The Matter of the Heart

Thomas Morris does for the history of cardiac surgery what The Right Stuff and Hidden Figures did for the space race... The book is - appropriately - pulse-thumpingly gripping and will be enjoyed by anyone who, in any sense of the phrase, has a heart.

Mark Lawson

Tremendous. An exhilarating sweep through ancient history and contemporary practice in surgery of the heart. It’s rich in extraordinary detail and stories that will amaze you. A wonderful book.

Melvyn Bragg

Crammed full of compelling characters and dramatic scenes, this book gets to the heart of a fascinating matter and demonstrates why it matters so much.

Thomas Wright, author of CIRCULATION

Thrilling ... Significant and often immersive… The "dizzying" story of heart surgery is every bit as important as that of the nuclear, computer or rocket ages. And now it has been given the history it deserves

James McConnachie, Sunday Times

Standing outside this precious and pressured world, Morris provides an even-handed and honest survey of the pioneers and their breakthroughs… intelligent

Wendy Moore, The Times

The research that has gone into this book is simply staggering, and Morris has achieved much more than a history of heart operations… It is a study of human beings driven by Olympian ambition and bottomless curiosity. It is, in the end, a book about wonder. And a wonderful book.

Frances Wilson, Daily Telegraph, 5 stars *****

With the cut and thrust of cardiac surgery now demystified, we forget that venturing into the thoracic cavity once seemed as daunting as polar exploration. Or more so: as Thomas Morris reveals in this stirring chronicle, even touching a beating heart was long viewed as impossible… Told through 11 pivotal operations, it's a tale of ingenuity... It's rich, too, in alarming details — not least, the injections of strychnine and whisky that featured in early surgery

Barbara Kiser, Nature

[Thomas Morris] succeeds where many such experts have failed in distilling the complexity of this organ into a highly readable and fascinating narrative… in 350 easy-to-read pages ... [he] captur[es] the majesty and pace of more than 80 years of scientific innovation ... the degree to which this book has been researched is breathtaking.

David Warriner, Independent Nurse

Gripping... The Matter of the Heart details the breathtaking advances that have been made in the past 100 years.

John Crace, Guardian

A history of heart surgery reveals how horrifyingly improvised early operations were.

Sunday Times MUST READ

Fascinating and compelling... There are also remarkable tales of survival against the odds perseverance, ingenuity and awe-inspiring feats... Morris deftly constructs an engaging narrative that covers a vast range of material

Manjit Kumar, Literary Review

[A] new book on the history of pioneering heart operations. The story begins with a second world war US army surgeon working to remove shrapnel from soldiers' chests in a shed in the Cotswolds and ends with the surreal prospect of the 3D printing of hearts.

Giles Fraser, Guardian

Thomas Morris has written not a history of medical ideas about the heart, but a history of heart surgery... The stories come quickly: fluent, wry, admiring ... Morris has made something unique: a history less of people than of procedures, but lively, enthusiastic and brimming with detail ... anything but boring.

Gavin Francis, New Statesman

Magnificent… Thomas Morris provides us with a thoughtful, engaging and rigorous account of how cardiac surgeons through history have sought to undo the ravages wrought on the heart… The results are a triumph of both the human imagination, emotional resilience and supreme self-confidence… It is peppered with vibrant anecdotes as well as biographical accounts of the individuals who made these important contributions

Adrian Woolfson, Spectator

Skillfully detailed… He spares us nothing and in gripping stories delivers everything you would want to know about his superbly chosen subject

Melvyn Bragg's Summer Reads, Observer

I recommend the book to all who are fascinated by the medical world...a thoroughly engaging history.

Wall Street Journal