Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood [Paperback]

Bill Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2006

“This beguiling brew of fascinating scientific facts and illuminating, poignant anecdotes makes Five Quarts something like blood itself: vital and pulsing with energy.”
–Entertainment Weekly

From ancient Rome, where gladiators drank the blood of vanquished foes to gain strength and courage, to modern-day laboratories, where machines test blood for diseases and scientists search for elusive cures, Bill Hayes takes us on a whirlwind journey through history, literature, mythology, and science by way of the great red river that runs five quarts strong through our bodies. Hayes also 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 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hemophobes beware: there are five quarts of blood in the human body, and Hayes (Sleep Demons: An Insomniac's Memoir) pours all of them into this book. A gay man living in San Francisco with an HIV-positive partner, Hayes uses his own encounters with blood's ability to save and destroy lives as a launching point for anecdotes in the larger story of blood. His personal history runs like a river through this book, picking up the flotsam and jetsam of blood lore. He launches into an account of the discovery of blood's components and its function in the body, and meanders through cultural perceptions of blood, from the sacred (the Eucharist) to the profane (Dracula). Hayes ranges far beyond red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma, taking readers inside a modern blood bank and to the bedside of a woman with hemophilia; his keen perceptions show how the ancient view of blood as the essence of a person's soul still pervades our modern vocabulary and views on the vital fluid. His sometimes irreverent commentary on misconceptions about blood doesn't shy away from the gruesome, particularly a cringe-inducing description of early blood transfusion techniques. With his strong writing and a unique approach, Hayes satisfyingly addresses this life force. B&w illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“Playful and powerful . . .profoundly moving . . . Hayes writes with so much panache that reading this book is thrilling.”
–The Boston Globe

"Bill Hayes is on his way to becoming one of those rare authors who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did. . . . [Five Quarts is] a breezy ride of a book that . . . equips even a casual reader with the knowledge to gain new insights into life.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

“Hayes’s fascination with scientific discovery is matched by his unerring sense for the right phrase, the right anecdote, to draw others into his delight and wonder.”
–The Advocate

“The perfect gift for the phlebotomist in your life.”
–Newsweek (Top Pick of the Week)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (February 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345456882
• ISBN-13: 978-0345456885
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #679,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"One of those rare authors who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did." -- San Francisco Chronicle.

Bill Hayes is the author of the national bestseller "Sleep Demons: An Insomniac's Memoir" and "Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood." His work has also been published in The New York Times Magazine and Details, among other publications. He has been featured on many NPR programs as well as the Discovery Health Channel. He lives in New York City

Hayes's first book, "Sleep Demons: An Insomniac's Memoir" (2001), received glowing reviews in Entertainment Weekly, Out, Kirkus Review, and others. In a starred review, Publisher's Weekly called Sleep Demons, "An intelligent, beautifully written book...that variously reads like a journey of scientific discovery, a personal memoir, and a literary episode of 'Ripley's Believe It or Not.'"

In his next book, "Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood" (2004), Hayes wove together memoir and medical history in a compelling look at the five quarts of vital fluid that runs through each of us.

"The Anatomist," his latest book, (2008), is a narrative nonfiction account of the story behind the 19th-century classic revered by doctors and artists alike, Gray's Anatomy. "Bill Hayes has written a thrilling book that is simultaneously an autobiography, a biography of Henry Gray, a scientific essay on our human anatomy, and a heart-breaking elegy," author Richard Rodriguez notes. "I do not know another book like it."

"With prose both lucide and arrestingly beautiful...Hayes pays eloquent tribute to two masterpieces: the human body and the book detailing it."
-- Publishers Weekly.

"Remarkable! The Anatomist deserves a place on every bookshelf."
-- Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fill'er up! One quart of O-positive, please, September 13, 2005

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great surprise, May 5, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood (Hardcover)

Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood by Bill Hayes started because the author cut his finger. What followed is fascinating nonfiction that explores blood through history, literature, science and mythology.

I must admit that when I first saw the book I wasn't particularly interested. I couldn't imagine the subject of blood to be anything but dull and even repulsive. Finally, curiosity got the best of me, and I picked it up and began reading. And I continued reading.

I couldn't believe how much there is to know about that vital fluid that runs through every human body. If you're interested in trivia, or find unique things that you've never considered fascinating before, this book is for you. I will never view my wedding ring or barbershop poles in the same way again.

Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood proves that even a seemingly obscure topic can be enthralling.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Emotional and Provocative, February 24, 2005

By 

Truro Potter "Paul" (Truro, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood (Hardcover)

Bill Hayes has written another winner. He seamlessly weaves together a history of blood with personal reflections from his own life. Hayes explores and explains how man's understanding of blood developed not only in science but also the meaning of blood through time in our cultural, social and religious life. I found this aspect of the book educational and fascinating.

At the same time, Hayes interweaves reflections and experiences from his own childhood and adult life. These reflections are laugh out-loud funny, heartbreakingly sad and profoundly intimate. In particular he focuses on his experience as a gay man in the age of AIDS and his long term relationship with a partner with AIDS. Through the lens of blood, this is another perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our lives; one that I believe has never really been explored before. He also describes the current impact of AIDS in the age of effective treatments on those affected and infected. This is important and has until now been left unsaid. While the impact of AIDS is no longer certain death, it still has enormous ramifications on our personal lives and in our communities. Blood gives Hayes the vehicle to describe this beautifully.