Pump

Schutt, a zoologist, tells an incredible story of evolution and scientific progress with a likely look at the hearts of animals, from fish to bats to humans. He takes us on a tour from the origins of circulation, still evident in microorganisms today, to the tiny hardworking pumps of worms, to the golf-cart-size hearts of blue whales. And we journey with Schutt through human history, too, as philosophers and scientists hypothesize, often wrongly, about what makes our ticker tick. Throughout, Schutt shows us this mysterious organ in a completely new light.--