This is an incredibly well researched, informative book. I love non-fiction and it's most of what I read, but some non-fiction books are written more for lay people and some more for those with quite a lot of interest and knowledge in the subject. I don't have the latter, and at times felt that it was just too much information and too dry. For those who already find the heart fascinating and don't need to be convinced, it will be a home run.

This was an amazing book! The cover is beautiful, and the writing is very clear. My favorite quote was, "The heart is our companion in grief and joy." I learned quite a lot about the heart. It is an amazing organ, especially compared to the skin, which is our largest organ. The skin is shed and recreated constantly. Even the liver can regenerate. But a cardiomyocyte can work for 85 years. The book also highlights the need to treat the whole person instead of all the symptoms. It touches on poverty as an increase in heart-related death, as well. Overall, this was a well-written and very clear explanation of the heart.

DNF - Unfortunately, I think I tried to read this at the wrong time because I found myself struggling to pick it up again. I am an avid reader & enjoyer of non-fiction works but, this one was a bit more difficult to get into; we just didn't gel well.

I loved this book. Parts of the book are about the heart itself and parts are about Dr. Harding’s research on the heart. Harding’s enthusiasm shows through when she discusses her work, but she explains her work in a very clear manner, with little science background required. I especially loved the way she discusses both the successes and the failures of her research, giving a great portrayal of actual research. The whole book is written with a conversational tone with some humor and personal anecdotes. Kudos to Matt Holford for the great illustrations. This book is definitely a worthwhile read. Thank you to Netgalley and MIT Press for the advance reader copy.

In this book, a renowned heart researcher presents an overview of what we know (and don’t know) about the human heart: i.e. what can go wrong with it and why, how [and to what degree] it fixes itself, and what modern medicine can do to treat or replace a damaged heart. I learned the most from the middle of the book – i.e. chapters five through seven. Chapter five explores plasticity in the heart, plasticity is a concept that most people associate with the brain and its ability to rewire itself to contend with damage or changing needs. The other two chapter look at how the heart can be damaged, specifically as a result of emotional experience. A “broken heart” isn’t necessarily a misnomer.

Chapter four is also intriguing but takes the win for “which one of these things is not like the others.” It deals with big data, though not in a general sense but rather as it applies to gaining a better understanding of the heart. This chapter discusses a common challenge of medical research: that it’s hard to come up with large enough study groups of patients with close enough to the same problem to draw solid conclusions. Four also discusses the potential of the vast amount of data that exists, e.g. Fitbit heart rate figures.

The last couple chapters deal largely with the future of heart repair through genetic / biological means (as opposed to via mechanical hearts and technologies, which are dealt with in Chapter nine.) This is where the book gets to be a challenging read for a readership of non-experts. It gets technical and jargon- / acronym-heavy.

The heart is an astounding entity, relentlessly at work, rarely giving up despite regularly being subjected to intense shocks, an organ tied to our whole being in a way that humans have always felt – if only just begun to understand. If you’re interested in learning more about this magnificent organ, check this book out.

The Exquisite Machine is perfect for anyone interested in the human heart.

The author helped discover cardiomyocytes, the heart's building blocks. They execute the synchronized pumping.
She devotes a chapter about stem cells being able to grow a new heart.

Chapter 4 discusses Big Data.

She observes that cancer and heart disease are inversely correlated. When oncologists cure cancer, heart disease often followers - and vice versa.

She talks about epigenetics. A generation or two after a starving generation, you're likely to get obese offspring. This bodes poorly for Africa.

Have you heard of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)?
Neither had I.
We don't know if MSCs can help with heart disease like bone marrow cells.
Sadly, they don't achieve the holy grail: creating more cardiomyocytes.

iPSC-cardiomyocyte therapy is promising.
But the immune system thwarts us.
It takes months to grow a personalized heart & that's too long for a patient on a stretcher.

We may combine CRISPR with iPSC to solve the heart problem.

It's only 200 pages, but it's packed with fascinating information for anyone with a heart.

I was not able to finish this currently, but what I read was interesting and I plan to come back to it someday.

This book shares recent advancements in cardiovascular research. Fascinating, but a little dry for the layperson.

A scientific examination of that perfect pump we all carry inside us - the heart. This book looks at the heart from a historical and physical aspect- showing how our knowledge has changed and how our attempts to fix those broken have improved life for millions.

This is a very fascinating read, if you are interested in the heart and the current scientific developments surrounding it.

I'll say that it was a bit of a slow start, but the later chapters were incredibly interesting, especially everything about Takotsubo (Broken Heart) syndrome, the gendered heart and - my personal fave - stem cells and gene editing. You can tell the author is very passionate about her work and it translates to the page, in particular when she talks about the experiments in her lab.

The book is a potpourri of many different topics and while all of them are great to read about, I found them to be a bit unstructured at times (the later chapters less so).

I know this book is supposed to be for a non-academic audience (and I definitely appreciated the figures), but often I was wanting for more background information and more detail about certain concepts. There is a detailed notes section attached and I'll definitely be giving those citations a read. That said, there is much information packed in about 200 pages and I learned a bunch of new information.

Overall it was a solid read about one of our most famous organs.

Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was way out of my depth with some of this book. However, there were parts of this book that I did understand and obtained new insights.

Fascinating (and accessible) book for anyone interested in how one of the most critical organs in the human body functions.

I work in the cardiology field and have a child with CHD, so this book was right up my alley. The author does a great job of explaining scientific terms at the cellular level, (fascinating) cardiac research, the relationship between the nervous system and the heart, heart disease, etc effectively, I don't think the reader needs to have a science background to understand and appreciate the content. Looking forward to purchasing a hardcopy!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

As a cardiac nurse I was immediately drawn to this book. I was prepared to be reading some pathophysiology and while it was that, it was so much more as well. The history of cardiac medicine is something I’ve never considered.. I knew we had made advancements but the research and explanations in this book made it so much more interesting. This book made me really think and consider the stressors our hearts go through not just physiologically but emotionally.

If you like biology or are in health care it’s definitely an intriguing read. There was a decent balance between medical terminology and lay terms

I feel that I’m not enough of an expert in this subject to critique this. I will say that the fun header titles and cartoonish visuals help this feel more accessible.