KING OF HEARTS The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery

The reader chooses a pleasant pace as he narrates a biography every patient with heart disease should hear. Only stumbling a couple of times on the plethora of medical terms, Patrick Cullen's announcer-like voice provides a history of cardiac surgery since WWII. Miller shares insights on the beginnings of cardiac surgery, the heartache of patients who died, the joy of those who were cured, the lengthy development of the heart-lung machine, the introduction of the pacemaker, and the pathetically humorous ego struggles in academic medicine. The reader's restraint from characterization or drama, while retaining the power of the gripping story, appropriately commands the listener's fascination up to the sad, almost operatic, ending. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]