Not for the weak of heart (or stomach)

books:

	• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Mary Roach W. W. Norton & Company, 2004 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 360 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Not for the weak of heart (or stomach)

Anatomy was the only part of my high school biology class that really interested me, so I thought I'd enjoy "Stiff." This book is basically a very detailed account of the various things that happen to dead bodies. Believe it or not, in addition to being incredibly well-researched and thorough, this book is actually humorous...which is truly an amazing accomplishment on the author's part, considering that we're talking about human corpses here!

"Stiff" explores various topics related to cadavers. The book includes information on early medical experimentation, grave robbers, modern day medical and forensic studies, and the process of human decay. There are also chapters devoted to cannibalism, traditional methods of body disposal (burial, cremation, etc.), and even decapitation. Author Mary Roach is very detailed in her descriptions of the ghastliest of processes, and she also happens to be wickedly funny. This is an excellent book...however, readers need to make sure that their "gross/morbidity tolerance levels" are up to par. As I said, I was always interested in anatomy, but after I got through the first few chapters of this book, I couldn't handle the incredibly graphic descriptions of very disgusting things that I can't bring myself to go into detail about here. (Let's just say that the words "larvae" and "body" don't mesh together very well in my book...and that's not even the yuckiest thing I read!)

Bottom line: "Stiff" is definitely a great book. I'm sure that anyone in the medical or forensic field will love it, as well as other people who have an exceptionally high tolerance for grossness!

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She's been Burked!!!

I LOVE this book. She discribes the settings so well you can see it in your head! I first read this book when I was a junior in high school. I loved it so much I decided to go ahead and buy it for myself.

If you have ever wanted to know what happens when someone donates themselves to science, or you just like reading about the dead, this is the book for you!!

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CURIOUS INDEED

The subtitle of Mary Roach's book STIFF (the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers) sets the tone for her book on what happens to your body after you die. At first, I thought it would be a forensic documentary, but STIFF isn't about compiling and presenting facts on human decomposition (there's a very little of that at the beginning of the book; though described in very little detail, still it is not for the squeamish). CSI probably presents more scientific information on what happens to the deceased. STIFF could also have been a humor piece (filled with gallows humor, no doubt), and although many reviewers find Roach to be funny, I wouldn't say it was intended to be ireverent or silly. Instead, this book is about a curiosity (I wouldn't call it morbid - Roach's curiosity is too innocent for that); a curiousity about what happens to the bodies we leave behind when we die.

STIFF is really a collection of anecdotes, each one investigating something Roach was curious about (or taken another way, something she found curious) about the disposition of human bodies after death. Using the former sense, she inquired about whether undertakers in China really ever ate the bodies of their clients (ruled out), whether you can do a head transplant onto a brain-dead body (unverified), or where you want to be sitting in an airplane when about to crash (quoth the injury analyst, "That depends... onwhat kind of crash it's going to be). In the lattter sense, she discovered that necrophilia was not a crime in any US state until 1965, crash test dummies of the biological kind require diapers (for reasons that are discussed in the book but needn't be reiteratd here...), that dead bodies falling into the ocean at terminal velocity have their clothing stripped off, and that 40% of Swedish respondents in one poll said they'd like to becomposted after death. If truth is stranger than fiction, STIFF must be as honest as old Abe.

STIFF does display a hint of bias; it's clearly ordered according to the author's ranking on ways to go. It starts off with rotting in the woods (very yucky), moves to enbalming (yuckiness postponed), medical cadavers (yucky but benefits the human race), scientific research (has benefits but you don't know what you're signing up for), chemical digestion (no yuck), and composting after being freeze-dried and shattered (no yuck AND you grow a tree afterwards - epitome of recycling). This, combined with the author's view that (and here I may be interpreting somewhat) once you die there's nothing left of you but solid waste, gives me the impression that the author is projecting some of her own opinions onto the material. "Don't take up valuable ground with your dirty rotting body - be composted instead and make a tree!" I think we can forgive the author for any personal biases in exchange for writing such a ... curious book.

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Disgustingly Funny

I loved this book! I thought this would be a dumb book that was about a crazy lady who is obsessed with dead people. I was wrong! This book is about the plus side to death and how ridiculously funny it can be. The book can be serious at times but always ends with a quirky comment from the author that lightens the mood up. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in medicine or just looking for a good laugh. Although it can be slow at times it keeps you wondering what the author (Mary Roach) is going to see and do next. If this book can't convince you to help out the medical world in some way, nothing will.

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reviews: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, page 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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