Stiff

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

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.

Reseñas de la Crítica

• 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)

gruesome topics told tongue in cheek

narrator showed little shock at the absurdity of tasks given to post mortem humans or animals.

A Physician's Perspective

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Entertaining and informative. Called up memories of gross anatomy lab from med school many years ago. We did treat our donated cadavers with much respect and gratitude for their contribution. Even though much of the material was already familiar to me, I still learned a good bit. Ms. Roach did a good job of covering a broad topic. If you are endowed with general curiosity and not squeamish, this is a good listen.

Amazing

Love the narrator!! Love every part of this book!! puts a good spin on what happens with Cadavers. My father in law donated his body to science. We were not allowed to know what happened with his corpses and this gave me a good idea of the adventure his body took!!

Interesting and informative

I'd probably rate this a 3.5 if I could.

You might not want to listen to this book if you're eating or about to eat. It's pretty explicit at times. Had some interesting tidbits on how cadavers are used in research and I learned a few things, i.e., they don't use just crash test dummies. It also went beyond research and we got tours of a crematory, how a body is embalmed, plasticized, one doctor wanting to dispose of bodies as compost instead of burial or cremation and other ideas by different people for the disposal of bodies. I can't say all of it was fascinating but a lot of it was.

You also got some history lessons on how things have changed through the years. Even touched on Cannibalism and other practices in different countries, with a few shudders on what some people eat.

Hard to really rate the narrator as there wasn't much to do except read the one voice speaking.

Everything you wanted is right here

A fascinating read delivering all the blurb suggest and a little humour to boot, tastefully of course. In fact it's worth reading this book just to see how the author manages to broach this sensitive topic in such detail and not offend.

I've learned a huge amount about cadavers, death, and the future of body disposal. I've even been inspired to go off and read more about specifics mentioned in this book.

If you want to know more about death and what can happen to you after you die, and even more about your choices after you die, then you are in the right place in these pages.