Medical, cultural views of the heart subject of new book

SHARON — The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon will host the fifth annual Summer Book Signing on Friday, Aug. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. Stephen Amidon, a resident of Greenfield, Mass., will be among the more than 30 authors there. He will sign copies of “The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart,” written with his brother, Dr. Thomas Amidon. This is his first nonfiction work; his six novels are “Splitting the Atom,” “Subdivision,” “Thirst,” “The Primitive,” “Human Capital” and “The New City.”When asked why he switched from fiction to nonfiction, Amidon said, “I have always wanted to write something with my brother, and ‘The Sublime Heart’ seemed like the place to start.” The impetus for a book about the human heart came from his own father’s death from heart disease 10 years ago, he said.Amidon’s brother, Thomas, is an invasive cardiologist — a doctor who uses tools inserted into the body to do tests. “He spends most of his time in the cath lab at a hospital,” Amidon said.The cath lab is the cardiac catheterization room, where cardiologists perform angiograms and angioplasty procedures.Amidon said writing about the human heart with his brother was a perfect fit for their interests and backgrounds. “My brother wrote about the heart from a medical perspective, while I approached it from the viewpoint of how the heart plays out in our culture.” Amidon sees the heart as a metaphor for how we live.“The heart is an amazing organ in our bodies, one we usually don’t even think about, yet it beats over 2 billion times in an average lifetime. It inspires a sense of awe and wonder.”Continuing his venture into nonfiction, Amidon’s next book, “The Gods,” is the story of athletes from Achilles to LeBron James, and is scheduled to be published by Rodale Books in March 2012. “Athletes and their roles in and relationship to society continually change. For example, when Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS, he said, ‘I got a tough break.’ And that was that. Were that to happen today, the press would, at the least, demand to see the MRI scans.”To meet Stephen Amidon, or the other authors at the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon’s summer book signing fundraiser, or for more information, contact the library at 860-364-5041 or go to www.hotchkisslibrary.org.Admission to the booksigning is $25 and includes an open wine bar and hors d’oeuvres. Other authors featured this year include Michael Korda; Ann Brashares; Roz Chast; Peter Richmond; Margaret Roach; and decorator/authors Matthew Patrick Smyth and Annie Kelly (and her husband, photographer Tim Street-Porter).There will also be dinners at private homes with some of the featured authors. The cost to attend is $125. The author dinners will featured Henry Kissinger; Edmund Morris; Bunny Williams; Scott Spencer; Page Dickey; and siblings James and Priscilla Buckley.

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