Medical History Books

Breakthrough!: How Three People Saved “Blue Babies” and Changed Medicine Forever

Murphy, Jim

Clarion Books 2015

The stories of this medical and social breakthrough and the lives of Thomas, Blalock, and their colleague Dr. Helen Taussig are intertwined in this compelling nonfiction narrative.

Partners of the Heart: An Autobiography by Vivien T. Thomas

Thomas, Vivien T.

University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985

In addition to telling Thomas’ s life story, Partners of the Heart traces the beginnings of modern cardiac surgery, crucial investigations into the nature of shock, and Blalock’s methods of training surgeons.

To Heal the Heart of a Child: Helen Taussig, M.D.

Baldwin, Joyce

A biography of the woman who overcame learning difficulties, sex discrimination, and other barriers to excel in the field of pediatric cardiology

100,000 Hearts: A Surgeon’s Memoir

Cooley, Denton A. M.D.

In his new memoir, 100,000 Hearts, Cooley tells about his childhood in Houston and his experiences as a basketball scholarship recipient at the University of Texas. After medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Johns Hopkins, Cooley served in the Army Medical Corps. While at Johns Hopkins, Cooley assisted in a groundbreaking operation to correct an infant’s congenital heart defect, which inspired him to specialize in heart surgery.

Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart

Swartz, Mimi

Random House, 2018

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. If America could send a man to the moon, shouldn’t the best surgeons in the world be able to build an artificial heart? In Ticker, Texas Monthly executive editor and two time National Magazine Award winner Mini Swartz shows just how complex and difficult it can be to replicate one of nature’s greatest creations.

Open Heart: The Radical Surgeons Who Revolutionized Medicine

Cooper, D.K.C. M.D.

Kaplan Publishing, 2010

A bold and remarkable history, The Right Stuff for the giants of heart surgery who performed medical feats once thought impossible.