The Beat of Life

Book excerpt: The heart is our most important - and perhaps most mysterious - organ. Every day it pumps 9000 litres of blood and beats around 100,000 times. But the heart is more than just a pump. In all major human cultures, it is seen as the source of love, sympathy, joy, courage, strength and wisdom. Why? Having witnessed the extraordinary complexity and unpredictability of human hearts in the operating theatre - each one individual in its make-up, like a fingerprint - heart surgeon Reinhard Friedl went on a search for answers. He examined closely the latest findings in neurocardiology and psychocardiology, and in The Beat of Life he shares his discoveries, using riveting personal stories to illustrate the complex relationship between the heart, the brain and the psyche. 'Reinhard Friedl explains why love resides in the heart, whether it can be broken by grief and why heart and brain form a unit' Kleine Presse Graz 'Raising awareness, contemplating, reflecting - that is the true intention of this book on the heart' Neu-Ulmer Zeitung 'A well-balanced blend of facts and personal stories' Moment by Moment 'This book has inspired me from the first page to the last... readable and endearing' Yoga Journal