About this item
In this poignant and startlingly original book, Brian Doyle examines the heart as a physical organ - how it is supposed to work, how surgeons try to fix it when it doesn't - and as a metaphor: the seat of the soul, the power house of the body, the essence of spirituality. In a series of profoundly moving ruminations, Doyle considers the scientific, emotional, literary, philosophical, and spiritual understandings of the heart - from cardiology to courage, from love letters and pop songs to Jesus. Weaving these strands together is the torment of Doyle's own infant son's heart surgery and the inspiring story of the young heart doctor who saved Liam's life.The Wet Engine is a book that will change how you feel and think about the mysterious, fragile human heart.
About the Author
Brian Doyle (born in New York in 1956) is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, in Oregon. He is the author of many books, among them the novels Mink River (set in Oregon) , The Plover (in the South Seas) , Martin Marten (on Oregon's Wy'east mountain, foolishly often called Mount Hood) , and Chicago (take a guess) . Among his other books are the story collection Bin Laden's Bald Spot, the nonfiction books The Grail and The Wet Engine, and many books of essays and poems. Brian James Patrick Doyle of New Yawk is cheerfully NOT the great Canadian novelist Brian Doyle, nor the astrophysicist Brian Doyle, nor the former Yankee baseball player Brian Doyle, nor even the terrific actor Brian Doyle-Murray. He is, let's say, the ambling shambling Oregon writer Brian Doyle, and happy to be so.
