblocks to success —medical setbacks, technological shortcomings, government regulations – are immense. Still, Bud and his associates persist, finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. A field beside the Nile irrigated by an Archimedes screw. A hardware store in Brisbane, Australia. A seedy bar on the wrong side of Houston.
Until post WWII, heart surgery did not exist. Ticker provides a riveting history of the pioneers who gave their all to the courageous process of cutting into the only organ humans cannot live without. Heart surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, whose feud dominated the dramatic beginnings of heart surgery. Christian Barnaard, who changed the world overnight by performing the first heart transplant. Inventor Robert Jarvik, whose artificial heart made patient Barney Clark a worldwide symbol of both the brilliant promise of technology and the devastating evils of experimentation run amuck.
Rich in supporting players, Ticker introduces us to Bud’s brilliant colleagues in his quixotic quest to develop an artificial Billy Cohn, the heart surgeon and inventor who devotes his spare time to the pursuit of magic and music; Daniel Timms, the Brisbane biomedical engineer whose design of a lightweight, pulseless heart with but a single moving part offers a new way forward. And, as government money dries up, the unlikeliest of backers, Houston’s furniture king, Mattress Mack.
In a sweeping narrative of one man’s obsession, Swartz raises some of the hardest questions of the human condition. What are the tradeoffs of medical progress? What is the cost, in suffering and resources, of offering patients a few more months, or years of life? Must science do harm to do good? Ticker takes us on an unforgettable journey into the power and mystery of the human heart.
Part investigative journalism, part medical mystery, Ticker is a dazzling story of modern innovation, recounting fifty years of false starts, abysmal failures and miraculous triumphs, as experienced by one the world’s foremost heart surgeons, O.H. “Bud” Frazier, who has given his life to saving the un-savable.
His journey takes him from a small town in west Texas to one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions, The Texas Heart Institute, from the halls of Congress to the animal laboratories where calves are fitted with new heart designs. The roadblocks to success —medical setbacks, technological shortcomings, government regulations – are immense. Still, Bud and his associates persist, finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. A field beside the Nile irrigated by an Archimedes screw. A hardware store in Brisbane, Australia. A seedy bar on the wrong side of Houston.
Until post WWII, heart surgery did not exist. Ticker provides a riveting history of the pioneers who gave their all to the courageous process of cutting into the only organ humans cannot live without. Heart surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, whose feud dominated the dramatic beginnings of heart surgery. Christian Barnaard, who changed the world overnight by performing the first heart transplant. Inventor Robert Jarvik, whose artificial heart made patient Barney Clark a worldwide symbol of both the brilliant promise of technology and the devastating evils of experimentation run amuck.
Rich in supporting players, Ticker introduces us to Bud’s brilliant colleagues in his quixotic quest to develop an artificial Billy Cohn, the heart surgeon and inventor who devotes his spare time to the pursuit of magic and music; Daniel Timms, the Brisbane biomedical engineer whose design of a lightweight, pulseless heart with but a single moving part offers a new way forward. And, as government money dries up, the unlikeliest of backers, Houston’s furniture king, Mattress Mack.
In a sweeping narrative of one man’s obsession, Swartz raises some of the hardest questions of the human condition. What are the tradeoffs of medical progress? What is the cost, in suffering and resources, of offering patients a few more months, or years of life? Must science do harm to do good? Ticker takes us on an unforgettable journey into the power and mystery of the human heart.
336 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2018
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984 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
March 20, 2019
When he was only 38 years old, my dad died from heart failure. There weren't many available options at that time, heart transplants were in their infancy. So, this book was of particular interest to me, nevertheless I never expected to be as enthralled as I was reading this book. It was an adventure story, doctors operating in new territories, new methods. A thriller, as the author mixes true stories, operations where I was holding my breath. So much fascinating medical information imparted in a way that was easy to grasp.
DeBakey and Cooley, different in personality but both pioneers in this field. Cooley taking more risks, but both taking advantage of the every opportunity presented. A little triva, they were the models for Dr. Zorba and Ben Casey, for those who remember that show. Bud Frazier, Billy Collins, committed to cracking the code needed to invent a working mechanical heart. Engineers working with physicians, such committment and dedication.
Money, funding, rules are much more strident now, risks not as free flowing, yet the effort goes on, and dedication is prevalent as new physicians arrive to take up the mantle of those that are gone. Heart disease is still a killer, but maybe thanks to these pioneers it won't be.
DeBakey and Cooley, different in personality but both pioneers in this field. Cooley taking more risks, but both taking advantage of the every opportunity presented. A little triva, they were the models for Dr. Zorba and Ben Casey, for those who remember that show. Bud Frazier, Billy Collins, committed to cracking the code needed to invent a working mechanical heart. Engineers working with physicians, such committment and dedication.
Money, funding, rules are much more strident now, risks not as free flowing, yet the effort goes on, and dedication is prevalent as new physicians arrive to take up the mantle of those that are gone. Heart disease is still a killer, but maybe thanks to these pioneers it won't be.
November 16, 2018
"The person who comes up with a way to replace a failing heart with an artificial one, then, will save countless lives and change the future of humankind, much as Louis Pasteur or Sigmund Freud did, or Jonas Salk or Marie Curie. And, of course, the doctor or engineer (or, more likely, the team) who figures out how to make one will likely become very, very rich."
This is this core of the saga that Swartz presents. The quest certainly has well-intentioned and earnest people doing their best to come up with a viable “pump” and a way to have it work harmoniously within a human body. This history comprises about half a century and the work is still ongoing because the ability to transplant a human heart, while significant does not come close to addressing the need. Maybe 2,500 human hearts are available on an annual basis while over 50,000 patients are clamoring for their chance to have one.
Swartz is deft at giving us interesting personalities involved with this. For some readers, this will be a big assist in getting past the various descriptions of surgery and experimentation on humans and animals. Most of the focus is on Houston, Texas, where several of the institutions are and where many of the key M.D.s reside.
Swartz has plenty to tell us about the “maze of technological, legal, medical, and ethical challenges” and you might not want to learn all that these entail. Are you part of the majority in the USA that on one hand, according to Swartz, isn’t tolerant of mistakes in innovations, but on the other hand, is “not very open to changing unhealthy habits?” Here the point is that there are many pressures on the inventors that you wouldn’t get from just reading an article on progress being made.
"There was a long way to go before Daniel and his team could produce something that would pass muster with the FDA. Not only would they have to create a finished machine—its design “frozen,” in industry parlance—they would also have to prove that it could be manufactured and marketed on a mass scale without any hiccups, or worse. That is, they would have to avoid the kind of production and usage problems that had plagued the Hemopump. The process would not be cheap: the average cost of bringing a device like the Bivacor to market had also been steadily rising, largely due to the ever-increasing caution of the FDA and the relentlessness of plaintiffs’ lawyers. All told, Daniel would eventually need to come up with about $75 million just to get the agency’s approval."
There are dedicated surgeons and inventors but Ticker makes clear that the research and development of something as highly sought as an artificial heart still is all about the money….something that I found mitigated my enjoyment and interest.
This is this core of the saga that Swartz presents. The quest certainly has well-intentioned and earnest people doing their best to come up with a viable “pump” and a way to have it work harmoniously within a human body. This history comprises about half a century and the work is still ongoing because the ability to transplant a human heart, while significant does not come close to addressing the need. Maybe 2,500 human hearts are available on an annual basis while over 50,000 patients are clamoring for their chance to have one.
Swartz is deft at giving us interesting personalities involved with this. For some readers, this will be a big assist in getting past the various descriptions of surgery and experimentation on humans and animals. Most of the focus is on Houston, Texas, where several of the institutions are and where many of the key M.D.s reside.
Swartz has plenty to tell us about the “maze of technological, legal, medical, and ethical challenges” and you might not want to learn all that these entail. Are you part of the majority in the USA that on one hand, according to Swartz, isn’t tolerant of mistakes in innovations, but on the other hand, is “not very open to changing unhealthy habits?” Here the point is that there are many pressures on the inventors that you wouldn’t get from just reading an article on progress being made.
"There was a long way to go before Daniel and his team could produce something that would pass muster with the FDA. Not only would they have to create a finished machine—its design “frozen,” in industry parlance—they would also have to prove that it could be manufactured and marketed on a mass scale without any hiccups, or worse. That is, they would have to avoid the kind of production and usage problems that had plagued the Hemopump. The process would not be cheap: the average cost of bringing a device like the Bivacor to market had also been steadily rising, largely due to the ever-increasing caution of the FDA and the relentlessness of plaintiffs’ lawyers. All told, Daniel would eventually need to come up with about $75 million just to get the agency’s approval."
There are dedicated surgeons and inventors but Ticker makes clear that the research and development of something as highly sought as an artificial heart still is all about the money….something that I found mitigated my enjoyment and interest.
October 13, 2018
Mimi Swartz tells the story of a group of cardiac surgeons all vying for the title of creator. Not with a capital C, but creator of the first functional artificial heart. And by group, I don’t mean to imply they worked together. Some did, and some didn’t. Competition was fierce, and the game was decades long.
Beginning in the 1970s, when medicine was just beginning to understand heart disease. The doctors had a lot to learn too, so it was a bit like the Wild West. Which made sense, since these doctors happened to practice in the Houston area.
Once Dr. Michael DeBakey at Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital and Dr. Denton Cooley began working in town, the city became known for its ability to treat the most difficult kinds of cardiac cases. The two were fierce rivals throughout their lives.
Then those two doctors began mentoring the next generation, including Vietnam vet Dr. Bud Frazier at Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s / Texas Medical Center. Frazier in turn mentors Dr. Billy Cohn, a surgeon / inventor who he hopes can drive the next phase of device development. It’s interesting to see how each successive generation builds on the last, while also changing the playing field.
Swartz highlights each surgeon and their team of mechanics and technicians. She tells how they got their start in cardiac surgery, and then details their efforts with implantable cardiac devices. Sounds like it might get dry, but she keeps the momentum going with plenty of funny, insightful stories. These surgeons are characters!
My conclusions
This isn’t an especially long book, and it went very quickly for me. It helps that I’m fascinated by all things medical. Swartz explains cardiac conditions the devices invented to relieve them with as much ease as she describes Houston high society. Perhaps it helps that they’re people she’s been reporting on for decades, as editor of Texas Monthly.
It’s amazing how much medicine can do for patients. And it’s also sad to learn about all the failed cases too. Swartz introduces the patients on whom the surgeons to tested their devices. Despite knowing they were likely to die either way, these brave souls took the chance and ultimately advanced medical research. They are unsung heroes, and I’m glad Swartz brings their cases to light.
I heard the names of the surgeons and patients while I was growing up. Dr. Christian Barnaard, inventor Robert Jarvik, and patient Barney Clark. It’s good to understand the deeper story behind those famous headlines.
Ticker is full of heart-felt goals, painful failures, and the occasional triumph. It’s a seamless mix of biography, medical technology, and history. If this is your jam, you won’t be disappointed.
Acknowledgements
I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for this honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and the author.
Originally published on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
Beginning in the 1970s, when medicine was just beginning to understand heart disease. The doctors had a lot to learn too, so it was a bit like the Wild West. Which made sense, since these doctors happened to practice in the Houston area.
Once Dr. Michael DeBakey at Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital and Dr. Denton Cooley began working in town, the city became known for its ability to treat the most difficult kinds of cardiac cases. The two were fierce rivals throughout their lives.
Then those two doctors began mentoring the next generation, including Vietnam vet Dr. Bud Frazier at Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s / Texas Medical Center. Frazier in turn mentors Dr. Billy Cohn, a surgeon / inventor who he hopes can drive the next phase of device development. It’s interesting to see how each successive generation builds on the last, while also changing the playing field.
Swartz highlights each surgeon and their team of mechanics and technicians. She tells how they got their start in cardiac surgery, and then details their efforts with implantable cardiac devices. Sounds like it might get dry, but she keeps the momentum going with plenty of funny, insightful stories. These surgeons are characters!
My conclusions
This isn’t an especially long book, and it went very quickly for me. It helps that I’m fascinated by all things medical. Swartz explains cardiac conditions the devices invented to relieve them with as much ease as she describes Houston high society. Perhaps it helps that they’re people she’s been reporting on for decades, as editor of Texas Monthly.
It’s amazing how much medicine can do for patients. And it’s also sad to learn about all the failed cases too. Swartz introduces the patients on whom the surgeons to tested their devices. Despite knowing they were likely to die either way, these brave souls took the chance and ultimately advanced medical research. They are unsung heroes, and I’m glad Swartz brings their cases to light.
I heard the names of the surgeons and patients while I was growing up. Dr. Christian Barnaard, inventor Robert Jarvik, and patient Barney Clark. It’s good to understand the deeper story behind those famous headlines.
Ticker is full of heart-felt goals, painful failures, and the occasional triumph. It’s a seamless mix of biography, medical technology, and history. If this is your jam, you won’t be disappointed.
Acknowledgements
I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for this honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and the author.
Originally published on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
October 26, 2021
I was hoping there would be more medical science information instead of JUST the journey of the scientists behind the quest. That's a personal preference and I expect there will be many people who preferred JUST the journey and less of the science. This book will be a great read for those people.
April 25, 2019
This is a non-fiction account of the development of an artificial heart spanning several decades. I had a special interest in this book, because as a nurse I cared for heart patients during the 1970's and 1980's. I was familiar with traditional heart surgery, as well as the invention of the Jarvick LVAD (left ventricular assist device). It was fascinating to learn the details of progress over the decades, as well as learning about the MD's, DeBakey, Cooley, Jarvick, Frazier who were pioneers in developing the artificial heart. In some ways there was too much detail for me. I listened to the audiobook & found myself lost in detail (the didn't interest me) from time to time. The author did a huge amount of reasearch while writing this book. I admire her for her careful research. I don't think this book will appeal to everyone. It helps to have some interest in heart disease, surgery, medical research. There are reviewers who criticized the author for focusing too much on the heart surgeons in Houston. During that time frame I was working in Boston area, and it was commonly recognized that the advances on developing an artificial heart were happening in Houston. I rated the book 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
September 1, 2018
I’ve wavered between rating this 3 stars or 4. If I could I’d rate it 3.5. The writing is excellent. If you live in Houston, and you’re familiar with the hospitals there and their histories, and if you know who Mattress Mac is, then you will love this book. If you’re inclined to read it because you’re interested in the development of an artificial heart (as I am) then you are bound to be disappointed. It’s as if the author wrote a book about the heart surgeons who worked at Houston hospitals, then realized that wouldn’t have broad appeal, so she went back and added uneven stuff about the development of the artificial heart. There is more about calves than about humans. There is more about the personality foibles of the people involved than the machinery - and by that I mean the people involved in development. With respect to the patients, it’s mostly, he was going to die, we implanted the device, he lived 23 days, he died. Very little background or interest. And why oh why do we need page after page about Mattress Mac and his wife?
That said, it was interesting, especially the first half where I was familiar with the famous doctors. The second half was okay, but tedious in parts.
That said, it was interesting, especially the first half where I was familiar with the famous doctors. The second half was okay, but tedious in parts.
April 25, 2019
This book does exactly what I see as the most prominent "mistake" in non-fiction. It fails to stick to the title subject. So much so that I absolutely considered giving it 2 stars.
Yes, you will learn about the people, their work- the onus of the associations in creating the artificial heart and also the equipment that is used during major cardiovascular surgeries. But at times I just felt that was tangent.
It would have been better with a different organization, IMHO. Without so much history for the exact times and pertinent local places or some other method that didn't cause long jumps to topics that just wandered far, far off the title subject.
The photos were excellent. And some of the personality/ biography stories at least worth the read.
Yes, you will learn about the people, their work- the onus of the associations in creating the artificial heart and also the equipment that is used during major cardiovascular surgeries. But at times I just felt that was tangent.
It would have been better with a different organization, IMHO. Without so much history for the exact times and pertinent local places or some other method that didn't cause long jumps to topics that just wandered far, far off the title subject.
The photos were excellent. And some of the personality/ biography stories at least worth the read.
March 23, 2019
Very good book on the development of the artificial heart.
Written more like a novel than non-fiction, this book by Mimi Swartz is a page turner as a reader will not only want to keep reading about each new technological advancement in the development of the artificial heart but also about the riveting stories of pioneers in the field such as Bud Frazier and Denton Cooley. Filled with fascinating information and entertaining anecdotes, this book is highly recommended for those who are interested in this topic.
Written more like a novel than non-fiction, this book by Mimi Swartz is a page turner as a reader will not only want to keep reading about each new technological advancement in the development of the artificial heart but also about the riveting stories of pioneers in the field such as Bud Frazier and Denton Cooley. Filled with fascinating information and entertaining anecdotes, this book is highly recommended for those who are interested in this topic.
September 2, 2018
Until reading this book, I'd never heard of Mimi Swartz, but she's a really good researcher and writer and I look forward to finding more of her work.
I began reading this book and a second book called "Waterfront: A Walk Aroung Manhattan" on the same day. Both were written by highly-acclaimed writers who have been published in The New Yorker (as solid an imprimatur as we're likely to find.) And yet Swartz has written a great book, and Lopate did not. So let's see if I can figure out what made this book so much fun:
-People who do interesting work are fun to learn about. She focused the book primarily on the stories of three people who really broke down barriers in assisting really sick heart patients
-The story had an arc, from the very earliest days of heart surgery to the present, where thousands of LAVD devices are implanted every year and it's become almost routine. The arc also contained the entire professional lifespans of two of the protagonists
-The usual elements of drama were abundant: Ambition, defeat, the enemy (a faceless bureaucracy), the old guard and the young mavericks, etc etc etc.
The nice thing about this approach is that it took several decades to unfold, and Swartz is smart enough to trickle in a small amount of technical detail throughout the book. I could complain that, by the end of the book, I still didn't have a really clear idea of the current state of artificial hearts or heart assist devices, or their success inside patients; but she wasn't writing a textbook, but rather a tale of struggle and triumph. By end end, the accumulation of trickled-in information gives the reader a reasonable grounding in the subject without ever getting bogged down in eye-glazing detail.
This is a great example of literary nonfiction.
I began reading this book and a second book called "Waterfront: A Walk Aroung Manhattan" on the same day. Both were written by highly-acclaimed writers who have been published in The New Yorker (as solid an imprimatur as we're likely to find.) And yet Swartz has written a great book, and Lopate did not. So let's see if I can figure out what made this book so much fun:
-People who do interesting work are fun to learn about. She focused the book primarily on the stories of three people who really broke down barriers in assisting really sick heart patients
-The story had an arc, from the very earliest days of heart surgery to the present, where thousands of LAVD devices are implanted every year and it's become almost routine. The arc also contained the entire professional lifespans of two of the protagonists
-The usual elements of drama were abundant: Ambition, defeat, the enemy (a faceless bureaucracy), the old guard and the young mavericks, etc etc etc.
The nice thing about this approach is that it took several decades to unfold, and Swartz is smart enough to trickle in a small amount of technical detail throughout the book. I could complain that, by the end of the book, I still didn't have a really clear idea of the current state of artificial hearts or heart assist devices, or their success inside patients; but she wasn't writing a textbook, but rather a tale of struggle and triumph. By end end, the accumulation of trickled-in information gives the reader a reasonable grounding in the subject without ever getting bogged down in eye-glazing detail.
This is a great example of literary nonfiction.
January 8, 2019
As myself being a heart transplant recipient (done 25 years ago!), I found this personal and historical story telling narrative fascinating. With so many amazing personal insight stories, this still reads like an exciting novel rather than a documentary of the long term successes and fail on the road to today's modern medical marvel, the artificial heart.
The technology is both fascinating as it develops despite many challenges over the years, but the author doesn't overwhelm the reader with deep technical terminology rather shares the human story behind it all. The interpersonal relationships that come and go in terms of partnership and competition make for fascinating reading about names we know from the news.
The book offers rich resources for those who want to go further or do research with three added sections: 1. Notes explaining the background for each chapter, 2. a significant Bibliography, and 3. an Index to all key names and items of interest (i.e., products)
I strongly recommend this enjoyable true to live narrative of human perseverance and challenge with its many failures (deaths) and successes.
The technology is both fascinating as it develops despite many challenges over the years, but the author doesn't overwhelm the reader with deep technical terminology rather shares the human story behind it all. The interpersonal relationships that come and go in terms of partnership and competition make for fascinating reading about names we know from the news.
The book offers rich resources for those who want to go further or do research with three added sections: 1. Notes explaining the background for each chapter, 2. a significant Bibliography, and 3. an Index to all key names and items of interest (i.e., products)
I strongly recommend this enjoyable true to live narrative of human perseverance and challenge with its many failures (deaths) and successes.
August 31, 2018
I won a copy in a publishers' giveaway, this did not influence my review.
I found Swartz's prologue compelling and was pulled into the story of a cardiac patient and his family. However, despite Swartz's attempt at conversational writing, I was less invested in the story of Dr. Bud Frazier, and in the statistics and figures around heart disease and other heart problems. I think I would have found this a captivating article but realized the book couldn't sustain my interest for nearly 300 pages.
I found Swartz's prologue compelling and was pulled into the story of a cardiac patient and his family. However, despite Swartz's attempt at conversational writing, I was less invested in the story of Dr. Bud Frazier, and in the statistics and figures around heart disease and other heart problems. I think I would have found this a captivating article but realized the book couldn't sustain my interest for nearly 300 pages.
November 2, 2018
Story seemed to wander off at times into irrelevant tangents.
July 23, 2018
MEDICINE/BIOGRAPHY
Mimi Swartz
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart
Crown Publishing Group
Hardcover, 978-0-8041-3800-0 (also available as an e-book and audio-book), 336 pgs., $27.00
August 7, 2018
“The medical and engineering professions were like a couple who were profoundly ill-suited for each other but determined to work together for the sake of the children.”
Heart disease is the number one killer on the planet. It is the leading cause of death of both men and women in the United States, killing approximately 610,000 people in 2017 — one in every four deaths. Approximately twenty-six million Americans have heart disease; 2,150 of them die each day, an average of one death every forty seconds. The solution of choice is a heart transplant, but in any given year there are 2,500 hearts available for 50,000 patients on the waiting list. These are bad odds; and “the person who comes up with a way to replace a failing heart with an artificial one will save countless lives and change the future of humankind.” We are talking another Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, or Marie Curie. And, of course, whoever crosses the finish line first will become wealthy beyond most people’s wildest dreams.
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart is the second book from Texas journalist royalty Mimi Swartz. Texans have read her work for decades in Texas Monthly, where she is an executive editor. Swartz’s National Magazine Award–winning work appears in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, and the New York Times. In Ticker, she has impeccably woven science, history, biography, and engineering to create an improbably true account of cardiology’s pursuit of medicine’s Holy Grail — a fully implantable artificial heart.
Ticker is an education in the development of world-class medical facilities (Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Hospital, Texas Heart Institute, the Texas Medical Center) that set global standards in the subtropical fever-swamp we like to call Houston. Swartz entertainingly relates the colorful biographies of the independent (insubordinate? hubristic?) titans of cardiothoracic surgery, many of whom called, and call, Texas home (doctors Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn). Combine the facilities and the surgeons (and magnetic levitation!) and you get a lesson in the history of cardiology and medical devices. That’s how important Texas has been in the field.
For all of the heart-wrenching pathos expected in stories of people too sick to walk across a room and the families who love them — and there are plenty of these — there is also humor. Swartz is funny and, often, so are her subjects. Dr. Frazier remembers The Incident of the Yucatan Mini Pigs, which occurred when the animal research lab was still on the third floor of St. Luke’s, along with obstetrics and maternity. Also, it’s unnerving how important your home kitchen and local hardware store (not to mention the now-deceased Foley’s department store) have been to the development of assist devices and artificial organs.
Ticker is narrative nonfiction, the art of using literary styles and techniques to tell a factual story — practical and poetic. Swartz excels at cherry-picking among vast amounts of research for the quintessential example of whatever point needs making and by which to extrapolate from the micro to the macro. Facts (the human heart beats around 115,000 times a day) and figures (a healthy heart pumps about two thousand gallons of blood a day) are personalized and analogized. Profound is the correct word for Swartz’s moving descriptions of witnessing heart-transplant surgery. “And then it happens: the new heart begins to take on a richer color as it fills with new blood. It begins to beat,” she writes, “searching for and then finding a normal rhythm, settling into its new home.”
Ticker is beautifully and ingeniously constructed, flowing like a fast-paced science-fiction novel, engendering wide-eyed wonder at a remarkable, smart, compelling, and very human story at the busy intersection of money, politics, law, science, medicine, ethics, and philosophy.
Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
Mimi Swartz
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart
Crown Publishing Group
Hardcover, 978-0-8041-3800-0 (also available as an e-book and audio-book), 336 pgs., $27.00
August 7, 2018
“The medical and engineering professions were like a couple who were profoundly ill-suited for each other but determined to work together for the sake of the children.”
Heart disease is the number one killer on the planet. It is the leading cause of death of both men and women in the United States, killing approximately 610,000 people in 2017 — one in every four deaths. Approximately twenty-six million Americans have heart disease; 2,150 of them die each day, an average of one death every forty seconds. The solution of choice is a heart transplant, but in any given year there are 2,500 hearts available for 50,000 patients on the waiting list. These are bad odds; and “the person who comes up with a way to replace a failing heart with an artificial one will save countless lives and change the future of humankind.” We are talking another Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, or Marie Curie. And, of course, whoever crosses the finish line first will become wealthy beyond most people’s wildest dreams.
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart is the second book from Texas journalist royalty Mimi Swartz. Texans have read her work for decades in Texas Monthly, where she is an executive editor. Swartz’s National Magazine Award–winning work appears in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, and the New York Times. In Ticker, she has impeccably woven science, history, biography, and engineering to create an improbably true account of cardiology’s pursuit of medicine’s Holy Grail — a fully implantable artificial heart.
Ticker is an education in the development of world-class medical facilities (Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Hospital, Texas Heart Institute, the Texas Medical Center) that set global standards in the subtropical fever-swamp we like to call Houston. Swartz entertainingly relates the colorful biographies of the independent (insubordinate? hubristic?) titans of cardiothoracic surgery, many of whom called, and call, Texas home (doctors Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Bud Frazier, Billy Cohn). Combine the facilities and the surgeons (and magnetic levitation!) and you get a lesson in the history of cardiology and medical devices. That’s how important Texas has been in the field.
For all of the heart-wrenching pathos expected in stories of people too sick to walk across a room and the families who love them — and there are plenty of these — there is also humor. Swartz is funny and, often, so are her subjects. Dr. Frazier remembers The Incident of the Yucatan Mini Pigs, which occurred when the animal research lab was still on the third floor of St. Luke’s, along with obstetrics and maternity. Also, it’s unnerving how important your home kitchen and local hardware store (not to mention the now-deceased Foley’s department store) have been to the development of assist devices and artificial organs.
Ticker is narrative nonfiction, the art of using literary styles and techniques to tell a factual story — practical and poetic. Swartz excels at cherry-picking among vast amounts of research for the quintessential example of whatever point needs making and by which to extrapolate from the micro to the macro. Facts (the human heart beats around 115,000 times a day) and figures (a healthy heart pumps about two thousand gallons of blood a day) are personalized and analogized. Profound is the correct word for Swartz’s moving descriptions of witnessing heart-transplant surgery. “And then it happens: the new heart begins to take on a richer color as it fills with new blood. It begins to beat,” she writes, “searching for and then finding a normal rhythm, settling into its new home.”
Ticker is beautifully and ingeniously constructed, flowing like a fast-paced science-fiction novel, engendering wide-eyed wonder at a remarkable, smart, compelling, and very human story at the busy intersection of money, politics, law, science, medicine, ethics, and philosophy.
Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
July 27, 2018
Swartz is a wonderful writer, stringing together a coherent narrative with well-defined characters of a complicated story: the quest for an artificial heart. It was well done and informative and I learned a lot, which I always appreciate. The biggest complaint I have, and it's prominent in my mind at the moment is that it. just. stopped. I was truly astonished to turn the page and find the acknowledgements. What? That's it? Where's the conclusion? It was like a fiction cliff-hanger, and I don't even like those. I know the story is ongoing. But the end seemed abrupt and odd, having newly introduced a character (yes, a real person), for the first time in the book, that didn't really go anywhere. But that's only foremost in my mind because I just finished it. The rest of it was a fantastic read, letting me into the world of competitive cardiac surgery (and let's be honest, it is perhaps one of the highest stakes competitions around), in which seemingly superhuman doctors race to save more lives, and in the process, burnish their own reputations.
I got a copy to review from First to Read.
I got a copy to review from First to Read.
February 6, 2019
حمّلت الكتاب المسموع اعتقادًا مني أنها رواية، ولكن ظهر أنه كتاب يسرد تطور القلب الاصطناعي من فكرة إلى محاولات ناجحة أو فاشلة.
زدت من سرعة السرد لأتك الكتاب، فهو كموضوع مهم، إلا أنه كان مملًا - إذا كنت باحثًا في الموضوع ذاته فأنصحك به، لست متأكدة من كونه جيدًا لقارئ فضولي يبحث عن المعلومات العامة.
زدت من سرعة السرد لأتك الكتاب، فهو كموضوع مهم، إلا أنه كان مملًا - إذا كنت باحثًا في الموضوع ذاته فأنصحك به، لست متأكدة من كونه جيدًا لقارئ فضولي يبحث عن المعلومات العامة.
June 12, 2024
Although I do not know any of the major “characters” in this story, I felt almost personally connected to it. I’m sure this is partly because I live in Houston and work at the medical center, and furthermore I know one of the author’s main sources through my professional network. But Houston is a big place, and until I picked up this book, I had no idea that any of this was happening right down the street. I think my impression had everything to do with good writing. Even though this is a nonfiction book, it felt like a plot with a cast of characters; Swartz did an excellent job of bringing them to life on the page and making you root for them, even though some of these doctors apparently weren’t the easiest people to be around, and sometimes their actions were a little questionable. As a good journalist should, Swartz alludes to an interesting ethical question without necessarily coming down on one side or the other. Namely, many of the medical advances described in this book were huge and ultimately saved lives, but they were also developed with little oversight, and some of the patients involved in the early experiments for these medical devices suffered as they survived. Many of these events happened when the concept of “informed consent” was in its infancy (or nonexistent), but there’s also a general idea here that keeping an individual alive at all costs is always the right answer, no patient consent needed. I think medical practice generally is shifting away from that idea, and perhaps even some of the major players in this story are rethinking that assumption as well.
March 9, 2019
The author captures your heart with Ticker, a chronology of the worldwide race to invent the ultimate artificial heart. The book details the intense rivalry among celebrated heart surgeons, healthcare teams, institutions and the politics and money surrounding the creation of these life saving medical devices. Intriguing, over the top characters and, literally, heart stopping storytelling make this a MUST READ.
July 23, 2018
Ticker tells the fascinating, twisty, and often tragic story of the race to create the world's first artificial heart. Heart disease has been--and continues to be--a major health problem worldwide, and despite years of research and effort, the holy grail of cardiology has yet to be achieved. Swartz shares the story of the doctors, engineers, and medical oddballs who have pioneered the field of artificial heart devices and who have fought for the health of all mankind.
The story unfolds through the lives and careers of the major players in cardiology over the past 6 or so decades. There's a lot of fun and memorable personalities at play, and there's also a lot of drama. The drama is understandable, since the first person to perform this procedure or create that device wins all the fame and funding, but it's also clear that the goal of these men was always to save lives. The patient care and the habit of going to extreme measures to save patients demonstrate the dedication of these doctors and their desire to treat and cure heart disease at any cost. Sometime their actions caused more trouble than not, but it was always worth it to give a patient even just a few more days to share with their loved ones.
Of course, those extreme measures also meant the research moved along, sometimes for the good and sometimes not. This book is as much about the failures of artificial heart research as much as it is about the successes, but there's always a note of optimism, especially in the never-give-up attitudes of DeBakey, Cooley, Frazier, and the rest. A complete artificial heart has yet to be developed, but thanks to the countless hours of research and tinkering and patient care that these men put in, we're that much closer to that first artificial heart transplant.
For someone without much of a medical or scientific background, I do think there are some aspects of the various procedures, techniques, and trials that might require a bit of Googling, but for the most part, Swartz does a nice job of simplifying the world of scientific research for the non-scientist. Overall, Ticker is a quick and incredibly interesting read for anyone interested in heart disease research or the field of cardiovascular biotechnology.
*Thanks to Penguin's First to Read for the advance copy of this book.*
The story unfolds through the lives and careers of the major players in cardiology over the past 6 or so decades. There's a lot of fun and memorable personalities at play, and there's also a lot of drama. The drama is understandable, since the first person to perform this procedure or create that device wins all the fame and funding, but it's also clear that the goal of these men was always to save lives. The patient care and the habit of going to extreme measures to save patients demonstrate the dedication of these doctors and their desire to treat and cure heart disease at any cost. Sometime their actions caused more trouble than not, but it was always worth it to give a patient even just a few more days to share with their loved ones.
Of course, those extreme measures also meant the research moved along, sometimes for the good and sometimes not. This book is as much about the failures of artificial heart research as much as it is about the successes, but there's always a note of optimism, especially in the never-give-up attitudes of DeBakey, Cooley, Frazier, and the rest. A complete artificial heart has yet to be developed, but thanks to the countless hours of research and tinkering and patient care that these men put in, we're that much closer to that first artificial heart transplant.
For someone without much of a medical or scientific background, I do think there are some aspects of the various procedures, techniques, and trials that might require a bit of Googling, but for the most part, Swartz does a nice job of simplifying the world of scientific research for the non-scientist. Overall, Ticker is a quick and incredibly interesting read for anyone interested in heart disease research or the field of cardiovascular biotechnology.
*Thanks to Penguin's First to Read for the advance copy of this book.*
January 8, 2023
Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart is a fascinating and informative book by Mimi Swartz and Eric Topol. The book tells the story of the groundbreaking efforts (along with the associated societal repercussions and controversies) at the Texas Heart Institute to create an artificial heart that can replace the human heart when it fails.
The book begins with the history of heart disease and the development of heart surgery, and then delves into the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have been at the forefront of the quest for an artificial heart. Swartz and Topol do an excellent job of weaving together the scientific, medical, and personal aspects of this complex and challenging journey. While there are not traditional "characters" in the way that a work of fiction would have, the book highlights several individuals who have played key roles in the development and implementation of the artificial heart. These individuals include:
- Dr. Michael DeBakey: A renowned cardiovascular surgeon and researcher who was one of the pioneers in the development of the artificial heart.
- Dr. Robert Jarvik: A medical inventor who developed one of the first successful artificial hearts, the Jarvik-7.
- Dr. William DeVries: The surgeon who implanted the Jarvik-7 into patient Barney Clark, making him the first person to receive an artificial heart.
- Dr. Bud Frazier: A cardiovascular surgeon and researcher who has been involved in the development of several artificial heart prototypes.
Throughout the book, the authors provide in-depth and engaging accounts of the various approaches that have been taken to create an artificial heart, including the development of mechanical hearts, heart assist devices, and even lab-grown hearts. They also explore the ethical and societal implications of such a revolutionary technology. These stories provide a human dimension to the scientific and technical aspects of the book and give a sense of the very real stakes involved in the quest to create an artificial heart.
Overall, Ticker is a must-read for anyone interested in the field of medicine, heart disease, or the intersection of science and society. It is a thought-provoking and highly informative look at one of the most ambitious and challenging endeavors in modern medicine.
The book begins with the history of heart disease and the development of heart surgery, and then delves into the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have been at the forefront of the quest for an artificial heart. Swartz and Topol do an excellent job of weaving together the scientific, medical, and personal aspects of this complex and challenging journey. While there are not traditional "characters" in the way that a work of fiction would have, the book highlights several individuals who have played key roles in the development and implementation of the artificial heart. These individuals include:
- Dr. Michael DeBakey: A renowned cardiovascular surgeon and researcher who was one of the pioneers in the development of the artificial heart.
- Dr. Robert Jarvik: A medical inventor who developed one of the first successful artificial hearts, the Jarvik-7.
- Dr. William DeVries: The surgeon who implanted the Jarvik-7 into patient Barney Clark, making him the first person to receive an artificial heart.
- Dr. Bud Frazier: A cardiovascular surgeon and researcher who has been involved in the development of several artificial heart prototypes.
Throughout the book, the authors provide in-depth and engaging accounts of the various approaches that have been taken to create an artificial heart, including the development of mechanical hearts, heart assist devices, and even lab-grown hearts. They also explore the ethical and societal implications of such a revolutionary technology. These stories provide a human dimension to the scientific and technical aspects of the book and give a sense of the very real stakes involved in the quest to create an artificial heart.
Overall, Ticker is a must-read for anyone interested in the field of medicine, heart disease, or the intersection of science and society. It is a thought-provoking and highly informative look at one of the most ambitious and challenging endeavors in modern medicine.
June 20, 2018
I won a Goodreads Giveaway ARC of this book.
This was a really interesting read. It was fascinating to read about the early years of cardiothoracic surgery and their groundbreaking technological advancements. It really did feel like it was a different time, populated with medical cowboys. I'm curious whether they'd be allowed to do even half of the things now that they did then. I'm not feeling very articulate right now, so I'll just say that I'd definitely recommend this to people to read.
This was a really interesting read. It was fascinating to read about the early years of cardiothoracic surgery and their groundbreaking technological advancements. It really did feel like it was a different time, populated with medical cowboys. I'm curious whether they'd be allowed to do even half of the things now that they did then. I'm not feeling very articulate right now, so I'll just say that I'd definitely recommend this to people to read.
August 23, 2018
Excellent book. Any Science themed book can easily turn to a mishmash of facts and statistics making the reader slog through a swamp of insomnia curing information. This book however takes the facts and loads them on the backs of a cast of interesting characters, some who you'll like more than others, but all who help move the story along. I got both entertainment and education.
October 15, 2018
An interesting subject without a great amount of depth or anchoring in history. I love Mimi’s magazine work, but the tale she attempts to tell never rises to the worthiness of being a book.
February 20, 2019
This is a hard review. In many ways this is an excellent book. As other reviewers have noted it is geographically bound to Houston. While I’m not an expert on artificial heart transplant research, I am certain that the rest of the world is also pursuing the goal and the local fixation limits the scope of the research and story.
Also in terms of the science reporting; there is at least one factual error, Schwartz notes a doctor who discovers a link between blindness and anesthesia in premature infants. The link the Dr. actually discovered was that increased amounts of oxygen (over normal atmospheric oxygen) in incubators contributed to oversized growth of the blood vessels in the eyes of premmies which in many cases made them blind. I caught this error but wondered how many others are in the book...
Also the ending of the book implies that the Bivacor device will likely be the device to solve a fully implantable heart replacement. While this may be true, human trials are not scheduled to begin until the end of 2019. I hope this device is the ONE but having been presented with the other current front runners or current failures would be more compelling and feel more complete. The ending of the book feels like a cliff edge without much of a denouement or conclusion. I was left scratching my head wondering if the book was essentially PR for the Bivacor device.
Also because human trials are so close on the horizon it begs the question why publish this book before that data is compiled and published in medical journals? Waiting would make for a much better book, but it would nullify the spurious and implied conclusion that the search for an artificial heart is a foregone conclusion.
The successes of the book are the colorfully painted personalities and the ease with which we become engaged with the social and political climate of surgery and research in Houston. Schwartz’ writing is engaging and face-paced making this an easy read. I did learn a lot but was also very sure that there was plenty of research around the world I wasn’t reading much about.
Also in terms of the science reporting; there is at least one factual error, Schwartz notes a doctor who discovers a link between blindness and anesthesia in premature infants. The link the Dr. actually discovered was that increased amounts of oxygen (over normal atmospheric oxygen) in incubators contributed to oversized growth of the blood vessels in the eyes of premmies which in many cases made them blind. I caught this error but wondered how many others are in the book...
Also the ending of the book implies that the Bivacor device will likely be the device to solve a fully implantable heart replacement. While this may be true, human trials are not scheduled to begin until the end of 2019. I hope this device is the ONE but having been presented with the other current front runners or current failures would be more compelling and feel more complete. The ending of the book feels like a cliff edge without much of a denouement or conclusion. I was left scratching my head wondering if the book was essentially PR for the Bivacor device.
Also because human trials are so close on the horizon it begs the question why publish this book before that data is compiled and published in medical journals? Waiting would make for a much better book, but it would nullify the spurious and implied conclusion that the search for an artificial heart is a foregone conclusion.
The successes of the book are the colorfully painted personalities and the ease with which we become engaged with the social and political climate of surgery and research in Houston. Schwartz’ writing is engaging and face-paced making this an easy read. I did learn a lot but was also very sure that there was plenty of research around the world I wasn’t reading much about.
November 8, 2018
I am stingy with my 5 stars, and this one gets every single one of them and beyond. I love great narrative non-fiction, and it's difficult to find.
Mimi is my favorite writer at Texas Monthly, and she has outdone herself here. They published an excerpt a few months ago, and I knew I had to get the book. Not that I'm particularly interested in the history of the artificial heart, but I'll read anything Mimi writes.
It's an extremely engaging and well-told story, not just a dry medical history; full of personalities (both outsized and normal) and unexpected twists and turns.
My favorite part was all the "Easter eggs" about Houston; places and attitudes I remember from growing up there. "Mattress Mack" even makes an appearance! (And an important one at that.)
I am looking forward to hearing her speak at the Book and Author Luncheon later this week, and maybe even getting a book signed if I'm lucky.
Favorite lines:
**Probably the best opening line of any non-fiction book I've read: "The kids fell in love with him first."
**"The biggest problem with that location was that the obstetrics ward was also on the same floor [as the animal lab], so the moans of women in labor were accompanied by the sounds of dogs barking, cows mooing, or the screeching of baboons."
**"Not surprisingly, the prospect of performing that surgery on DeBakey himself turned many of his proteges into ninnies."
**"All cities have local celebrities, the kind of wealthy and colorful types whose fame never quite extends beyond local borders but thrives within them. Such a pseron was McIngvale." (If you've ever spent time in Houston in the last 15 years or so, you know him as "Mattress Mack.")
**[more on Mattress Mack] "...the sleep-deprived Dr. William Cohn happened to catch a commercial on television of a man jumping up and down like one of Ben Taub's AWOL psychiatric patients. He seemed to be trying to sell recliners, because, he said, he had too many of them." [That's Mattress Mack to a tee.]
Mimi is my favorite writer at Texas Monthly, and she has outdone herself here. They published an excerpt a few months ago, and I knew I had to get the book. Not that I'm particularly interested in the history of the artificial heart, but I'll read anything Mimi writes.
It's an extremely engaging and well-told story, not just a dry medical history; full of personalities (both outsized and normal) and unexpected twists and turns.
My favorite part was all the "Easter eggs" about Houston; places and attitudes I remember from growing up there. "Mattress Mack" even makes an appearance! (And an important one at that.)
I am looking forward to hearing her speak at the Book and Author Luncheon later this week, and maybe even getting a book signed if I'm lucky.
Favorite lines:
**Probably the best opening line of any non-fiction book I've read: "The kids fell in love with him first."
**"The biggest problem with that location was that the obstetrics ward was also on the same floor [as the animal lab], so the moans of women in labor were accompanied by the sounds of dogs barking, cows mooing, or the screeching of baboons."
**"Not surprisingly, the prospect of performing that surgery on DeBakey himself turned many of his proteges into ninnies."
**"All cities have local celebrities, the kind of wealthy and colorful types whose fame never quite extends beyond local borders but thrives within them. Such a pseron was McIngvale." (If you've ever spent time in Houston in the last 15 years or so, you know him as "Mattress Mack.")
**[more on Mattress Mack] "...the sleep-deprived Dr. William Cohn happened to catch a commercial on television of a man jumping up and down like one of Ben Taub's AWOL psychiatric patients. He seemed to be trying to sell recliners, because, he said, he had too many of them." [That's Mattress Mack to a tee.]
December 23, 2018
"The person who comes up with a way to replace a failing heart with an artificial one, then, will save countless lives and change the future of humankind, much as Louis Pasteur or Sigmund Freud did, or Jonas Salk or Marie Curie. And, of course, the doctor or engineer (or, more likely, the team) who figures out how to make one will likely become very, very rich."
This is what we are presented with in Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart by Mimi Swartz. The book tells the sordid history of a group of surgeons all vying to become the god-like creator of the first artificial heart. Swartz is a stunning and detailed researcher and the book flows well throughout the decades. She starts with the birth of Michael Debakey and Denton Cooley as the "bad boys: of cardiac surgery in Houston. From there, Swartz takes the reader on the stunning and sometimes vaguely unethical battle to be the best, to beat the competition, and to cash in for as much money as humanly possible. My only disappointment is that the book just seemed to end with no conclusion. That could be due to the unfinished tale of the artificial heart but it still could have wrapped up a bit better in my opinion.
I had some knowledge going into the book as my husband's uncle was on the ground floor of Baylor's race to be the best in cardiac care but much of the information was new to me. Readers who have grown up in Houston will know the cast of characters and possibly even the history of the cardiac teams that come into play. This book is not for the faint of heart, however. These are real people that have been used as guinea pigs and sometimes, that's disheartening and upsetting. Know going into it that the early days of heart surgery were akin to the Wild West and not everyone was on the up-and-up.
This is what we are presented with in Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart by Mimi Swartz. The book tells the sordid history of a group of surgeons all vying to become the god-like creator of the first artificial heart. Swartz is a stunning and detailed researcher and the book flows well throughout the decades. She starts with the birth of Michael Debakey and Denton Cooley as the "bad boys: of cardiac surgery in Houston. From there, Swartz takes the reader on the stunning and sometimes vaguely unethical battle to be the best, to beat the competition, and to cash in for as much money as humanly possible. My only disappointment is that the book just seemed to end with no conclusion. That could be due to the unfinished tale of the artificial heart but it still could have wrapped up a bit better in my opinion.
I had some knowledge going into the book as my husband's uncle was on the ground floor of Baylor's race to be the best in cardiac care but much of the information was new to me. Readers who have grown up in Houston will know the cast of characters and possibly even the history of the cardiac teams that come into play. This book is not for the faint of heart, however. These are real people that have been used as guinea pigs and sometimes, that's disheartening and upsetting. Know going into it that the early days of heart surgery were akin to the Wild West and not everyone was on the up-and-up.
May 18, 2018
Mimi Swartz, the longtime writer for "Texas Monthly" magazine and the author of a book about the Enron scandal, has written a book called "Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart". The title refers to the human heart and its slang name. Swartz's book is sort of "everything you've ever wanted to know about the artificial heart, and those [mostly] men who devoted their careers to creating same...and didn't know to ask". Swartz begins with the early days of heart transplants and ends with modern day success stories. Along the way, she looks at heart doctors ("gods") and technical inventors of the devises, as well as some of the patients who either lived or died with these gadgets. And being a Texas gal, Swartz highlights such fellow Texans as Drs Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, and Oscar "Bud" Frazier, though she doesn't neglect doctors and researchers from outside Texas.
Swartz is a superb writer of non-fiction. I've been reading her articles in "Texas Monthly" for years. As a writer, she jumps right in on her story of people, places, and medical gadgets. Now, here's the problem - and the only one I can see with Swartz's book - which is whether you want to read an entire book on the subject of the heart. If you do - and I did - Swartz is a lovely writer and she does justice to her subject. However, if you're only tangentially or mildly interested in the subject, I'd give the book a pass. Hopefully there are enough enthusiasts of Mimi Swartz's writing and of the subject that she'll have a best-seller.
Swartz is a superb writer of non-fiction. I've been reading her articles in "Texas Monthly" for years. As a writer, she jumps right in on her story of people, places, and medical gadgets. Now, here's the problem - and the only one I can see with Swartz's book - which is whether you want to read an entire book on the subject of the heart. If you do - and I did - Swartz is a lovely writer and she does justice to her subject. However, if you're only tangentially or mildly interested in the subject, I'd give the book a pass. Hopefully there are enough enthusiasts of Mimi Swartz's writing and of the subject that she'll have a best-seller.
August 1, 2018
Of all the organs in the human body, the heart is arguably the most important, well-known, and worried about. Not only is the heart the vital electro-mechanical pump that moves about 2,000 gallons of our blood every day, but for centuries it’s been symbolic of the seat of emotion, reason, and life itself for many religions, cultures, and philosophies.
Yet, despite our long familiarity with the heart, there is still so much we don’t know about it. The various ailments that plague the heart are still some of our most common chronic diseases, and a fully-functional, artificial replacement is considered to be a holy grail of medical technology.
Mimi Swartz, a reporter at Texas Monthly, has chronicled the long (and still ongoing) history of the artificial heart in her upcoming book, Ticker. It’s a fascinating account that Swartz has skillfully written in an engaging style that keeps readers eager to learn more. Drama, suspense, and characters with egos bigger than their heads – it’s all there to show that the artificial heart is no ordinary medical device.
For example, it was interesting to read that, especially back in the 70’s when development first started, medical research was far different than it is now. Swartz recounts numerous experiments and tests that would probably get researchers in trouble with both the FDA and PETA today. It was a “wild west” in many ways, but it almost always seemed to result in improved technology.
Other parts of Ticker that we found particularly entertaining were the roles that seemingly random people played in the development of the artificial heart. Swartz recounts the story of how cardiologist Bud Frazier came up with improvements for a pump after witnessing a drunk winning bar bets holding his breath underwater longer than anyone – the drunk happened to be a TB patient who would secretly open a tube connected to his chest that would allow him to breathe as he kept his head in a bucket of water. Swartz’s research included a Medgadget post we wrote back in 2005, which she credits in the book, about the concept of an artificial heart developed by Paul Winchell (the voice of Tigger), Dr. Henry Heimlich (who invented the famous maneuver for choking victims), and indirectly, Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek‘s Khan, Fantasy Island‘s Mr. Rourke). She also shares of the role that Houston’s furniture king, “Mattress Mack,” played in keeping the artificial heart project from going broke.
If there is any small part of Ticker to criticize, it might be that there are so many characters in the story; we often had trouble remembering who was who. But it goes to show that the development of the artificial heart was not the work on a single person; it was a group effort, and at times, a fierce competition among rival doctors, and each character played an important role in its development.
This review was originally published by me on Medgadget.com
Yet, despite our long familiarity with the heart, there is still so much we don’t know about it. The various ailments that plague the heart are still some of our most common chronic diseases, and a fully-functional, artificial replacement is considered to be a holy grail of medical technology.
Mimi Swartz, a reporter at Texas Monthly, has chronicled the long (and still ongoing) history of the artificial heart in her upcoming book, Ticker. It’s a fascinating account that Swartz has skillfully written in an engaging style that keeps readers eager to learn more. Drama, suspense, and characters with egos bigger than their heads – it’s all there to show that the artificial heart is no ordinary medical device.
For example, it was interesting to read that, especially back in the 70’s when development first started, medical research was far different than it is now. Swartz recounts numerous experiments and tests that would probably get researchers in trouble with both the FDA and PETA today. It was a “wild west” in many ways, but it almost always seemed to result in improved technology.
Other parts of Ticker that we found particularly entertaining were the roles that seemingly random people played in the development of the artificial heart. Swartz recounts the story of how cardiologist Bud Frazier came up with improvements for a pump after witnessing a drunk winning bar bets holding his breath underwater longer than anyone – the drunk happened to be a TB patient who would secretly open a tube connected to his chest that would allow him to breathe as he kept his head in a bucket of water. Swartz’s research included a Medgadget post we wrote back in 2005, which she credits in the book, about the concept of an artificial heart developed by Paul Winchell (the voice of Tigger), Dr. Henry Heimlich (who invented the famous maneuver for choking victims), and indirectly, Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek‘s Khan, Fantasy Island‘s Mr. Rourke). She also shares of the role that Houston’s furniture king, “Mattress Mack,” played in keeping the artificial heart project from going broke.
If there is any small part of Ticker to criticize, it might be that there are so many characters in the story; we often had trouble remembering who was who. But it goes to show that the development of the artificial heart was not the work on a single person; it was a group effort, and at times, a fierce competition among rival doctors, and each character played an important role in its development.
This review was originally published by me on Medgadget.com
April 21, 2019
This is difficult to rate as I love the information and concept of the topic. I heavily supplemented this book with Wikipedia and google searches.
In the case of nonfiction I really enjoy looking at pictures to bring the text to life. Unfortunately only a handful of pictures are shared, and all in an insert in the middle of the book. This is where my supplemental research helped flesh the story (such as figuring out what the THI looks like, what most of the LVADs and TAHs actually look like, and what a majority of the patients and surgeons look like). I also used my supplemental research to get more details that weren’t in the book (such as info on the AbioCor and backgrounds of the people mentioned).
Overall, it was great reading from the first open heart surgery to the current innovations underway. Unfortunately the book seems to abruptly end.
For those wondering if you could find all of this information on Wikipedia or various news articles. Perhaps some of it, but Swartz draws from personal interviews and observations not publicly available.
I think it would have been great if the book had ended with a timeline of all the major milestones leading up to where we are now.
Having a background in medicine will definitely be helpful before reading this book, although probably not a must.
I first read about Cooley a few years ago. Glad I could read more about him and learn about all the other key players and devices.
Read 4/08/2019 - 4/20/2019
In the case of nonfiction I really enjoy looking at pictures to bring the text to life. Unfortunately only a handful of pictures are shared, and all in an insert in the middle of the book. This is where my supplemental research helped flesh the story (such as figuring out what the THI looks like, what most of the LVADs and TAHs actually look like, and what a majority of the patients and surgeons look like). I also used my supplemental research to get more details that weren’t in the book (such as info on the AbioCor and backgrounds of the people mentioned).
Overall, it was great reading from the first open heart surgery to the current innovations underway. Unfortunately the book seems to abruptly end.
For those wondering if you could find all of this information on Wikipedia or various news articles. Perhaps some of it, but Swartz draws from personal interviews and observations not publicly available.
I think it would have been great if the book had ended with a timeline of all the major milestones leading up to where we are now.
Having a background in medicine will definitely be helpful before reading this book, although probably not a must.
I first read about Cooley a few years ago. Glad I could read more about him and learn about all the other key players and devices.
Read 4/08/2019 - 4/20/2019
July 26, 2018
This book should be titled "Ticker: The Houston Quest to Create an Artificial Heart," as it largely ignores efforts elsewhere in the country and world. That aside, it is an interesting look at efforts in Houston to create an artificial heart that serves as a partial history of heart surgery as well as some of the milestones of the field, including transplantation and the creation of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). It's also a history of heart surgery in Houston, including the major players in the field in that location and some of the politics and infighting between different institutions. It exposes the sad fact that medicine is a business and different individuals are willing to compete with one another in ways which are somewhat distasteful. The book ends quite abruptly, but overall I did enjoy learning some of this history. The book is definitely intended for a general audience and despite some terminology suggested here, it does not require any medical knowledge to read, understand, and enjoy. I would certain recommend it for anyone interested in medical history and/or innovation. I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 28, 2020
This book about the human heart reads almost like a medical mystery or thriller as the brightest and the best cardiothoracic surgeons compete to repair hearts, replace hearts, or build mechanical hearts and to be the first to do so.
In 1969 South African surgeon Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant. Years later H O "Bud" Frazier had done more than any other doctor on earth with a total of 1300. But it wasn't enough--hearts gave out and Bud was on a quest to create a heart that wouldn't break, a fully self-sufficient artificial heart that could be surgically placed in a human body allowing that person to walk out of the hospital and go on with a productive life.
This is the story of competing doctors, competing medical centers, engineers, investors, and a place--Houston TX--that "was already building a reputation as the most innovative center of heart surgery in the world, thanks to the two men” (Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey). Fast paced and fascinating this is a book that will give the reader both history and hope that one day soon the devices and procedures will be available to accomplish Dr Bud Frazier's goal. Mimi Swartz has done a fantastic job of making this book both accessible and suspenseful in her trademark journalistic style.
In 1969 South African surgeon Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant. Years later H O "Bud" Frazier had done more than any other doctor on earth with a total of 1300. But it wasn't enough--hearts gave out and Bud was on a quest to create a heart that wouldn't break, a fully self-sufficient artificial heart that could be surgically placed in a human body allowing that person to walk out of the hospital and go on with a productive life.
This is the story of competing doctors, competing medical centers, engineers, investors, and a place--Houston TX--that "was already building a reputation as the most innovative center of heart surgery in the world, thanks to the two men” (Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey). Fast paced and fascinating this is a book that will give the reader both history and hope that one day soon the devices and procedures will be available to accomplish Dr Bud Frazier's goal. Mimi Swartz has done a fantastic job of making this book both accessible and suspenseful in her trademark journalistic style.
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