From the Heart - by Jeffrey L Kosky (Hardcover)

About the Book

From the Heart weaves together a personal narrative of a life-threatening ailment with considerations of philosophy, art, and science to contemplate ultimate questions: matters of life and death.

Book Synopsis

What does it mean to have a heart? How does it feel when a heart fails, and what does it take to recover? In a world beset by never-ending crises--personal and collective, local and global--is heartlessness the only option?

From the Heart weaves together a personal narrative of a life-threatening ailment with considerations of philosophy, art, and science to contemplate ultimate questions: matters of life and death. Jeffrey L. Kosky recounts his brush with death--the surgical repair of a congenital defect in his aortic valve--his gradual recovery of everyday life, and his struggle to find the heart to go on throughout it all. To make sense of the experience, he immerses himself in humanistic inquiry and medical science--the histories of medicine, cardiac surgery, and knowledge of the human heart as well as the works of artists, writers, philosophers, and theologians. Writing about the experience of being human from the precarious position of his own woundedness, Kosky shares hard-earned perspectives on what matters most.

Combining moving memoir, encounters with major authors and artists, and heartfelt reflections on the "big questions" of existence, this elegantly written book is at once erudite and powerful. It shows us why the heart--in physical, emotional, and metaphorical senses--helps us come to terms with sickness and health, dying and living.

Review Quotes

[From the Heart] opens doors for further exploration, and in a deceptively effortless way. Kosky never brandishes his learning for its own sake but puts it to work in an inviting manner, even when he is exploring the physiology of the heart or the history of open-heart surgery. I learned much reading this book and can't imagine that others won't as well.-- "LA Review of Books"

Koskys discussion incorporates the history of open-heart surgery, literature, artwork featuring the heart, theology, and plenty of philosophy. Ideas put forth by Descartes, Nietzsche, Saint Augustine, John Calvin, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Thoreau are emphasized in Koskys pensive look at lifesaving treatment, lingering anxiety, and the knowledge that there are no guarantees when it comes to health and longevity.-- "Booklist"

Jeffrey L. Kosky has a congenitally hurt heart. When that hurt became acute, surgery saved him--but for how long, and to what end? He engages those questions with a blend of intimacy and unsparing introspection that recalls Augustine's Confessions. Have you, like me, survived heart surgery? This is a book for us. And even if you haven't, it will do your heart a world of good.--Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography

Kosky has written a book unlike any other I know. In this meditation on having, losing, and regaining his heart, he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve, sometimes scrutinizes it from a distance. He tells a philosophical story that creates a space in which you, too, can meditate on what happens to your heart for as long as it beats, until it stops.--Lars Svendsen, author of A Philosophy of Hope

With a seasoned humanist's eye, and with a serious cardiac condition of his own, Kosky looks at the heart's intimate mechanics and morphology, as well as its symbolism in religion, literature, philosophy, and the arts. The result is an exquisite, unique, haunting book. Humanistic scholarship at its best--and most heartbreakingly personal.--Costica Bradatan, author of In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility

In From the Heart, Kosky uses his own experience with aortic valve replacement to connect the strange and instrumental world of medicine with the variety of ways the metaphorical heart has shown up in our attempts to explore the mystery and meaning of life. From the Heart will resonate with people who have gone through life-threatening injuries and illnesses, but I also hope that medical providers will read this book to better understand their patients' experiences.--Raymond Barfield, MD, PhD, author of Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Kosky is professor of religion at Washington & Lee University. His books include Arts of Wonder: Enchanting Secularity (2013).