"Endlessly Beating" looks at the heart as a muscular pump -- beating more than 100,000 times a day, and remaining remarkably efficient under nominal conditions. But when the heart fails (as it does in three case studies examined here), artificial hearts or heart transplants are required, both of which are explored in detail.
The Spark of Life" focuses on the electrical mechanisms that keep the heart beating, detailing what occurs when the heart's normal rhythms are disrupted or shutdown. A wide range of treatments are profiled (with particular emphasis on portable and implantable defibrillators), as patients from New York to Brazil find their lives extended to advancing technology.
The Silent Killer zeroes in on atherosclerosis, the silent blockage of coronary arteries that is the leading cause of cardiac arrest, looking at risk factors (and prevention) and the prospects for long term survival of those with heart disease. A valuable primer on an important subject, this is highly recommended