Something that was quite evident throughout the reading of this book is that Bill Schutt loves what he does. This book was clearly written following something he is passionate about, and that comes out quite clearly through the tone. There's a little bit of something for everyone in this book - history, science, fiction - and while this is a draw for me, it may not be for everyone as a result.

A fun and informative look at hearts in a number of creatures. It might not be for you if you're looking to learn more about the human heart, specifically.

I love all things biology; in fact, I majored in biology way back in college. So I was thrilled to be invited on tour for PUMP, a book all about the history of the heart. If you enjoy books that make learning about science, medicine, and the natural world fun, then this is one to have in your library.


📕Millennia ago, when we first began puzzling over the mysteries of the human body, one organ stood out as vital. The heart was warm, it was central, and it moved as it pumped blood. The ancient Egyptians treated it with reverence, mummifying it separately from the body so that the soul inside it could be weighed. Aristotle believed that it was the seat of consciousness. Over the centuries, science has dispelled the myths, but our fascination with the heart has endured.

From the origins of circulation, still evident in some microorganisms today, to the enormous hearts of blue whales, we journey with Bill to beaches where horseshoe crabs are being harvested for their life-saving blood, and under the sea to learn about the world’s most natural antifreeze, flowing through the veins of icefish. And we follow him through human history, too, as scientists hypothesize wrongly and rightly about what is arguably our most important organ, ultimately developing the technologies that have helped us study the heart—and now, in the most cutting-edge labs, the tools that will help us regenerate it.


Thank you @algonquinbooks for this gifted ebook.

🫀Did you know there is a fish whose blood contains a natural antifreeze, a Burmese python’s heart grows 40% after eating, and you really can die of a broken heart!

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝?

This book immediately had my attention with the story of the whale heart and how it was processed to be displayed. I enjoyed some of the random facts about the human heart and some of the details about other invertebrates circulatory systems as well. Unfortunately being in the medical field this felt like a badly organized textbook that just kind of went on too long. I was hoping for more interesting stories or insights into the heart/circulatory system.

I am a huge fan or Mary Roach and was expecting something along those lines as far as how the book would be laid out and what would be discussed. Actually I think I enjoyed the whale story so much because it talked about Plastination which she discussed in detail in the book “Stiff”.

I am sure for someone without too much background in the technical side of things this book will be a more informative read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book was fun, interesting, and educational. Things are explained in a way that doesn't overwhelm you with scientific jargon.

Couldn't read this as the PDF format didn't work on my kindle. Thank you for access to this - it looks like an interesting book.

Pump: A Natural History of the Heart is a well written, layman accessible, information rich look at the heart by Dr. Bill Schutt. Originally released in 2021, this reformat and re-release to coincide with the papaerback release from Algonquin is 288 pages. The book is also available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

I liked so many things about this book. It's well written and laid out logically. The author moves from the actual physiology and function, to a comprehensive (and very entertaining) history of scientific understanding about the organ, and our gradual understanding and exciting future prospects including regenerative medicine (fix it! make it better!). Graphically, it's typeset in a high contrast easy to read typeface with illustrations and drawings scattered throughout. I really loved the drawing of the immense blue whale heart preserved in plastic absolutely *looming* over the author.

Although it's written with the layperson in mind, it's well annotated throughout. The chapter notes will make for engaging further reading. It is, admittedly, a niche book and will appeal especially to readers interested in biology, physiology, and natural history. The language is accessible and informal. The author has a gift at distilling difficult and complex concepts into smaller digestible bits and I can imagine he would be an engaging and worthwhile lecturer.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I have never forgotten my high school biology teacher Mr. Gasiorowski. His enthusiasm for his subject was evident. When he explained how cells divide, his eyes lit up and he was animated and excited. He told unforgettable stories about encountering the animals we studied. He made learning fun.

I found that kind of excitement in Bill Schutt, and the stories he shares in Pump are entertaining while they educate. Schutt takes us into the hearts of living things, from those living fossils the horseshoe crab to pythons, explaining the mechanics of how hearts work. We learn about broken heart syndrome, how a tropical amoeba may have damaged Charles Darwin’s heart, leading to his death, and a condensed history of medicine and the evolving understanding of the human heart.

In 288 pages, it was a quick read, with illustrations to facilitate understanding.

The future of medicine could involve some very interesting options, such as using vegetable cellulose as a scaffolding for regenerating organs.

It was a fun read. I can imagine Dr. G recommending it to our biology class, as he did other books, and I would have enjoyed it as much then as I did today.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Now available in paperback.

Book: Pump: A Natural History of the Heart
Author: Bill Schutt
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquin Books, for providing me with an ARC.

I’ve not read too many science nonfiction books, so I may not be the best person to write this review. This book tells the story of the heart. In the first half of the book, we look at the animal kingdom and the second half focuses on humans. We also get a look into medical history. We follow the author as he does his research and is now giving us his findings. There are also pictures and backstories about how the author got his information.

I don’t know. On the one hand, this was an interesting read. At the same time though, I found it to be nothing new. I feel like the information provided here was something that I could Google and get the same results. To me, there was nothing new brought to the table. Whenever I pick up a nonfiction title, I want something new to be offered. While I tend to read nonfiction titles that deal with the same subject matter, I want there to be something more brought to the table. I want it to make me stop and think about what I know about the subject. I did not get that here.

I think a lot of it is due to how the book was organized. It felt like, at times, there was no rhyme or reason to the layout of the book. I thought that we jumped back and forth between information. For example, the author would be talking about a whale’s heart and then going through the parts of the heart in general. Now, I know that this may not sound like a big deal, but it was a jarring transition. It wasn’t smooth and easy is what I am getting at. I think the whale story was supposed to be a lead-in for the parts of the heart and give us a visual. It just didn’t work. I know that real-life examples are a must, but the transitions must be smooth.

I also felt like I wasn’t the audience for this book. I was expecting something different. I was looking more for a book that went into the history of the human heart and how that impacts us. I was not expecting to have all of the other animals and invertebrates included. Invertebrates

This book is out in hardcover already and comes out in paperback on September 13, 2022.

I really loved Pump and learning more about the amazing organ that is the heart. The writing reminded me of Mary Roach, in that the author took something that may seem boring at first glance, and make it interesting. The writing was very thorough but approachable for the non-medical reader.

The author is a bat biologist, and pretty much knows his stuff. The book actually views a broad spectrum of biological topics; on the tree of knowledge, he's on the "heart branch" addressing other topics from that viewpoint. Unfortunately, there are some misleading, howling errors. The worst has to do with "Brown Adipose Tissue ("brown fat"). That tissue is derived from fat cell precursors, but it is not fat. The brown comes from being full of mitochondria (the cell's powerhouse) and there is very little actual fat stored in those cells. It's important in newborn humans, but also in adults, for generating heat. They sort of "slip the clutch" and convert the energy to heat, rather than muscle or other work. The author somehow thinks that they get used up and depleted, like other fat cells. But they get their nutrients from their surroundings, not stored fat. His other blooper has to do with the maintenance of a constant body temperature ("homeostasis"). Sorry for lapsing into jargon, but that's what endocrinologists do.
I'd still recommend it, but maybe in his next edition, which hopefully, should have corrections. He should hire a physiologist to review the drafts before publication.

Quite an interesting read, describing the wonder of the heart, its basic anatomy and physiology, and manifestations in creatures from the whale down to a shrew or hummingbird. For those interested in learning more about anatomy and physiology, consider this read. The author does a great job tailoring this to readers from all background.

I had the opportunity to both read and listen to Pump by Bill Schutt. The content was informative and interesting. In the ebook version, the images were such a wonderful addition to the text. The audiobook was also very well done. I learned quite a bit about the heart that I did not know before. Highly recommended read!

This book pulled me in from the beginning. I loved how it felt like we got to learn along with the author as he did his own research. You could tell he was excited to inform us on all that he knew about the heart. He did a notable job touching all topics heart-related (humans, animals, invertebrates, emotions, spirit, religion, etc.). Some of my favorite parts of the book were when he taught us the history of how certain parts of the anatomy of the heart were discovered and then used medically to transform the way cardiology patients were treated. I was very interested in this book from the start because I work in cardiology research so I'm learning new things about the heart almost daily and how even the smallest imperfections can lead to all sorts of very serious problems throughout the entire body. Reading this has really enhanced my work experience and I would recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in anatomy, especially the heart.

A natural history of the heart that includes interesting facts interwoven with stories, well written and often humorous. I find (especially lately) that I am not as engaged with non-fiction reads and that was definitely the case here.

** I received an electronic ARC form NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

Pump: A Natural History of the Heart takes the reader through the anatomy and some physiology of the heart. Not just human, but all critters -- vertebrate and invertebrate -- because no matter what kind of critter you are, you need to get sustenance to your various cells and organelles. To do this, all your cells need to either directly access the substances or have a circulatory system of some kind to get stuff to your individual cells.

I was particularly taken with the story of the beaching of a blue whale and the fascinating efforts of scientists to harvest the heart, which was huge! There is an illustration of the author sitting next to the displayed heart and he is dwarfed by its size. Since I mentioned the illustration, the book is full of great pencil illustrations by Patricia J Wynne. These drawings really helped me understand the points that Dr Schutt was making (and brought me back to my undergrad days). The rest of the book is just as enchanting.

The hallmark of a great book is when it engages a semi-interested reader.
I was semi-interested in the heart.
My wife is extremely interested in the heart, so I read this book with the hope that I can engage with her in some fun conversations.

Although this book is educational, it didn't grip me.
I found myself turning the pages quickly, looking for a juicy and memorable passage.

Still, it's an outstanding book for anyone who wants to learn about the heart that exists in the Animal Kingdom.

Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-volume autobiographical novel cycle “My Struggle” opens: “For the heart, life is simple: it beats for as long as it can. Then it stops.” Pretty straightforward, mission-wise. But Bill Schutt’s “Pump: A Natural History of the Heart” reminds us that the underlying biological mechanisms powering this rhythmic dance of life are in fact quite complex. Anthropocentric readers might understandably come to “Pump” assuming it is about the human heart, but “human” is absent from the title and except for some medically technical explanations of how a person’s ticker does its business, there seem to be more invertebrates than vertebrates in the first half of the book. Generalists will find Schutt’s history of the evolution of the heart to be dauntingly detailed, with textbook-like descriptions (some helpful illustrations are included) of various adaptations that would eventually feature in our own four-chambered hearts (such as muscle contraction). But even though much here seems to be wide of the subject—the mating rituals of horseshoe crabs, cutaneous (i.e., skin) respiration in earthworms, vampiric bats (Schutt, a bat expert, notes that only three of the 1,400 species of bats are bloodsuckers)—the connecting thread soon becomes evident: after creatures first came ashore some 375 million years ago and split off to become reptiles, birds, and mammals, the “pump” changed to accommodate different environments and challenges. The second half of “Pump” is quite different, with science taking a backseat to history, as Schutt recounts how the cardiocentric ideas of ancient philosophers (Aristotle) and physicians (Hippocrates) sent science in the wrong direction for centuries, as the heart was seen as the seat of the soul, the intellect, and the emotions (this notion still holds some figurative sway; Schutt humorously points out that we might otherwise be singing along to Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Brain” or reading Joseph Conrad’s “Brain of Darkness”). The author also serves up some off-the-beaten-path medical science history, first noting the well-known practice of bloodletting using leeches and then the not-so-well-known technique of inserting said leeches into the vagina to form blood blisters that would make new brides twice-over virgins. Only towards the end of the book does Schutt turn his attention to modern advances in cardiology (cardiac catheterization, heart transplants) and looks to the future, coming full circle with reporting on experiments with zebrafish, which are able to regenerate heart tissue—a holy grail for the human heart. “Pump” is being marketed with comparisons to Mary Roach (both writers share a penchant for one-word titles and jokey footnotes) and Bill Bryson (whose recent “The Body” offers an amiable tour). But Roach and Bryson are better-organized writers who don’t swamp readers with technical details. Still, Schutt’s scientific and academic background enrich this ambitious connect-the-evolutionary-dots story of the complex organ at the center of our bodies (and lives). Recommended. (Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced digital reader copy).

Well written, and full of interesting facts to bring to trivia night. Also, great illustrations to better explain the text.
Thank you for the ARC!

I was a big fan of Schutt's book [book:Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History|28110850] and also have a particular interest in the heart after my thirty-seven year old (healthy until it happened) cousin ended up having a heart transplant that was successful going on a year and a half. So I was curious what Schutt would add and share about his extensively researched subject.

This book is circuitous storytelling with the bit of humor that I can appreciate in other nonfiction writers like Mary Roach. He doesn't limit his subject to the heart of a human but instead talks about the animal kingdom and many intersecting elements like blood and medical history. I was fascinated by the stories of Baby Fae who was born a year after me who had had a primate heart transplanted in the hopes that a xenotransplant might help the tiniest of patients but what they learned was a bit about the blood types of primates as well as functionality with the doctor concluding if the blood type had been the same, Baby Fae might still be alive. But Schutt then parlays that story into other hearts that we can learn from in terms of growth and/or regeneration like snakes who are constrictors or pigs or newts. And that's just one offshoot that proved fascinating.

Animals who are hibernators have better heart health. The future of organ transplantation is likely growing your own set of extra organs from stem cells. Leeches used to be used in vaginas to make it appear that a woman was a virgin when she might not have been. If you're going outside to shovel snow, you shouldn't eat a big meal ahead of time and should be extra careful if you're a smoker or if you've just had alcohol, too many heart attacks happen during this overexertion because of vasoconstriction. And the list of cool factoids goes on and on.

It's got an organization that isn't apparent to me but does work in highlighting in essay-like format with nifty quotes from past and present about things like how for many years the heart was considered the center of the body. Always a fun ride with Schutt's choice of research and writing. I'm glad I got an advanced copy to read via Netgalley!