Russians who raised the dead: book review and excerpt

Those still sitting on the fence over whether to buy this month's best pop science debut about zombies can read a review by the kind folks at Arc magazine here, and read an extract from the book in Salon magazine, entitled: Russians Who Raised the Dead:

Bryukhonenko had heard about Kuliabko’s experiments with humans and he was ready to try his own hand at them. He enlisted the help of the experimental surgeon Sergeo I. Spasokukotey, who had helped to engineer the network of blood banks across the Soviet Union. In 1934, showing a similar level of disregard for a person’s self-determination as he had shown for the laws of nature, Bryukhonenko attempted to revive a man who had committed suicide. Just three hours after the man had hung himself, the doctor slit open an artery and a vein and connected them to the autojektor. The machine steadily drew cold dead blood from the corpse and returned it warm and rich with oxygen. For several hours the team waited, listening to the whirr of the autojektor as the dead man’s body slowly warmed. Then a faint sound joined them in the room: a heartbeat.