Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
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Book Reviews of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Book Review: Death need not be the end....Its the start of a amazing, gross, and sometimes strange journey in the mortal world
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this book.
Can I say it any other way?
Yes, it can be gross and Mrs Roach does not mince the details...but hay, someone's got to tell it as it is! If your squeamish just don't eat before you read.
Personally as a deer hunter, vet for my own personal animals, and the fact I used to volunteer for the "road reclamation committee"(road kill clean up) I have a very strong stomach.
I also tend to be a tomboyish type of girl too sooooooooo.
This book takes you an an amazing journey that you will not experience personally when you die..but what your relatives (or you) could experience in your family.
This book helps you see
The pros and cons of scientific body donation
The history of the cadaver
What your dead decomposing body can tell the CSI folk
What happens when you die "all natural" in the woods
What you will experience in the undertakers office
Different types of burial practices, and new age ideas
and last but not least...(my favorite) how they will analyze your body in a plane (or car) crash.
Who said being dead was no fun?
You will never look at flies the same way again
(nor the maggot ridden dear on the side of the road, you can hear them<maggots> at work!)
So grab some Petroleum Jelly (smell), wear disposable book covers (slime and ick), and have a shower handy.
For after you read this book you will probably have family gathering on exactly how you want to go.....but have the lawyer present because once you go....they don't have to "listen or do" as you told them to any Review: Hilarious and Fascinating
Summary: 5 Stars "The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back."
So begins "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," the hillarious, fascinating, and, yes, sometimes gross new book by Mary Roach.
As Ms. Roach wisely points out, "By and large, the dead aren't very talented. They can't play water polo, or lace up their boots, or maximize market share. They can't tell a joke, and they can't dance for beans." Fortunately dead bodies have many productive (though often quite bizarre) uses.
Always as respectful as she is informative, Ms. Roach takes readers through a riotously funny look at the many uses of dead bodies - including safety research ("Dead Man Driving"), medical experimentation, surgical practice (face-lifts on decapitated human heads), "beating-heart" cadavers used in organ transplants, quantifying rates of decay, methods of disposal (okay, sure but composting?!), grave digging, and of course, that timeless favorite cannibalism.
You won't be able to put it down, even after reading about her trip to China to find a crematorium that allegedly fills dumplings with human remains.
Don't worry, "Stiff" is not a morbid book. As Roach explained to her former colleagues at Salon.com, "This isn't a book about death. It's a book about dead bodies. They're two very different things."
And the dumplings probably just taste like chicken.
Book Review: Fascinating!
Summary: 5 Stars
The cover certainly caught my eye! This book answers many questions regarding what happens to a body afterwards via embalming, burial, cremation, being left in a field, or by donating it to science. The book is written in an engaging manner which can be easily understood by a normal person. The author also makes you aware of how important cadavers are to society. I never gave much thought to how many safety items are a result of cadaver studies (airbags, seatbelts, body armor). I appreciate the author's respect for cadavers. She emphasizes many times that individuals donating their bodies to science are truly selfless people whose gift benefits society. There certainly are morbid sections (cannibalism) that may turn the reader off but each chapter heading tells you what the subject is. You can skip the chapters that may disturb/disgust you. I'm glad I read this book because I wasn't aware of the many choices I had. This book is very thought provoking especially if you choose to do something nonconventional. My friends think I'm weird for having read this (and enjoying it). They didn't appreciate my questions and comments. I had a talk with my husband regarding the choices. I wanted to know if I did "this" would he be ok with it? Apparently, this whole subject matter bothers him so much that he refuses to discuss it. Be prepared to face the same reaction with your loved ones. The author didn't convince me enough to donate my body however I did think about it.
Book Review: The Secret Lives of Dead People
Summary: 5 Stars
Where has this book been all my life? :) As someone interested in this sort of thing (death, the funeral industry, forensics), I was surprised that I had not heard of this book until recently. And I must say that it was exactly what I expected it to be.
Roach takes a look at how corpses serve a purpose after death - their "life after life." From serving as med school gross anatomy tools or crash test "dummies," human cadavers can play important roles in the work of scientists, doctors, and engineers in their collective quest to keep the living safe and healthy. The ultimate cadaver "job" is that of organ donor - a single individual can save the lives of multiple living recipients.
But Roach doesn't just cover the "typical" cadaveric endeavors. She describes a visit to the "Body Farm" at the University of Tennessee, where cadavers (placed in various outdoor conditions) help scientists advance the field of forensic science. She also discusses other methods for preserving (plastination, as used in the work of the man behind the "Body Worlds" exhibits) and disposing of bodies (liquification, fertilizer), including a few taboo subjects (cannibalism).
Overall, this book is tremendously entertaining; Roach is a very funny writer, but she manages to still respect her, um, subjects. Probably not a good book for the squeamish, though - especially the chapter on decay (don't ask about the "haciendas").
Book Review: Things you never knew you wanted to know
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is tied for first as my favorite book of all time. This book is informative, educational, and exceptionally well-cited. Beyond that, it is an easy and conversational read. The best parts (there are two) about this book are that a) it might be the funniest thing I have ever read. Yes, its about cadavers - whole ones, pieces of them, ones that are buried, burned or chemically digested, dismantled for research or organ donation - but Roach has an uncanny and remarkable sense of humor about the whole thing. I literally laughed out loud at several points during the book - this is not just something they put on the book jacket as a sales pitch. If you wish to be amused, pick this up. And b) my second favorite thing about this book is that it provides a new starting place for deciding about the way in which I wish to dispense with my own remains. She provides information about organ donation, donation of bodies to science, donation of brains, and the nitty-gritty of what happens to the body depending on which more traditional disposal method one selects. I'll spare you the details of my own decision about this, but suffice it to say, this book has given me a whole new set of things to think about. This book doesn't have to move you or impact your life or decision-making, but it can.
In all, a fantastic reading experience that I recommend to anyone with a sense of humor and even the slightest bit of morbid curiosity.