From the Heart

A Memoir and a Meditation on a Vital Organ

Jeffrey L. Kosky

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Hardback

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English

Columbia University Press
12 March 2025

Memoirs; Phenomenology & Existentialism; Philosophy of mind; Religion & science; Medicine: general issues

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.

By: Jeffrey L. Kosky
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780231217644
ISBN 10: 0231217641
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 12 March 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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

Reviews for From the Heart: A Memoir and a Meditation on a Vital Organ

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 <i>Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World</i> Jeffrey 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 <i>A Philosophy of Hope</i>