"What is heart? It is the muscle of life, sending our most vital fluid coursing through our veins to every hungry part of our being. It is what keeps us striving against impossible odds; that fortifying something that is the cornerstone of every triumph. It elates us when we discover love and pains us greatly when that love is lost or proves unrequited. It is a gentleness that colors what we give to others.

It is a symbol that we see on greeting cards: a small, red shape that was drawn on the wall of a cave in Spain more than 12,000 years ago. ...".

"In this work, author Gail Godwin takes us on a journey of the heart that spans the entire history of human civilization, combining literature, myth, religion, philosophy, medicine, the fine arts, and intensely personal stories from the writer's own past to explore the full and complex character of that unique symbol.

Godwin's explorations and meditations track themes of the heart in life, legend, and art - from the first valentine to the first stethoscope, from Gilgamesh to Confucius, from the heart of darkness to wearing one's heart on one's sleeve."--BOOK JACKET.