The Exquisite Machine, Sian Harding
The Exquisite Machine, Sian Harding
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Exquisite Machine
The New Science of the Heart

Author: Sian Harding

Narrator: Polly Lee

Unabridged: 7 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 09/20/2022

Categories: Nonfiction, Science, Energy


Synopsis

Your heart is a miracle in motion, a marvel of construction unsurpassed by any human-made creation. It beats 100,000 times every day—if you were to live to 100, that would be more than 3 billion beats across your lifespan. Despite decades
of effort in labs all over the world, we have not yet been able to replicate the heart’s perfect engineering. But, as Sian Harding shows us in The Exquisite Machine, new scientific developments are opening up the mysteries of the heart.
And this explosion of new science—ultrafast imaging, gene editing, stem cells, artificial intelligence, and advanced microscopy—has crucial, real-world consequences for health and well-being.

Harding—a world leader in cardiac research—explores the relation between the emotions and heart function, reporting that the heart not only responds to our emotions but creates them as well. The condition known as broken heart
syndrome, for example, is a real disorder that can follow bereavement or stress.

The Exquisite Machine describes the evolutionary forces that have shaped the heart’s response to damage, the astonishing rejuvenating power of stem cells, how we can avoid heart disease, and why it can be so hard to repair a damaged
heart. It tells the stories of patients who have had the devastating experiences of a heart attack, chaotic heart rhythms, or stress-induced acute heart failure. And it describes how cutting-edge technologies are enabling experiments and clinical
trials that will lead us to new solutions to the worldwide scourge of heart disease.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jazzy on June 06, 2024

How the heart works, and what may cause it to stop working.......more

Goodreads review by Katie on April 23, 2022

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 th......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on April 22, 2022

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. I received an ARC for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.......more

Goodreads review by Eianna on February 13, 2024

It was interesting enough sometimes (you can genuinely die of a broken heart how devastatingly poetic is that?) But also what was bro yapping on about. There's a lot of big words and sometimes I'd zone out but read it at the same time, but like for a supercurricular book it's ok. Not horrific (I will......more

Goodreads review by Tiffany on March 04, 2025

Solid read for layperson. Felt some places were lacking depth and writing was a bit difficult to follow at times.......more