Our Human Hearts: A Medical and Cultural Journey

Literature and Medicine

by Albert Howard Carter III

Our Human Hearts is a nonfiction exploration of the meanings of the human heart as interpreted by two traditions: medical science, which has made possible dramatic cardiac surgery and sophisticated drug treatments, and the much older cultural traditions that view the heart as a repository for wisdom, courage, emotion, and the soul.

Carter interlaces medical and linguistic information with the stories of four heart patients, each with different illnesses and different personal approaches to healing. Much has been written about the heart from a medical standpoint, but few experts have explored the human side of the heart by giving a voice to the patients.

Our Human Hearts will be appreciated by the medical community, cardiology patients and their families, and anyone interested in the meaning and health of the human heart.

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2006

Reviews

[Soroush · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous book. Its objective is to intertwine our cultural/spiritual/religious view of the heart with the medical view of the heart. Our historically exalted human hearts have nowadays been reduced to a mere mechanical pump, which is often ignored and is rarely awe-inspiring anymore. Carter takes the readers on a brief journey through four different heart patients with different heart conditions and illnesses. As the readers learn about the common concerns and thoughts that bond all heart patients together, they also learn about how the heart can be viewed and attended to from many different directions. This book not only informs us how to be friends and companions of our hearts and managers of our health, it demonstrates how deeply phrases and terminologies that are related to the heart are rooted in our daily conversations, language and (sub)consciousness. In addition to its informative and gripping content, it is written very well. The author has a good sense of humour and keeps the readers interested in his stories. When you read this book, not only you begin to care for your heart, you begin to care for your life. By not being shy about death and dying, and by illustrating the significance of a healthy heart, Carter helps you to re-examine and re-design your vision of a good life. This book is easy to read. It is not a scientific or an academic book, yet it certainly makes you think.