Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 500 EAN: 9780609807248 ISBN: 0609807242 Label: Three Rivers Press Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 302 Publication Date: 2002-02 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Release Date: February 01, 2000 Sales Rank: 272597 Studio: Three Rivers Press
Amazing Story!
I am a patient that has had heart problems for awhile now. I just had surgery in 2006, so reading King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery really helped me to understand where heart surgery all started. It brought it all home for me at the end. There is something about this surgeon that I now have a close connection to, and I didn't even realize it until the end! Those of you who have read "King of Hearts" would understand! King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery has taught me a lot, but it also has a lot of great stories intertwined within. Totally worth the read!!
Another medical history must read !!
The medical history related in King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery is one of the boldest and most amazing one. If it wasn't for these highly risk taking individuals, open heart surgery would not be possible today.
Inspired me to want to know more!
When a friend gave me King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery 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 King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery I ordered ... Read More
Excellent and interresting through and through
Once I picked up King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, I couldn't put it down. What a fascinating subject and such wonderful storyteller. From the mom of a "heart baby" it just amazes me how far we've come in such a short amount of time.
One star deducted for his incredible unlikability
It's a good story, and Dr. Lillehei blazed an amazing trail, but this man appeared to be a sociopath who destroyed everything and everybody he touched - except, of course, his patients. I can't believe nobody addressed this yet, or maybe they were so fascinated by the story that they missed - or dismissed - it completely. This was more than a massive ego; this guy could have been a Dr. Swango had things been just a wee bit different.
I realize the book was about Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, but his brother Richard was also a transplant surgeon, as are his sons Craig and Kevin.
