Stiff by Mary Roach
April 23rd, 2008Title: Stiff
Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (2004)
A while ago I read the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach on a recommendation by my sister. A small part of me thought, “gross.” But most of me thought, “gross…awesome…and interesting.” So I hit up the library and grabbed the book. Now, you are probably thinking that I am disgusting and morbid…which actually, might be true. But that doesn’t change the fact that Stiff is REALLY REALLY interesting. Not only is the reporting really well done, but the writing is hilarious. The humor in the book is really what made it so good. At the same time, the humor allows you to enjoy the book instead of feeling like a creep for reading about dead people.
In this book Roach takes a look at the various things that can happen to a human body after it is donated to science. Roach takes a hands-on approach to writing and asks good questions. She sits in with a class of students practicing surgery. She visits a transportation safety location that uses cadavers as crash test dummies. She visits the Body Farm in Knoxville where they study different variables for forensic science (like seeing what happens when you leave a cadaver half buried in snow). There are a lot of things that can be done with your body after you pass!
While the book seems like it could be pretty morbid and inappropriate, Roach does a spectacular job of reporting, keeping it interesting, and keeping it light. I highly recommend Stiff, along with Roach’s other books!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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April 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I have this in my list of books I’d like to read this year. Nice review. Everyone who has read it says it’s book. If only my TBR pile wasn’t so large.