King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery by G. Wayne Miller - Inspired me to want to know more!

The surgeon-as-rock-star mystique seems like it must have come straight out of Hollywood, but the myth had to begin more concretely. A good candidate is Minnesotas Dr. Walt Lillehei, the hard-working, hard-playing father of open-heart surgery, whose life is told in garish color in King of Hearts by journalist G. Wayne Miller. From his early brilliance, recovery from deadly lymphatic cancer, and dramatic repair of seemingly hopeless heart cases to the disintegration of his career at its peak thanks to an army of personal enemies and conviction on tax evasion counts, his story is consistently surprising and engaging. Fast cars, hard drinking, and plenty of women filled his time when he wasnt turning lives around with a few strokes of his scalpel, and the reader will find the surgeons actions almost unbelievable--rarely endearing, but occasionally saintly. Combining this melodramatic biography with the fascinating story of the struggle for open-heart surgery, considered impossible little more than a generation ago, Miller makes a compelling case that the daring scientist was simply another side of the arrogant, absent-minded playboy. No ordinary biography, King of Hearts is breathless reading--youll find yourself surfacing every few chapters to remind yourself its nonfiction. --Rob Lightner

Inspired me to want to know more!
When a friend gave me this book to read, I thought I'd skim a few chapters and either get bored with the technical details or be bothered by them since I have had heart surgery for congenital heart defects myself.

I thumbed though the first chapter and I was hooked! The writing demonstrates the intensity found in intense pediatric cases very well and uses that and the determination of Dr. Lillehei to move the story along at a fast clip. I finished it in about 36 hours!

I had gotten to the point there I was trying to take care of myself well as an adult with congenital heart disease (treated defects), but I hadn't quite grasped the details of my own surgeries nor did I want to. After I read this book I ordered my surgical records immediately and was excited to read them! The book filled the descriptions of the surgeries with such excitement that it carried over into my own personal education about my health.

I like how they told the story of Dr. Lillehei as a person who did great things, but was also human being as much as his patients - with faults of his own - but also clearly, great gifts.

For more information about the long-term outcome of patients with congenital heart defects/disease and how we continue to lead the longest and healthiest lives possible for us, please visit the Adult Congenital Heart Association's website at www.achaheart.org

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