Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

This was the third book I listened to on my roadtrip to/from Indiana. I loved this. It was the first Mary Roach I'd ever read, and I'm kicking myself that I hadn't picked anything up by her sooner.

The reader for the audiobook is fantastic and I thought she really brought the right combination of snark, humor, and curiosity to Roach's writing. I'm a bit bummed that the other books have a different reader who from the samples I listened to I don't like as much.

This book was completely fascinating and covered a large expanse of history to the present day in how we treat dead human bodies. I enjoyed it and laughed and smiled, was engrossed by the macabre, and was a bit uncomfortable to reach the chapter on crash test cadavers for show more automobiles while driving 80 mph down the Ohio Turnpike. show less

This is the type of book I love. All nonfiction should be this readable and interesting. Mary Roach writes a rare book - one that looks unflinchingly and somehow lightheartedly at what happens to the body after death. From crash test dummies, to life-saving transplants, Roach makes death sound not only tolerable but downright exciting! A loving, curious, and persuasive argument to donate one's anatomical goods to the world of research.

I have been curious about Roach and the intriguing topics she writes books about for quite some time -- but this is the first book of hers that I read. I brought it with me on vacation and it was a great selection for reading long sections aloud to my husband as we drove.

And reading bits of this aloud is kind of irresistible. I loved Roach's dry sense of humor -- which was irreverent without ever crossing the line into heartlessness or crassness. The situations that many of these bodies end up in is frankly absurd, which Roach points out without losing sight of how it affects those who are working with corpses, as well as how the studies done on cadavers have (and haven't) advanced science and society.

Ultimately, what this book is about show more is how what happens to our bodies after death does and doesn't matter. As much as I was fascinated by all the stories of bodies "left to science," I was most interested in those chapters on the people working to develop new, more earth-friendly ways to handle human remains.

I definitely need to read more of Roach's work. And to look up what's happened to those new technologies in the years since this book was published! show less

[A version of this review also appears at Bookin' It.]

Mary Roach uses wry humor to approach a difficult topic - the various ways human bodies are used after death. Chapters address their use in science and medical training (anatomy classes and the practice of surgery), testing the impact of car crashes and bullets, and in determining what happened in an airplane crash.

She also discusses body snatching, medicinal cannibalism, and experiments with crucifixion and with body decay (which should help forensic science) and composting (more environmentally friendly than burial or cremation), as well as plastination (which has led to exhibitions like Body Worlds and Bodies: The Exhibition).

If that's not enough to make you squeamish, there is show more also a chapter entitled "How to Know If You're Dead" (subtitled "Beating heart cadavers, live burial, and the scientific search for the soul"), and one - aptly begun with an illustration of Frankenstein from the movie - called "Just A Head," about "Decapitation, reanimation, and the human head transplant."

It may all sound sensationalist, but it's not. The book is well-researched (there's a nine-page bibliography), and Roach uses just enough humor to lighten up this serious subject. I really appreciated her final chapter, where she wrote about what she'd like to see done with her own body, but acknowledged, "It makes little sense to try to control what happens to your remains when you are no longer around to reap the joys or benefits of that
control....survivors shouldn't have to do something they're uncomfortable with or ethically opposed to." (page 290)

I'm glad I read this book, as I learned a lot. Because of her wry touch with difficult subjects, I'd be interested in reading Roach's other books.

© Amanda Pape - 2012

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.] show less

First, Mary Roach has a terrific sense of humor. She takes a challenging subject and finds ways to make you laugh just when you need it. Her humor is irreverent, but never disrespectful. She can laugh at some of the absurdity, yet still appreciate the pain dying can bring.
This is well written, well researched, and thorough. My one, very minor complaint is with the organization of the book. I feel as though it starts much more strongly than it finishes. So, for example, she might have considered organizing the chapters differently.
I don't think you need a particularly strong stomach to read this book. Only one item actually turned my stomach. But when it did, it *really* did.
The book succeeded in making me think about my own death. It show more also made me think about my mother's death and made it easier to accept certain events. ...
I hope this book will make you laugh and then think too. show less

I'd been wanting to read this for quite some time and finally did. It was, as expected, both fascinating and disgusting. I really appreciated her mix of historical uses and abuses of human cadavers with current ones. In particular, the mellified man, whether a legend or real, caught my attention. The only chapter that really got me was the crash testing. That was just awful.
She writes in a perky journalistic style where she's definitely present on the page. That can irritate some people but I enjoyed it.
Overall a great read.

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 show more 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. show less