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| Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers | 
 enlarge | Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $2.70
You Save: $11.25 (81%)
New (57) Used (130) Collectible (2) from $2.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  358 reviews
Sales Rank: 1837
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 0393324826
Dewey Decimal Number: 611
EAN: 9780393324822
ASIN: 0393324826
Publication Date: May 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Oddly compelling and often hilarious, Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 353 more reviews...
 Fascinating Read! Well Researched and Goes into Great Detail of Options for Those Thinking of Donating Their Corpse to Science! November 16, 2008
I found this book to be really interesting. Obviously I'd thought of organ donation before but had never really even thought about the other valuable uses my corpse could have to society. I've learnt a lot from this book, even about what happens to the human body in general if you just stick it in the ground. I think this book is a good thing for those who want their body to go down one of these community beneficial paths when they no longer can use it themselves, to give to their relatives who will be ultimately giving the go ahead, so they can understand the answer of why and more likely respect your wishes. It's also just a fascinating read for those who wonder exactly what happens to a corpse as it decomposes? How do airline investigators use bodies to find out if there was an explosion and not just the burning of the ocean waterskin from examining the corpses? What do the people who use these bodies for their own surgical educational requirements or as researchers think of the corpses? How do corpses and parts of them help prevent injuries and deaths in the automobile industry?
There's just so much information in here, you wouldn't have come across before unless you've researched it before in textbooks and journals. That's the thing about this book, the style is well written for your everyday person, it's not textbooky or medical journally in style. In fact as the chapters go on, Mary roach seems to increase the amount of humour in the footnotes and so on. It's a non fiction adventure that reads like a fiction novel, like in the first chapter (about heads for surgical training) , where she had her arch nemesis the head lopper lady who was giving her dirty looks and on the phone trying to get rid of her. That sort of stuff being included just made the tale that much more readable, relatable and put you in the room amongst the action.
You won't necessarily agree with the author's opinions, I certainly don't agree with her doing what the family members want and not the deceased wishes but she does present her arguments well for her opinions. Nor is the writer a comedian so you're not going to falling out of your chair laughing, think normal journalist humour when you see it on TV or in print, it's like that.
There are some areas of the death industry that aren't delved into much or at all such as what goes on in a normal funeral situation. A few months ago I read a funeral industry set fiction novel called Weepin' Willie which is a very good book but also gives a fair amount of history and interesting facts as told by the mortician (Willie hence the title) on the funeral industry and dealing with dead bodies. If you like this book, you'll enjoy that one as well!
This book never really went into if any of these options organise taking your corpse for free or even pay your estate for it. Funerals are expensive, if they did this would increase participants purely for the financial relief to their families. I would think the plastic surgery industry should (with the exception of severe burns reconstruction and things like this). I'd certainly consider it if money went to people in my Will by doing so, but wouldn't just to benefit some ageing or vain person who wants to look better or younger.
Could not put it down! November 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This books was so fascinating and had me laughing out loud. I have been recommending it to everyone. It's true that you probably don't want to read it while you are eating, but I think it is fantastic. Read it!
Interesting and entertaining October 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a great read. It reads like a journalistic series, with each chapter its own article. It's an easy, engaging read, really thought-provoking and informative and funny.
Wow! October 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best books I've read. Amazingly hilarious while talking about science, a very morbid one at that... I strongly recommend this book. If you are a physician, you will love it. If you are a medical examiner, go buy it right now!!
 Interesting... but makes your stomach churn September 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Lots of interesting facts and I was impressed at how the author managed to write about this subject. Seriously, if someone told me they were going to write a book about cadavers and it was going to be a best seller, I wouldn've thought they were crazy. That being said, Mary Roach did manage to write a best selling book on the subject, although some of the information and description of the facts made my stomach churn. Maybe I'm just squeamish, but her descriptions on the way the human cadaver were used throughout history made me a bit nauseous. Also, I don't know why people thought this book was hilarious. Interesting maybe, but hilarious? I don't see it. Some of the facts she uncovered were amusing (in an interesting way,) but I didn't fall down laughing. If you're interested in knowing what happens to human cadavers and has a strong stomach, then this book is pretty informative, but if you want a funny book, go somewhere else.
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