How the heart works

Anatomically, the heart is very complex. Functionally, it’s very simple.

Yet doctors, health publications, and attorneys in cardiac cases almost invariably try to introduce the heart to laymen with a confusing anatomical drawing, like the first image below.

A much more effective way, I believe, is to:
1. introduce the heart in a simple schematic showing how it functions, with generic terms
2. then replace the generic terms with the actual medical terms
3. only then does an anatomical drawing begin to make sense.