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Summary: "Death. It doesn't have to be boring."
Review: "Death. It doesn't have to be boring." That is the theme of Mary Roach's informative book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers." Mary Roach travels through history and interviews morticians and medical school students in anatomy class to get the low down on what happens to human bodies after they die and how they have been and are currently used for research. The book is extremely informative and actually made me more comfortable with death, which of course is not to say that there aren't parts that can make you extremely queasy, lol.
Roach early on establishes that she intends to be as respectful as possible and does succeed in that. Like the anatomy students she discusses, she focuses on the science of the cadaver while at the same time taking time to acknowledge the emotional and spiritual aspect in a tasteful manner.
Among subjects discussed are the decomposition of cadavers, forensic studies of cadavers via insect lifespan, the history of autopsies and grave robbery and alternatives to burial like the Promessa process.
I do agree with a previous reviewer who said that the book starts off stronger than it finishes. It sort of runs out of steam when it starts on cannibalism in Chinese history. But overall I think it's a great book and definitely something you should read.
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Summary: The funniest, educational, most gut wrenching book on death!
Review: "Life contains these things: leakage and wickage and discharge, pus and snot and slime and gleet. We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget."
Mary Roach will make you laugh, will make you furrow your brow, will make you scratch your head and will make you want to share this curious book with others. I'm sharing it with you. READ IT!
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Summary: Laughed out Loud
Review: I appreciate a quirky sense of humor, and Mary Roach has that. I also appreciated that she was respectful of the deceased and their "adventures". She told her tale with warmth, much humor (because let's face it, life is weird/funny/bizzare/comical), lots of really interesting facts and experiences.
I especially enjoyed learning how cadavers have really helped modern life - from being actual "crash test dummies" to developing better Kevlar protection for our law enforcement. And she's right- the decision to leave your body IS yours, but those of us who have to do the actual signing of the papers, deserve a right to nix the idea. I would like my body used to help science, military, whatever (even nasty decomp studies), but if my family can't stand that thought, so be it. They are the ones who have to live with the mental images.
Great read, kind of gross (so don't read over lunch), but I started laughing on page 4 and kept on.
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Summary: Entertaining, gross, and enlightening
Review: I heard this book reviewed on NPR awhile ago and just recently saw it again. It seemed strange enough (and I like strange things) so I decided to read it. I was pleasantly surprised and unpleasantly surprised at the same time. Pleasantly so because there is some very interesting things about the history of death (I guess you could call it) that I did not know. Mary Roach seems very well researched and the fact that she undertook (no pun intended) many of the expeditions herself to find out first-hand about her questions was very impressive. Many reviewers seem to feel she is not getting her information from reliable sources. While I can't vouch for that I can say that the book is still interesting and worth reading. I was unpleasantly surprised because she leaves nothing to the imagination when describing the various cadavers she encounters. Even though it was stomach-turning, I found it essential to her book. Finally, I really enjoyed the chapter describing the different ways in which we can be remembered after we die. Whether it be burial, cremation, or some new up-and-coming techniques (don't want to spoil (sorry) for you!). This is not a must-read, but it is definitely interesting and all who read will learn something.
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Summary: Good book
Review: I read this book while my wife was napping and she woke up from me laughing so much. It's not that death is an especially comedic occurrence, but Roach's often wry commentary, in the form of footnotes to her text are funny observations on the circumlocutions we humans have surrounding death.
A good read.
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Summary: Oddly Appealing and Entertaining
Review: I wanted to say that this book is like..........then I had to stop because I realized that Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is unlike any other book that I've read. If you enjoy those CSI-type television shows then you'll love this book because it details the processes that those actor-pathologists supposedly go through before proclaiming the cause of death. Informative, yes, but it's author Mary Roach's light-hearted quips and sometimes sardonic wit that makes this book oh so entertaining. I found it somewhat ironic to be laughing out loud while reading about such an off-beat, serious and sometimes morbid subject as human cadavers. As interesting and important cadaver research is today it has an even more colorful and entertaining history. As Ms Roach takes you through its evolution she introduces you to some of the strangest people performing some of the weirdest undertakings in their endeavors to understand and treat the human condition. Definitively a uniquely fascinating read.
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Summary: A Curious Book
Review: I'd imagine there aren't many of us who could have tackled such a delicate subject as 100+ practical uses for a dead body with the same calm, gently humorous, very real manner in which talented writer Mary Roach has. The first time I saw the book, I grimaced and considered looking into it another time...the second time I saw it, it was mine. The title and cover haunted me (so to speak). The book proves far more fascinating than I could have imagined, complete with trivia, history, and modern day options for those of us who contemplate what should become of our remains after death. Even the most grisly ideas don't seem too bad after Mary explains the pros and cons, always reminding us that the body is not the sum of the life but a recyclable bit with the potential to save the lives of others, nourish a tree, give practice to up and coming surgeons, inspire safety innovations, or become functional art. I highly recommend this offbeat delight to anyone who finds death interesting or who just wants to check out every option before they check out. Occasionally gross, but I'd find it hard to believe if anyone found this book offensive. Thanks for all your research, Mary. Hope you aren't still dreaming of bodies or body parts!
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Summary: Engrossing To The End
Review: Mary Roach has taken it upon herself to research the history of cadaver research, which can't have been a barrel of laughs. Nevertheless, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is a concise, intensely readable, frequently hilarious survey of the strange uses to which human bodies are put.
"A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste" follows the author as she observes a group of surgeons giving face-lifts to decapitated heads. Sounds like a frivolous use for a body donated "to science," but plastic surgeons need to practice somewhere, and a corpse can't sue over a botched nose job. Roach points out that "heads aren't cut off out of ghoulishness. They are cut off so that someone else can make use of the other pieces: arms, legs, organs." And indeed, the unembalmed heads are treated respectfully, covered with cloths before and after the seminar; nobody's making impromptu hand puppets or throwing eyeballs around. They're here to learn, and the heads, though discomfiting, are an invaluable aid.
"Crimes of Anatomy" explores the history of body-snatching. Historically, the religious believed that the physical body was necessary for resurrection, so people weren't too eager to hand over their ticket to heaven; for this reason, dissection was sometimes tacked on to a death sentence for particularly heinous crimes. Enterprising anatomists worked around the lack of donors by nabbing corpses out of graves, or hiring someone (who couldn't possibly have been paid enough) to do it for them. French anatomists had it easier, as the unclaimed bodies of those who died in city hospitals were up for grabs. Now that human anatomy is understood and exhaustively documented, whole-body dissection is being phased out; some schools are switching over to computer simulations. Still, this doesn't mean that the need for donated bodies has been eliminated.
"Life After Death," one of my favorite chapters, explores the University of Tennessee Medical Center's body farm, where cadavers are dumped in a variety of positions and settings and carefully monitored. The objective is to learn more about the process of human decay and various factors affecting it; ultimately, this information can be used, among other things, to assist in solving crimes. There's a whirlwind tour of the decaying process, followed by an equally graphic description of modern-day embalming.
Other chapters explore the use of human crash test dummies to develop safer automobiles; forensic analysis of human remains to help determine how accidents happened (as with TWA Flight 800); and the military applications of human remains for bullet and bomb testing. More colorful and gruesome are the stories on so-called "scientists" who used cadavers to prove the Shroud of Turin's authenticity; experiments on consciousness after decapitation and whole-head grafts; and the history of medicinal cannibalism. For fellow pragmatists, there are new options for corpse disposal; a pioneering Swede is working on human composting, and then there's "tissue digestion," which handily reduces your body to a small amount of sterile, flushable liquid.
I find all this stuff fascinating, and Roach takes pains to keep it entertaining; she's aware of the absurdity and downright grossness of her topic, and presents the humor in all its reeking, rotting glory. Which is not to say that she makes jokes at the cadavers' expense; on the contrary, the author clearly has great respect for those who selflessly donate their bodies for medical advancement, and, without exception, so do the professionals of various fields with whom she meets. At UCSF, medical students hold a memorial service for their cadavers (they're assigned one each, and keep it all year long), just like a real one; floral arrangements are brought in, and students give speeches commemorating their cadavers, which are often named ("Not like `Beef Jerky.' Real names," explains one student). If nothing else, Stiff is a lively, informative account of cadaver research; but if it convinces people to donate their bodies to science, it will have served an even better purpose. Either way, you need to read this book before you die. Pick up a copy! Along with this book, another entertaining Amazon quick-pick I highly recommend is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez.
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Summary: Stiff Isn't
Review: OK--I have to admit, when I first heard about this one--the curious life of human cadavers?--I wasn't exactly excited about reading it, but the reviews were so glowing, I had to give it a try. Stiff is a very interesting, and certainly unique read--certainly not for the squeamish or faint of heart. But it's funny, surprisingly funny. Mary Roach also manages to communicate much respect for those who have gone before us. Her humor works because she generally pokes fun at the living and, she's pretty funny. There is nothing offensive in here, just lots interesting facts, some fascinating, some weird, some surprising. If you are the slightest bit curious about the topic, give this one a try.
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Summary: Dead On!
Review: Once I heard Mary Roach on NPR, I knew I HAD to get this book. It exceeded my expectations. I found it ran the gamut from laugh out loud hilarious to deeply touching. The chapter about being a brain dead organ donor was very life affirming. Now one caveat, if youre a person who thinks your own scabs are 'icky', won't take the kishkas out of a roaster, or dosen't perk up your ears when you overhear a conversation about entomological forensics, then this book is not for you. For those among us who enjoy a good gross out if it dosen't involve people in pain-then youre in for a treat with this one. Mary Roach leaves no stone unturned (sorry) as she covers everything from head transplants to ancient mummy powder aphrodesiacs.
I was very curious about the evolution of the human relationship with the dead. One can read about elaborate tombs of the aristocrats to the lowly common pits of the plauge years, but the interesting question for me remains why people decided to do, or not do, things with the dead. For example, dissection was prohibited, but surgery could be performed for an audience without anesthetic. A lot of those inconsistancies had to do with the good old mediaeval church, and its committment to preserving docterine at the expense of scientific accuracy (for an even better account, check out Papal Sin, by Gary Wills). Before I got too smug about our modern enlightenment, I learned that every day, we let gallons of usable blood go to waste becasue we won't take it from those who die in hospitals.
Besides learning the history of what mankind did with dead bodies, you learn about all of the amazing things that can happen to your corpse if you donate it to science. I personally love the idea of being smashed in a big flaming car wreck (have you driven a Ford lately?), or getting a free posthumous nose job.
We all have the power to save lives after death, and Roach asks us to give the matter serious consideration. But besides the noble pursuit utilitarianism, Roach boldly investigates such burning human questions like: so what does human flesh taste like? Are corpses good compost? and can we possibly avoid rotting?
I liked Mary Roach's style very much, but I don't think its for everyone. Some might feel uncomfortable at her sharp humor with regards to the dead, but see if you can withhold judgement until at least the middle. I found that her heart is very much in the right place, but who knows where it might end up?
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