William Harvey: A Life in Circulation

'Thomas Wright's acute, imaginative book' -- Sunday Times, April 1, 2012. John Carey

'In Circulation, Wright tells a good story, warts and allEL Wright reconstructs the research ... [and] is attentive to the world in which his subject lived. The semi-medieval conditions of life at the universities of Cambridge and Padua are well-described. -- Duncan Wu, The Independent

Thomas Wright's lucid biography deftly puts Harvey into his cultural context -- Hermione Eyre, Prospect

Thomas Wright's lively little book on Harvey's revolutionary idea is a panegyric to the man's whirring mind, and to the excitements of thinking more generally. -- Helen Brown, The Daily Telegraph (4 stars)

As soon as I started the book, I was gripped with curiosity. -- William Leith, Spectator

Thomas Wright's book opens brilliantly and bloodily and continues in the same vein... a captivating, intellectually gripping journey into our country's scientific past. -- Druin Birch, Mail on Sunday

A fascinating narration of a largely untold story. -- Peter Ackroyd, British author

[A] sprightly new study... Wright has written a concise, skillful and often eloquent book. -Charles Nicholl, The Guardian

Wright's (Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde) biography of an idea as much as... of a man presents a wonderful portrait not only of physician William Harvey but also of the changing face of the study of medicine and scientific inquiry in Europe in the early 17th century...Other essays muse on broader cultural concepts such as metaphorical understandings of the heart and the extension of Harvey's ideas even beyond where he himself was comfortable. Wright pulls these threads together to create an enjoyably enlightening history of science, with more than enough background included to make this worthwhile for a general academic audience. -- Publisher's Weekly, starred review

'The little man of perpetual movement has found a fine advocate in Thomas Wright, whose highly readable Circulation combines recent scholarship with more than a touch of drama... -- Helen Bynum, The Times Literary Supplement

Using the doctor's surviving notes and letters as well as other contemporary sources, Wright convincingly re-creates William Harvey's England. The book's evocations of his boyhood education and college experiences give the later opposition to his theories a clearer context, and will convince readers that Harvey's concept of the heart changed people's perception of the world. --Booklist

Wright offers an excellent account of Harvey's researches on the heart and circulation, but the real payoff comes from his reconstructions of events in Harvey's life: his days as a student in Cambridge and Padua, his medical practice, or his efforts to defend his work against critics. Wright paints a vivid picture... -- Bill Bynum, The Lancet

This remarkable book represents the best in historical detective work. Wright pieces together what remains of a fragmented documentary record, providing a brilliant interpretation and thorough consideration of the period in which William Harvey (1578-1657) lived. -- CHOICE