• Stiff

  • The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
  • By: Mary Roach
  • Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
  • Length: 8 hrs
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (8,197 ratings)

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Stiff  By  cover art

Stiff

By: Mary Roach
Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
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Editorial reviews

Mary Roach unzips the body bag and tells us far more than we thought we wanted to know about what happens to our bodies after we pass away. And yet somehow, she makes you want to know even more. It's like watching something repulsive but fascinating through cracks in the fingers you placed over your eyes so you wouldn't see. The author takes a deliberately humorous, academic tone as she describes these fascinating atrocities, and Shelly Frasier mirrors the author's tone perfectly. That very dry humor pervades the entire book; never cynical or condescending, never adolescent or tasteless, and it makes what could be a ghastly, repellent subject surprisingly upbeat and entertaining. Despite all that, we can't recommend that you listen to this audio book with a bunch of 11- or 12-year-old girls in the car with you, unless you enjoy hearing "Eeeew - gross!" squealed in a high-pitched voice over and over again. To some, that would be a fate worse than...well, death.

Publisher's summary

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.

©2003 Mary Roach (P)2003 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Alex Award Winner, 2004

"Uproariously funny....informative and respectful...irreverent and witty....impossible to put down." (Publishers Weekly)
"Not grisly but inspiring, this work considers the many valuable scientific uses of the body after death." (Library Journal)
"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year." (Entertainment Weekly)

Featured Article: A Future Corpse's Guide to Death Acceptance


Confronting death does not necessitate a spiral into despondency. Instead we may come a realization that, in acknowledging and accepting this fate, we paradoxically lead fuller and more emotionally present lives. In this list, scholars, physicians, journalists, philosophers, and death professionals share their stories, perspectives, and advice, offering a glimpse into how we can prepare for the end with grace, heart, and humor.

What listeners say about Stiff

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I worked with cadavers for years, but....

I've worked with cadavers, I've dissected them, taught students from them, studied from them. I've learned to appreciate the incredible gift of body donation. There is NOTHING that can take the place of actual human cadavers for the study of the human body. It was entertaining to hear a non-medical person's point of view and the author's warped sense of humor was for the most part entertaining. I read the paperback book, and then a few years later I listened to the audiobook. The narration was excellent in portraying what I believe to be the authors intended tone and voice, however her constant mispronounced terminology will probably be very distracting at first, if not down-right irritating. After you get used to the mispronouncing of words, the listener can begin to hear the tale. BUT WARNING, this book is not for the weak at heart. The author uses graphic descriptions of how human bodies have been used to further knowledge of medical science, automobile safety, organ transplantation and even effectiveness of bullet proof vests worn by our armed forces. At first the jovial tone of the book seemed disrespectful since as a student I was warned that any conversation that was inappropriate or disrespectful of my cadaver would earn me a failing grade and dismissal from the course. I suspect the cavalier, jovial tone of writing is what makes the subject palatable for the layman.
All in all, an excellent book with great information that will hopefully change people's mind on the importance of organ donation and how critical body donation is to science. As people come to understand this,perhaps doors will open and opposition will end so that more studies can be done to increase our knowledge base. Perhaps some may even consider personally donating their body to science.

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90 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Darn funny if you're open to the idea.

If you believe the subject of cadavers should be treated somberly under all circumstances, you'll want to take a pass on this one. If, on the other hand, you have an irreverent sense of humor and believe that there some sort of humor in almost every slice of life (and death), then you're going to love this book. Informative, well-written, witty, and done in a mostly tasteful way (it is about cadavers after all), Stiff is a fresh book that explores a topic and a world that most of us never glimpse.

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66 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

DEATH DOESN'T HAVE TO BE BORING

A HEAD IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE
Not a subject for everyone, but I found it entertaining and informative. For one thing, I was amazed to learn about body snatching. I had heard about this in the many B movies, I watched as a kid, but I thought they were making it up. Turns out it happened often. Matter of fact a student at medical school could pay his tuition in corpses, and not even use money.

THESE WERE TRYING TIMES FOR POULTRY
I don't know if it was the author or the narrator, but most of the time the humor just DIED. It is still a quality listen.

GROSS ANATOMY

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60 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful and En'gross'ing

I wouldn't have thought it possible to treat this sometimes unpleasant topic with equal parts humour and respect. Mary Roach succeeds admirably in both aspects. I listened to this book almost straight through, with my responses ranging from cringing to laughing out loud.
Shelly Frasier is an excellent casting choice for this book as her voice has a sultry tone to it. It is not clinical at all.

Highly recommended if you're not squeamish.

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50 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

facinating

When I was a student, in 1984, I took a summer class in which I prepared cadavers for the next semester's anatomy and physiology class. It was one of the best summer's of my life. Those memories will carry me to my grave, so to speak. One of the cadavers that I worked on was a physician (in his former life), one was a woman, and one was a man of no particular distinction. I am now a nurse of some 24 years. My experiences then still reverberate to this day. This book addresses all of the feelings and emotions that I experienced at that time. It is an amazing, humorous, light-hearted, yet serious work, that captured the essence of what it means to be a cadaver. No small feat. Bravo, Mary Roach. Well done.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it

Although this book verges on the macabre at some points, with extremely graphic descriptions of, say, bodies rotting in an empty lot, I found it fascinating. I liked the many uses for cadavers, the descriptions of the science of various specialities, and the history of anatomical and cadaver studies. The author has a quirky sense of humor, and many of her quips are things I would have thought myself. I also liked the narrator's voice, which was pleasant and not too serious. Unfortunately, neither the narrator nor the producer ensured that the narrator pronounced all the words correctly. Almost every chapter had at least one mispronunciation that jarred me. Among them "Oriana Fal-ah-see" (Oriana Fallaci - which I admit is not a common name), "Rooters" (Reuters), and "apokethary" (apothecary - which she pronounces correctly a few lines later.) This book has by far the largest number of mispronunciations of the seventy or so I've listened to. It is nonetheless an interesting, informative and strangely enjoyable listen.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

You cut heads off! You cut heads off!!

Funniest non-fiction I've ever read! This is a fantastic read. To those who criticized the "unnecessary" gruesomeness... it's about dead people!! Come on!! The author does a fine job respectfully making light of something people are way to squeamish about. I highly recommend this book. It was a fun read, and educational at the same time - just the sort for which I was looking.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great book!

This was actually a very interesting and well researched book & and was generally a lot of fun to listen to. The reader was fantastic, too. Her "smoky" voice was compelling, without being overly dramatic. Be prepared, though, for the stories of brutality that some (I hope not many) "scientists" (and I use the word loosely, at least with some of them as described here)brutalized (and still brutalize, I know) defenseless animals, in the name of "science". The people that I am describing truly, in my opinion, have cold hearts and no empathy for other living things. The book, as a whole, was top notch and very enlightening. The "experiments" are just part of the story, I guess.
Overall, I highly endorse this audiobook.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Who Knew?

Not for the faint of heart, this book examines in detail possible uses and methods of handling the human body a life after death I had never considered. The author deftly hanbles the subject with surprising humor. The narrator was excellent.

I enjoyed this book.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

This is a light, wonderful book.

The author is incredibly witty and clever. She writes like an old friend sharing a funny store with you in a coffee shop. I've bought it for 2 friends already, and the feedback from them has been just as positive as my experience with it.

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17 people found this helpful