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Loading... Stiff (original 2003; edition 2003)by Mary Roach (Author)
Work InformationStiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (2003)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book is fascinating, and also pretty gross. I can only imagine some of the faces that I made while listening to the more disgusting portions. Stiff covers a wide range of topics involving the human body and it does a great job of fitting a lot of information into a 300 page book without it feeling bogged down. I listened to this audiobook and I loved the narrator. She caught exactly the humour that Mary Roach infused into this subject which seems like the last topic you could make enjoyable. Mary Roach examines all the ways in which dead bodies can be and have been disposed of. Much of the book is about using cadavers for scientific research or teaching anatomy. I've always known that medical and other students need dead bodies in order to study human anatomy. As a person who didn't even want to dissect a rat in biology I know that would be something I could never do. However, it does seem like a good idea for people who want to treat humans to know how all the organs and bones and muscles work. I'm still not convinced to leave my body for that use although I signed my organ donor card decades ago. But some of the other uses of cadavers were surprising to me, such as using them to test what happens in car crashes. Apparently, crash test dummies just can't replicate the way a real body will handle an air bag release when a vehicle is hit. Roach managed to get into all kinds of labs where cadavers are used and she seemed to really enjoy that. Again, not my cup of tea. The chapters on alternatives to burial or cremation were the most interesting to me. I long ago decided I wasn't going to be put into a coffin and take up a plot of land. About the only other alternative is to be cremated but there may be a time coming when bodies could be composted or freeze-dried and broken into powder. I like the idea of this greener alternative to cremation but it is not available in Canada yet. I wonder what Greenpeace and the David Suzuki Foundation have to say about green ways of disposing of your body. This book was first released 20 years ago but Roach has done an afterword for a new edition. Unfortunately, this audiobook didn't include that. I watched a Q & A Zoom session with Roach but if other readers don't have that opportunity, then I recommend getting the updated book. no reviews | add a review
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Science.
Nonfiction.
Humor (Nonfiction.)
HTML: An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For 2,000 years, cadavers---some willingly, some unwittingly---have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure---from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery---cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way. In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries---from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. .No library descriptions found. |
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Death may be a part of life, but it's still a part of life that there are a lot of deep, unprocessed feelings about. This book only works because of the way Roach just nails the tone: there's a deep undercurrent of honest curiosity that's present as she explores her subject. She recounts her own experience sitting with her mother's body after her death and how it made her feel, and doesn't forget that the bodies she sees in her explorations were once someone else's loved one too. She's honest about the ugly side of things...to the point where I found one of the chapters, about using bodies to do research about how the body decomposes under various scenarios (to help law enforcement and pathologists/coroners better estimate how long bodies have been in the elements after death) a little icky. But it never feels gratuitous. She doesn't say something irreverent or gross just for the shock factor. If you've ever wondered what happens to the outside of you when you die, or if you're curious now that you've thought about it, this is an intriguing book and I highly recommend it. ( )