(Larger Image)
|
Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood
by Bill Hayes
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Ballantine Books (2005-01-25)
ISBN: 0345456874
EAN: 9780345456878
Dewy Decimal #: 612.11
Hardcover: 304 pages
Edition: 1
Release Date: 2005-01-25
SKU: BA08033025
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Exactly as shown, Ex Library copy with usual stamps and stickers. Clear, protective mylar covering over dust jacket. Book itself is bound strong, has little wear and text is clean and unmarked.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
“We’re born in blood. Our family histories are contained in it, our bodies nourished by it daily. Five quarts run through each of us, along some sixty thousand miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries.”
–from Five Quarts
In the national bestseller Sleep Demons, Bill Hayes took us on a trailblazing trip through the night country of insomnia. Now he is our guide on a whirlwind journey through history, literature, mythology, and science by means of the great red river that runs five quarts strong through our bodies.
Profusely illustrated, the journey stretches from ancient Rome, where gladiators drank the blood of vanquished foes to gain strength and courage, to modern-day laboratories, where high-tech machines test blood for diseases and dedicated scientists search for elusive cures. Along the way, there will be world-changing triumphs: William Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood; Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s advances in making the invisible world visible in the early days of the microscope; Dr. Paul Ehrlich’s Nobel-Prize-winning work in immunology; Dr. Jay Levy’s codiscovery of the virus that causes AIDS. Yet there will also be ignorance and tragedy: the widespread practice of bloodletting via incision and the use of leeches, which harmed more than it healed; the introduction of hemophilia into the genetic pool of nineteenth-century European royalty thanks to the dynastic ambitions of Queen Victoria; the alleged spread of contaminated blood through a phlebotomist’s negligence in modern-day California.
This is also a personal voyage, in which Hayes recounts the impact of the vital fluid in his daily life, from growing up in a household of five sisters and their monthly cycles, to coming out as a gay man during the explosive early days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, to his enduring partnership with an HIV-positive man.
As much a biography of blood as it is a memoir of how this rich substance has shaped one man’s life, Five Quarts is by turns whimsical and provocative, informative and moving. It will get under your skin.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Five quarts a must for phlebotomists and the curious
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-02-27
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Bill Hayes does a wonderful job of exploring our concepts of blood and sharing his experiences. I feel this book should be required reading for phlebotomists - I am one and found the book on my own and loved it!
|
|
With Emphasis on the Personal
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-11-28
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Rarely have I encountered so unflinchingly honest a book. Mr. Hayes has an exceptionally complex relationship with blood; his partner of fourteen years is HIV positive while Mr. Hayes remains HIV free. Therefore, the book falls squarely into its own unique category--it is a journal of discoveries both personal and scientific. Its power is found in the author's candor as he shares his journey of discovery.
The personal dimension of this book is surprisingly vast. Though it does treat the science to the degree one would expect, the scientific and historical discussion is but the lesser portion. The true context lies in the author's expressed need to know what blood is all about and his discovery of how blood-related knowledge has shaped his life. The intensely personal nature of the work gives a depth to the discussion not present in the expected general science genre.
Though the author's frank treatment of his sexual orientation and personal history were startling, it can safely be said that Five Quarts is much more than a memoir and certainly more than the typical general science/history offering. Five Quarts was truly a rare and welcome find.
|
|
A BLOODY GOOD READ!
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-02-27
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
We could be corny and tout this as the kind of book you'll sink your teeth into, but that seems so bloody obvious. Instead we'll say that Five Quarts is a damn good read. Author Bill Hayes uses his HIV-positive status to springboard into a pulsating exploration --- as fascinating as it is frightening, as humorous as it is harrowing --- of the cultural, historical, spiritual and medical myths, misconceptions and marvels of blood. From the legend of Dracula to the scared saga of the Eucharist, from a heart-warming bedside visit with a woman suffering from hemophilia to a look inside a blood bank ... there's lots of interesting and informative on this plate(let).
|
|
Fill'er up! One quart of O-positive, please
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-09-13
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Author Hayes mixes science, philosophy and a lot of personal intimacy in this interesting book on blood. A strange subject (though not the strangest around--a recent bestseller is about cadavers.) We have five quarts of the red stuff--hence the title.
The book starts with Bill getting a cut. But then we go on a journey about hemophila and history (the royal house of Great Britain) and we learn about bloodletting, blood banks, and ultimately the AIDS epidemic.
While I would prefer more science and less personal information in a treatise on a scientific subject, that's just me (I studied biology and immunology for quite some years.) But for a non-science-steeped reader, this is a fascinating look at the stuff of life. Recommended, though not for the squeamish.
|
|
Well Written
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-08-22
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a very well written book. If you are looking for an intelligent, but entertainng read...This is the book.
|
|
|