Head of Zeus (2024) 304 pp, £35.00

How has the heart been seen across millennia? How far do historical and contemporary depictions of the heart give insight into the ideas and perceptions of their time? Robin Choudhury, professor of cardiovascular medicine and consultant cardiologist in Oxford, UK, has brought to this fascinating study his deep interests in cultural history, the visual arts and the history of medical science: “In researching this book, a large part of my motivation (as a cardiologist dealing not only with the heart but with people’s attitudes to their hearts) has been a curiosity to understand how and why the heart has attained its position as the pre-eminent organ — not merely in the physiological sense, but as the object of persistent reverence and fascination that go far beyond its prosaic role as a mechanical pump.”