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: Very Interesting Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Anything you never wanted to know about dead bodies you will read in this book. The author presents the information with a "Dry as a dry martini" sense of humor. Information that would typically not be discussed at the dinner table is what you will find in this book.
There is a variety of information, everything from how dead bodies are used to determine the best seats for airline crashes to the once considered disposal of the same.
One example is a gentleman in New York many moons ago that thought using human fat to keep the street lamps burning. He felt this was a good idea and a cost saving measure.
Another is how cremation came to be and various tried and failed techniques such as freeze drying bodies.
It is not a book of gore in the least, the reason it is not is the way the information is presented. This book is an all time favorite of mine. If you enjoy science, biology, and how things work you will enjoy this book.
Book Review: "Death. It doesn't have to be boring."
Summary: 5 Stars
Did you know?
1) That necrophilia was not a crime in the United States until 1965.
2) In twelfth-century Arabia, men volunteered to eat nothing but honey until they died (about a month). Then their body would be placed in a stone coffin full of honey and there the body would macerate for 100 years. Then the seals are broken and the remains used for medicine, some of it taken internally.
3) In the 1950's Vladimir Demikhov performed many head transplants on dogs. One dog lived for 29 days with two heads.
Well if you found any of those facts interesting then you should do yourself a favor and check out Mary Roach's "Stiff". The same subject matter in a lesser writer's hands would have come off boring and well stiff, kinda like a textbook, but luckily for us readers with short attention spans Mary's writing is engaging and a lot of fun to read.
Highly recommended for the morbidly curious.
Book Review: Curious Indeed
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Stiff" Mary Roach achieves the delicate balance between the ghoulish macabre and the fate that awaits us all while never losing her sense of honest curiosity, reverence, and gallows humor throughout.
This book was highly recommended to me and I was initially skeptical as to whether it was worthy of all of the high praise. I needn't have worried. The book is both educational and fun, yes fun. Of course I'd heard of body snatchers, but had no idea that they referred to themselves as 'resurrectionists'. Guess I know who Karl Rove was spinning for in the 18th Century, yes?
I believe that anyone with an interest in life, death, and especially the genesis for so many tales of horror and the like should do themselves a favor and pick up a copy of this book, draw the curtains, pour a 'stiff' drink and turn the page. Oh, and you might want to light a candle and turn that bust of Poe toward the wall...at least for a day or two.
Book Review: A Must Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Mary Roach shows a lighter side to death. This book offered a compelling, interesting, and even humorous look at all the deeds the dead have done for the living. Sure, it's a wierd subject, but it as much interesting and fun as it is wierd. Cadavers have gone through a lot of stuff... some things in this book you would never realize involved using cadavers. It makes you wonder if that person in life ever imagined their physical self to be used in such cool experiments.
After asking me about the book I was reading, friends and family of course gave me a suspicious look. But I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone. I picked it up because I am a biology major and genuinely interested in physiology, but even someone not into that sort of thing would enjoy this book. It doesn't make the greatest bedtime reading... but it definately is hard to put down. You can also amaze your friends with little known facts!
Book Review: A "train wreck" kind of book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was like the proverbial train wreck; there were times I couldn't bear to look, but couldn't look away, either.
I also couldn't put it down. The book was excellently researched, and extremely well written. Sure, my lip was curling in horror at points, but it was also quirking in laughter at others. And the subject matter was thought-provoking, for sure. Mary Roach deserves credit for writing something truly original.
This book is not for the squeamish, though. Nor is it for people who would like to delude themselves that death is sanitary, ethereal or pristine. Death is messy. And corpses are disturbingly organic.
Still, it's fascinating stuff. The information won't make for good conversation-starters at your next cocktail party...and in fact, you may never find a socially acceptable way to share any of it with anyone, ever - but it's still a terrific read.