Stiff by Mary Roach


Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
$13.95
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (May 2004)
ISBN-10: 0393324826
ISBN-13: 978-0393324822

Annotation/Flashtalk:
Have you ever considered what could happen to you if you donated your body to science after you died?  Find out the possibilities in Stiff by author and journalist Mary Roach.

Summary:
In this humorous novel from Mary Roach, she discusses the various scientific uses for a cadaver that has been donated to science.  Almost since the beginning of scientific inquiry, dead bodies have been used to further our advancement of knowledge.  The same holds true for today.  Bodies which have been donated to science are used for a myriad of things.  Heads are used for plastic surgery practice. Full bodies can be used as crash-test dummies or for measuring the rate of decomposition at a body farm.  Roach goes on to recount various experiments including crucifixion, ballistics, beheadings, medical cannibalism, and the search for the soul.  Roach’s text gives you new possibilities beyond the usual choices of burial and cremation, including a new, greener burial as compost – currently only available in Sweden. 

While the subject is grim, Roach’s humorous but journalistic style really gives readers something to think about.

Genre/Subgenre: Non-Fiction/Science


Evaluation: 4-stars.

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