Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

By: Mary Roach  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand 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.

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
How long can it take to get a book! - I think the book was good.
However I orderd this book to take on my vacation.
This was two weeks in advance on my departure date.
When I left I still did not have the book.
This book took FOREVER to get to me!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Death need not be the end....Its the start of a amazing, gross, and sometimes strange journey in the mortal world - 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 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 more..........;)

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Morbidly Awesome - I'm reading this book for the second time... sure, it's morbid but the author throws in funny quips that lighten the mood at times- and it IS super-informative about how your body dies, how you decompose, etc. Her adventures visiting cosmetic surgery schools, the Body Farm in Tenessee, etc are really interesting. Great read (just not at the dinner table LOL).

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Very interesting - Roach has written a very interesting, while not too ghoulish, book about the uses of human cadavers. She traveled the world to research the book and provides the reader with information from different cultures as well as the sciences.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Funny and shocking at the same time. - Those curious or brave enough to find out what really happens to a body that is donated to the scientific community can do so with this book. Dissection in medical anatomy classes is about the least bizarre of the purposes that science has devised. Mostly dealing with such contemporary uses such as stand-ins for crash-test dummies, Roach also pulls together considerable historical and background information. Bodies are divided into types, including "beating-heart" cadavers for organ transplants, and individual parts-leg and foot segments, for example, are used to test footwear for the effects of exploding land mines. Just as the non-emotional, fact-by-fact descriptions may be getting to be a bit too much, Roach swings into macabre humour. In some cases, it is needed to restore perspective or aid in understanding both what the procedures are accomplishing and what it is hoped will be learned. In all cases, the comic relief welcomes readers back to the world of the living. For those who are interested in the fields of medicine or forensics and are aware of some of the procedures, this book makes excellent reading.I nearly couldn't put this book down, it was so interesting! The author is pretty funny, too. Great read! If this is your thing, check it out!

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