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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach (Goodreads Author)

4.05 · Rating Details · 117,005 Ratings · 9,746 Reviews

Stiff is 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. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of ou ...more

Paperback, 320 pages

Published 2004 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published 2003)

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Community Reviews

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Jan 12, 2014 Dan Schwent rated it liked it

Shelves: homework-from-the-ladies, nf, 2012, great-titles

Mary Roach writes about what happens when you donate your body to science. Hilarity ensues. Well, maybe not hilarity but it is a good dose of edutainment.

Way back around the time the earth's crust cooled and life spread across the planet, late 1994 or early 1995, I should think, I visited a chiropractic college with the rest of my Advanced Biology class. This trip was memorable to me for three reasons:
1) It was the first time I experienced an excruciating caffeine withdrawal headache
2) It was th Mary Roach writes about what happens when you donate your body to science. Hilarity ensues. Well, maybe not hilarity but it is a good dose of edutainment.

Way back around the time the earth's crust cooled and life spread across the planet, late 1994 or early 1995, I should think, I visited a chiropractic college with the rest of my Advanced Biology class. This trip was memorable to me for three reasons:
1) It was the first time I experienced an excruciating caffeine withdrawal headache
2) It was the first time I saw a human cadaver
3) I smoked five of my classmates playing pool in the student lounge at lunch.

Obviously, #2 is the one pertinent to this review, although I am still quite proud of #3. The cadaver I saw had its face covered and its skin looked shriveled, somewhat like beef jerky. My 17 year old mind briefly wondered where the man had come from before my hormone-fueled brain returned my attention to the nubile young ladies in the room. Anyway, let's get down to review business.

Mary Roach manages to take a subject that give many people the heebie-jeebies, donating one's remains to science, and makes it humorous at times. She covers such topics as learning surgical techniques via practicing on cadavers, human decomposition, ingesting human remains for medicinal purpose, using corpses in car crash tests, using cadavers for ballistics tests, crucifixion experiments, and even head transplants.

While it's not ideal meal-time reading, I didn't find it as stomach churning as some reviewers did. The talk of decomposition and quack remedies of the Middle ages were fascinating and I was really interested in the head and brain transplant experiments. Frankenstein's monster doesn't seem as unrealistic as it did yesterday.

Apparently, necrophilia is only illegal in 16 states. Imagine if that was one of your criteria when choosing a place to live. "Honey, I'd love to live in Florida but then we couldn't have our sexy parties..."

Actually, the funeral bits were also pretty enlightening. Did you know they have to suture the anus shut to keep nastiness from leaking out during a funeral? Or that dead people can fart from gas trapped in their intestines? Or that they insert special caps underneath the eyelids to keep them from suddenly opening? Fascinating stuff.

Stiff is a very interesting read for those interested in what happens when you donate your body to science, softened somewhat by Roach's sense of humor. Three easy stars.
...more

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Jan 08, 2014 Trevor rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, psychology, social-theory

If you can’t cope with the idea of death without a hearty dose of euphemism – this probably isn’t going to be the book for you.

When I became an archivist at the City of Melbourne a very dear friend of mine became a technician at the city Morgue. I figured at the time he had watched a couple of episodes too many of Quincy M.E. and that he would find a normal job eventually. It is probably 15 years since I stopped being an archivist – my friend still cuts up dead people for a living.

A few weeks a If you can’t cope with the idea of death without a hearty dose of euphemism – this probably isn’t going to be the book for you.

When I became an archivist at the City of Melbourne a very dear friend of mine became a technician at the city Morgue. I figured at the time he had watched a couple of episodes too many of Quincy M.E. and that he would find a normal job eventually. It is probably 15 years since I stopped being an archivist – my friend still cuts up dead people for a living.

A few weeks after he started work I asked him how it was all going and he replied, “Good, yeah, I can even eat spaghetti now.” Sometimes it is best not to ask.

This book is a bit of a career guide for those of us who are post-life. There are a remarkable number of interesting things one can get up to after life. Many of these choices are presented in this book in an up-close-and-personal way that I particularly enjoyed.

I’m a fairly robust character, but there were many moments when I made involuntary noises during this book. The swallowed fly was a case in point and by far the worst. The noise I made was loud enough and distressing enough for my daughters to ask what was the matter – they didn’t ask again.

Part of my friend’s job involves removing people’s brains – this is also described in some detail here. The problem is that once the brain has been removed you can’t really pop it back from whence it came – so instead it is placed in the chest cavity. This means the head needs to be ‘packed’ and generally this is done with newspaper. One of the decisions made by those putting you back together again is which newspaper would seem most appropriate for you. (I assume in these days of obsessive Orwellian Double-Speak the corpses are called clients or customers or something equally ridiculous – although I wish it was after Waugh and they were called Loved Ones.) I really don’t mind what happens to me once I’m dead – I figure I’m going to be busy enough explaining to God why He doesn’t exist to be worried about what happens to my body – but I must admit that spending eternity with my head stuffed with a Murdoch rag does seem to be a punishment disproportionate to any crime I have committed whilst alive.
...more

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Jul 24, 2016 Tung rated it did not like it

Shelves: non-fiction

In my nonfiction phase during the year, I grabbed this one and after finishing it, regretted its purchase. The book is about medical use of corpses and the human body, present-day and in the past. The subject matter is extremely interesting, and some of the methods, tests, and history behind human body experiments is worth the read. The book makes you want to be an organ donor, or want to donate your body to medical science. The problem is that the author is one of the WORST writers I have ever ...more

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Jan 08, 2014 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, blinded-me-with-science, 2011, medical

Mary Roach details a lot of uses for human cadavers in this book, but she missed a major one. As Weekend At Bernies taught us, you can always use the corpse of your boss to scam your way into a free weekend at a beach house. That scientific research is all well and good, but there’s nothing in here at all about the best ways to simulate a life like corpse for your own selfish purposes. I learned more from Andrew McCarthy than I did reading this!

Ah, but seriously folks… This is the second book I’ Mary Roach details a lot of uses for human cadavers in this book, but she missed a major one. As Weekend At Bernies taught us, you can always use the corpse of your boss to scam your way into a free weekend at a beach house. That scientific research is all well and good, but there’s nothing in here at all about the best ways to simulate a life like corpse for your own selfish purposes. I learned more from Andrew McCarthy than I did reading this!

Ah, but seriously folks… This is the second book I’ve read by Roach, and I admire the way that she can take touchy and gross subjects like corpses in this one or human feces in Packing for Mars, treat them seriously but still manage to keep a sense of humor about them. While she always has one eye on the science, she never uses it to shield out the normal human responses, and this allows her to provide a clear eyed account of the uses and disposal of the dead. (One of my favorite parts involved Roach asking someone how heads were removed from cadavers for surgical practices and was told that one woman in the lab removed them all. She later met the woman who actually did the chopping and Roach admits that all she could think was, “You cut off heads!!”)

So we get treated to a gory set of stories about how science uses corpses in a variety of ways including the study of impacts for the auto industry, how a brain-dead woman’s organs are removed by a transplant team, and a field of bodies left to rot for forensic research. We also get an overview of how science has used or misused bodies to advance both legitimate research and outright quackery in the past. There’s also a long section reflecting on the best way to dispose of human remains since traditional burials and cremations are costly, environmentally harmful and wasteful.

While I found this really interesting and enjoyed Roach’s writing and approach, there were times when this book completely disgusted me, and I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for gore. One section about the history of various mad scientists grafting severed heads of dogs and monkeys onto other dogs and monkeys and actually managing to keep them alive for some time was almost too much, and I kind of wished she would have left that chapter out.

Still, this was a really interesting book. I just wouldn’t try to eat a plate of lasagna while reading it. ...more

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May 06, 2015 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2015, liburrrrrry-book

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

“Cadavers are our superheroes: They brave fire without flinching, withstand falls from tall buildings and head-on car crashes into walls. You can fire a gun at them or run a speedboat over their legs, and it will not faze them. Their heads can be removed with no deleterious effect. They can be in six places at once.”

If you know me, you already know that I have a different sort of relationship with the dead. You know, the kind where y ...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Lissa rated it liked it

I bought this book when I first taught my class that has a foresnic anthropology component. I thought I could pick out a chapter of this book to assign to them, and it would be a nice, informative, lay-person account that would be entertaining, yet informational. However, due to time constraints, I never got around to reading the book. In that time, several people have borrowed and returned this book to me, so my copy is a bit tattered and dog-eared, as if I'd read it many times. I can safely I bought this book when I first taught my class that has a foresnic anthropology component. I thought I could pick out a chapter of this book to assign to them, and it would be a nice, informative, lay-person account that would be entertaining, yet informational. However, due to time constraints, I never got around to reading the book. In that time, several people have borrowed and returned this book to me, so my copy is a bit tattered and dog-eared, as if I'd read it many times. I can safely say, having read it once, that I will not be going back to read it again.

Stiff is a non-fiction, "science" writing book. Roach chronicles the different processes that happen to a human being after it dies. Each chapter tackles a different possible outcome for a person's corpse. She goes through chapters about anatomy labs, decay, crash-test and military trials (for safer vehicles, or more effective bullets), plane crashes, transplants, burial and cremation, and even cannibalism. The material for this book is endlessly fascinating and I feel like it has a lot of potential.

That being said, I find Mary Roach's style of writing intensely irritating, which took away from the overall effectiveness of the narrative. Much of her writing is sort of falsely funny, as if she is very intentially trying to inject humor into a situation through the use of ridiculous asides that do nothing to add information or further her point.

She also continually resorts to forced bathroom and genetalia jokes in order to articially infuse the book with humor. On many occasaions, she asks the scientists she interviews about what happens specifically to penile tissues. She then describes the patient if annoyed air that some of the scientists take with the assumption that the readers will all be tittering with her on her side. Well, I'm sorry, I'm with the scientists. I find that kind of thing immature and irrtating, like many of the jokes in this book. The last way that she commonly tries to inject humor into her writing is by pretending squeamishness for the sake of her readers.

What kills me about this is that there are parts of the book that are legitimateuly funny, where the humor is not forced but just found in the situation. There is a description of her first visit to a very small town in China that strong reminded me of some of my problems getting around in small towns in various African countries. There is also a funny commentary about a woman who volunteers to get multiple pap smears so that future ObGyns can practice (a job that I hope pays very. very. well). Additionally, there is some really interesting information in this book. I knew a lot about the use of bodies to determine what happened in plane crashes and the sort of things that happen in gross anatomy labs. But did you know that males and females have slightly different EEG profiles? And, after a heart transplant, those do not change. Also, did you know that there have been many proven ways to make riding in aircrafts safer, including shoulder harness seat belts, more emergency exits, sprinkler systems and side airbags for impact, but none of these are being implemented because the airlines don't want to have to incur the extra costs? There are plenty of little factoids like these that are quite interesting.

The bottom line for me was that there was simply not enough actual science in this science book. I've read plenty of popular science books that have managed to do a much better job walking the line between entertainment for the layperson and providing good information. As far as book that tell stories about cadavers, I would recommend any of the popular science books by William Bass or Douglas Ubelaker over this book as both fascinating and more informative. ...more

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Sep 10, 2015 Becky rated it really liked it

Shelves: humorous, non-fiction, reviewed, i-want-this, highly-recommended, ebook_kindle, 2015, yay-science

There was not a single zombie in this whole book!!

Mary Roach writes books about some interesting topics. This is the one that most interested me, though on finishing I realized that I also had "Packing For Mars," which I think will likely get read sooner rather than later, now that I've finally got around to reading one of her books and have really enjoyed her style. She brings a bit of levity and a healthy sense of the absurd to topics that most of us can go a full lifetime avoiding even thinki ...more

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Mar 28, 2016 Erica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, funny, audiobook, judging-the-book-by-its-cover, dying-to-death

I really ought to have read this sooner. I'm not sure what happened and why it took me so long to get this information into my brain.

This is a book about what happens to dead bodies. It's an older title and some of the information therein has changed (Spoiler alert: there are now six? body farms in the US, I think. And the Swedish lady has not been as instrumental as hoped in burying the dead via compost, more's the pity because I totally want to compost myself! There is currently, however, a wo ...more

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Nov 09, 2013 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime, philosophy, humour, social_science, sociology, non-fiction, psychology

In spite of the macabre topic, Mary Roach must have had a ball doing her footwork for this book. Not happy to glean her information from published sources, Mary travelled extensively to conduct her research, and had doors opened for her that I doubt get opened very often. Let's face it, when your job requires you to work with the dead the average Joe already thinks you're a ghoul, so it follows that you would be very cautious about allowing someone, a reporter no less, to observe you at your ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Athena rated it it was ok

Well, I am half way through this and it has turned into a huge disappointment. What started out to be a funny depiction on what happens to donated cadavers, has taken a turn for the horrible. By the 6th or 7th chapter, the author showed what I can only equate to laziness and added commentary on subjects not pertaining to her once appreciated topic. I now find myself skipping over entire pages due to the lack of interest her writing presents and the tangents on which she goes; this I image done ...more

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Oct 06, 2016 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, comedy-satire, brain-candy

Laugh out loud funny is the way to go if you want to learn more than you realized might be worth knowing about dead bodies. It made me interested in finding out what else Roach has written.

And here are reviews of what we found:
-----Grunt
-----Gulp
-----Packing for Mars
-----Spook

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Aug 20, 2015 Karly *The Vampire Ninja, Luminescent Monster & Wendigo Nerd Goddess of Canada (according to The Hulk)* rated it really liked it

Shelves: gilmore-girls-said-so, a-to-z-challenge

R, is for Roach

3.5 Stars

HUM-ANE: adjective: humane; comparative adjective: humaner; superlative adjective: humanest
1. having or showing compassion or benevolence. "regulations ensuring the humane treatment of animals"

synonyms: compassionate, kind, considerate, understanding, sympathetic, tolerant;

How is it that a species with a history ripe with abuse and mistreatment of animals has come to use a word so similar to that species title to describe the very thing history proves us not to be?! A ...more

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May 31, 2016 Jay Green rated it it was amazing

I'm a compulsive buyer of Mary Roach's books. Part of the reason is research for my own books, of course, part of it is fascination, thanks to her astute choice of subjects, and part of it is simply enjoyment, derived from her clear prose and tales well told. In this case, I read Stiff just after my father passed away, so I was trying to make sense of his loss while trying to come to terms with brute reality of death. It helped a great deal, as I anticipated it would, largely down to Roach's ...more

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Apr 03, 2016 Lynx rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

Mary Roach brings enjoyment to the macabre in this extremely educational book. Everything you wanted (and some things you didn't want to) know about the life of a cadaver. Packed with laugh-out-loud humour and interesting facts on every page, you'll be sad as it reaches the end. So check this book out and learn all about the exciting life your own body could have after death!

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Jan 14, 2009 Richard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Folks curious about odd stuff, tolerant of goof-ball humor, and not too squeamish.

Shelves: nonfiction

Opening paragraph:

The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much happens, and nothing is expected of you.

If you read this book, you will undoubtedly have many "ick" moments (especially in the chapter about eating the dead, but there's also that footnote about necrophilia on page 43...), but you should have even more laugh-out-loud moment, and maybe ...more

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May 11, 2009 Fiona rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Fiona by: TNBBC

Shelves: library-book, non-fiction, 2008, series, favourites

I'd never heard about this book before until it came up within a non-book related discussion topic in a group here on GoodReads. Strange how some books just pop out at you. Reading about cadavers - dead bodies, interested my morbid fascination with the dead and death.

She writes sensitively, but humorously about what happens to you when you die. If you are considering donating organs or your whole body to science - like I was before even picking this book up, curious, or a family member wants to I'd never heard about this book before until it came up within a non-book related discussion topic in a group here on GoodReads. Strange how some books just pop out at you. Reading about cadavers - dead bodies, interested my morbid fascination with the dead and death.

She writes sensitively, but humorously about what happens to you when you die. If you are considering donating organs or your whole body to science - like I was before even picking this book up, curious, or a family member wants to do this and you want to know more - this is a good book to read.

It tells you the history of the dead body - how once upon a time people were afraid of being buried alive, the history of how cadavers were once acquired. The usefulness of cadavers and how they have been used. Not just for medicine, but also in testing and improving the saftey of cars, and also by the armed forces testing for other things too.

Roach attempts to reduce the stigma that is sometimes built up over the uses of cadavers. It got me thinking, how we seem to be more worried over how we treat the dead then we do the living. We would rather test on a live animal then an already dead, and much more reliable human body part. I think she does this well, without coming across as overly preachy. But maybe that is because I already agree with her.

Death is not the end. It has always seemed to me a waste to just die and then get loaded into a furnace to be cremated. I do not want to be cremated. I want to donate my organs to those who need them.

I quote this paragraph, because I think it really sums up how I feel - about donating organs and people who oppose it.

"It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more then half of the people in the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon's scalpel to save our own lives, out loved ones' lives, but not to save a stranger's life. H has no heart, but heartless is the last thing you'd call her." (p. 195)

Also, if I do not end up donating the rest of my body to science, then I want to become human compost. I'd never heard of that before this book, but it appeals to me - better then just simply being buried - better to think that a tree or a plant will use my body to fertilise it's flowers and I can become one with nature - go back to the earth instead of being burnt up into useless ashes.

...more

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Jan 13, 2015 Vanessa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Stiff is a book that really educated me, in terms of a topic that I was wholly unfamiliar with. Gone are the days when I thought that bodies were either donated to universities, cremated, or buried - there are SO MANY MORE OPTIONS.

This book was both a fascinating and gruesome read. Although I wouldn't say I am the most squeamish of people, I did find myself screwing up my face in disgust at particular sections of this book (*cough*~~cannabalism~~*cough*). I wouldn't recommend it for people that are ...more

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May 28, 2008 Jill rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: the morbidly curious

Recommended to Jill by: Metafilter.com

Stiff, by Mary Roach, is a book about human cadavers and the curious situations they find themselves in. Well, they didn't find themselves in any situation. They are dead bodies. But Mary Roach found them and this book is the result.

While reading this book I paused at halfway and actually asked myself if I wanted to bother finishing it. I have never found myself asking myself this before. I usually stick it out to the bloody, gruesome end. This book, however, just was not interesting. It was not Stiff, by Mary Roach, is a book about human cadavers and the curious situations they find themselves in. Well, they didn't find themselves in any situation. They are dead bodies. But Mary Roach found them and this book is the result.

While reading this book I paused at halfway and actually asked myself if I wanted to bother finishing it. I have never found myself asking myself this before. I usually stick it out to the bloody, gruesome end. This book, however, just was not interesting. It was not the hilarious screamfest that I was promised on Amazon reviews. It did not take me into worlds that I had yet to explore. It was simply this: a disappointment.

I had heard much about this book before I plucked it off the shelf at Barnes and Noble. It came highly recommended by MeFites and I had seen it referenced many different places around the internet. My first impression was that the author was a periodicals journalist trying to write a book. Each chapter is its own article, at least until she starts weakly trying to tie them together by adding things like, "But in the next chapter, we see how dead bodies really do push up daisies," at the end of chapters. Clearly an afterthought.

Also, it may be due to the success of the book when it was initially published, but it just seems to me that almost every topic covered in the book has been recently covered on television or in magazines. Perhaps I read about these things in college. I certainly don't seek out interesting tidbits about cadavers, yet somehow, from somewhere, I was familiar with almost every chapter's subject.

This book is not funny. I cannot imagine anyone laughing out loud to this book. It's not that I can't laugh at death or dead people or the situations, it's just that the author tries too hard. The humor is forced. It's not natural. It's like she spent hours trying to describe a lab tech in a funny way. It falls flat. Additionally, the author inserts herself into the action and records her own interviews, including awkward attempts at humor with very serious people. It just makes you cringe and you almost feel embarrassed for her.

The end of the book couldn't have come fast enough. Toward the end, she morbidly tries to top each chapter with more disgusting details, more gross descriptions and more sick and twisted happenings. It begins to overpower the little bit of grace and dignity the book started out with. It's almost as if the publishers realized this, because odd, tiny rants about the dignity of deceased persons and the way people handle them are awkwardly inserted into the text. It gets repetitive.

In the end, I just plain didn't enjoy this book. The author and her injected awkward humor and odd opinions annoyed me. The book seemed unpolished. Nothing seemed new and different about it.

It was just a disappointment.
...more

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Jul 24, 2016 Camie rated it it was amazing

This book has won pages of awards since being published in 2003. I've seen it around forever, but chalked it up as " not for me" until it was placed in my hands by my husband who having worked with hip and knee joint replacement surgery and the requisite cadaver research for 30 years still found it pretty darn interesting. And it is actually quite fascinating along with being chock full of information, and just plain entertaining to boot. If you're the pragmatic type like me, and figure that This book has won pages of awards since being published in 2003. I've seen it around forever, but chalked it up as " not for me" until it was placed in my hands by my husband who having worked with hip and knee joint replacement surgery and the requisite cadaver research for 30 years still found it pretty darn interesting. And it is actually quite fascinating along with being chock full of information, and just plain entertaining to boot. If you're the pragmatic type like me, and figure that once your soul has "left the building " you're body is really but a shell that may as well be put to good use in some endeavor to help the living , you'll be surprised by the many ways in which you can do so. Here's where I have to confess that if you know my families medical history , you'll know I have more than a casual interest in more research being done for medical conditions that retain enough mystery even in this day and age to seriously promote the idea of increasing the education of medical professionals , along with helping out fellow health issue sufferers. That's the part I'd already thought about , marking that box for organ donation on my drivers license long ago ( well, back when folks might have wanted them ) but there are so many other things I seriously hadn't thought much about that involve cadaver use. Some of those being crime investigation, public safety , product testing, and the list goes on and on. This is my first read by Mary Roach ( and many say her best !!)
and it's pretty impressive that she has taken a subject that many would consider just way too morbid ( and sometimes just plain gross) to read about and turned it into a very thought provoking statement about how the study of the human body has already dramatically affected us all ( penicillin , car airbags, football helmets ) and will continue to for generations to come.
You know this already but still , this is absolutely and seriously NOT for even the mildly squeamish or those offended by differing religious/ moral views
5 stars ...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Mindy rated it it was ok

Shelves: library-book, dead-people, math-and-science, non-fiction, 600s, body-parts

Mary Roach didn't strike me as funny or witty, just annoying. She's like the wise ass class clown in the back row, heckling the teacher and distracting everyone from an otherwise fairly decent lecture. Only she's supposed to be the teacher, too. What was her point? To talk about dead bodies or impress herself with her own juvenile jokes?

On a professional note, Roach seems awfully distrustful of librarians. Does she really think the circ clerk at a medical library thinks she's freaky for checkin ...more

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Oct 07, 2014 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it

I really, really enjoyed this book but for anyone who might want to read it, there are some caveats:

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

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Feb 19, 2008 Lisa Nelson rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: anyone without a weak stomach

Recommended to Lisa by: Erin

Shelves: non-fiction

I usually don't laugh out loud when I read books, but this book had serveral passages that had me giggling. Also, I don't get, "Grossed out," very often, but I had to put this book down once while I was reading and eating lunch. This book has so many interesting tidbits on what happens to our bodies after we die. I was amazed and facinated by the history and current research being done on human cadavars. My parents, much to their children's objections decided long ago to be cremated when the ...more

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Oct 02, 2016 Abdulrahman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, humor, science, medicine

What should happen to my body when I die? That's a question I rarely, if ever, want to contemplate. The idea that one day I'll cease to exist, at least in this world, is both terrifying and difficult to grasp; it can turn a bright sunny day into a gloomy overcast one, and weigh on a light soul like guilt on a remorseful conscience. So I try to avoid thinking about it altogether, but I can't say I always succeed, for it's an idea that's always hovering there, in the background of my jumbled What should happen to my body when I die? That's a question I rarely, if ever, want to contemplate. The idea that one day I'll cease to exist, at least in this world, is both terrifying and difficult to grasp; it can turn a bright sunny day into a gloomy overcast one, and weigh on a light soul like guilt on a remorseful conscience. So I try to avoid thinking about it altogether, but I can't say I always succeed, for it's an idea that's always hovering there, in the background of my jumbled thoughts—haunting me with menacing persistent and unrelenting cruelty. Yet, strangely, that same hateful idea, on some other times, comforts me like a grim mother tending to her despondent son, promising rest and peace beyond the malady of life.

Paradoxically, death is both repulsive and alluring; cruel and merciful; ugly and beautiful. When I wake up in the morning welcomed by a cheerful radiant sun, promising a lively day, the kiss of death would be the most abhorrent thought if it happened to call on the cells of my mind. But fast forward a few hours later, and you might find me lying in bed with my feet still sweaty inside my shoes, dispirited and morose, having been dealt one of life's countless disappointments, wishing with every atom in my body that death would come over and spend the night and lie in bed next to me and embrace me.

And when it finally comes—death that is—my body would be mine no more. It would be a vacant lifeless soulless body. A cadaver that, in appearance, would happen to resemble the person that I was. So why do I care so much about what would happen to it? Why do I find it so difficult to detach myself from what is essentially an empty shell? As if I would still be there. As if anything can penetrate the oblivion of death through a carcass and reach into the essence of my soul. To me, it is as clear as a glacial lake that giving away my body is what I should will. Yet, somehow, the idea can't seem to be taking root. There's something preventing it; something, in its core, very human; a barrier of sentimentality. So it seems that if fate would have its way, I would die as I have lived: humanly selfish. ...more

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Jan 12, 2014 Rachel (BAVR) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: blame-bavr, nonfiction, corpses-and-stuff

Because it's December 29th, I think I can confidently name this as one of my favorite reads of the year.

What happens to us when we die? This is one of the grand mysteries of life, right up there with Where the fuck do all the socks go after you put them in the dryer? I tend to think I'll just go to sleep and never wake up. It's the eternal rest we all dread but sort of look forward to, a hands-in-the-air gesture of I give up. Granted, there are many who feel differently, and it is nice to think Because it's December 29th, I think I can confidently name this as one of my favorite reads of the year.

What happens to us when we die? This is one of the grand mysteries of life, right up there with Where the fuck do all the socks go after you put them in the dryer? I tend to think I'll just go to sleep and never wake up. It's the eternal rest we all dread but sort of look forward to, a hands-in-the-air gesture of I give up. Granted, there are many who feel differently, and it is nice to think of the possibility of a fancy afterlife without all of our earthly problems. We have nothing to tell us what will happen to our souls/essence/whatever you call it aside from faith, but the end of our bodies isn't a mystery. At least, it isn't a mystery if you're the morbidly curious type like me.

Mary Roach covers the variety of things that happen to human cadavers. We can be anything in death, really - a sawed-off head for plastic surgeons to practice facelifts and nose jobs, the dissection specimen for a new medical student, a crash-test cadaver, an organ donor, a decomposing experiment in a field in Tennessee, a pile of ash, or an embalmed corpse in a casket. You know what I learned from this book? How damn useful cadavers can be.

Cadavers, in their many forms, can tell us a lot. The level of decomposition can pinpoint time of death and narrow down a murder investigation. Wound patterns and autopsies can tell us just how a plane comes apart in the air. Open-casket funerals can confirm to loved ones that the deceased is, indeed, deceased and that morticians are really good at making the cadavers look less dead. Sometimes I find it difficult to be that useful as a living, breathing human. Think of the number of lives one cadaver can save through the donation of various organs. Only in death will some be raised to the status of superhero.

I kept repeating my "cadavers are USEFUL" mantra while reading this, even during the gruesome parts. Yes, Roach details the gore, and yes, it is fascinating. You have the chance to follow her to an embalming and a tour of a research facility consisting entirely of decomposing corpses. Fortunately, Roach has a talent for keeping the mood upbeat and holding the grotesque at bay. When dealing with heavy material like this, it helps to have a narrator with a sense of humor.

For those of you with a strong stomach and a healthy curiosity about what happens to our bodies when we die, I highly recommend this book. Cadavers are USEFUL, after all. It's time they start getting credit for it. ...more

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Mar 28, 2016 Carmen rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Anyone

Shelves: non-fiction, traditionally-published

Wow, this book was very informative. I learned about practicing surgery on the dead. I wonder if people who donate their body to science know they might end up as practice for a face-lift?

Body snatching and other sordid tales from the dawn of human dissection – interesting.

On human decay and what can be done about it – interesting.

Human crash test dummies and the ghastly, necessary science of impact tolerance – very interesting.

When the bodies of the passengers must tell the story of a crash ...more

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Oct 09, 2016 Britany rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction, bookriot

Still is the non-fictional adventure of our author Mary Roach as she investigates and uncovers everything there is to know about cadavers... Yes, you read that right! (CADAVERS!) I learned so much more than I ever thought I needed to know about this topic. How bodies decompose to how to compost with bodies (it's good for your garden!-- WHO knew?) So many cringeworthy moments, and parts that made me gag- I'd encourage not to read this one while you are eating. Overall, a little slow and dry in ...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Stephanie rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2011

I have been thinking of donating my body to science. I think that would be the best way to dispose of it I am gone. I know that I am not my body, not that I know who "I" am, but I am pretty sure we don't hang around worrying about what happens to the sack of meat, water and bones once "we" leave it.

While reading this book I pictured my body going through all the scenarios that are described in this book. Some were disturbing, some were kind of funny. Picturing my body being propped up as a cree ...more

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Feb 03, 2016 Rosa, really rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfic, audio

Man, I really wanted to like this one more, but apparently I only find science-y and science adjacent stuff interesting when it happened at least 80 years ago. Maybe 75. And it's gotta be presented in terms on how said science-y stuff effected societal and cultural and historical...stuff. And thangs.

I dunno. Yeah.

So the stuff like the French Revolution & guillotine was nifty but the more contemporary stuff bored the stuff out of me.

Stuff.

I really wish I found science more interesting. If o ...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Emma Sea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, auckland-library, bring-out-your-dead

Simply marvellous. Hugely entertaining (made me lol in public repeatedly), plus I learnt stuff. I didn't even mind hearing the stuff I already knew because Roach is so entertaining. It's very difficult to come across as wryly funny at the same time as respecting the personhood of the cadavers she discusses, but Roach manages it effortlessly. I can't say enough good things about this book without sounding repetitive. Loved it.

Mucho thanks to Adriana for connecting me with this writer.

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Jan 15, 2016 Kasia rated it really liked it

Morbid humor supported by extensive research = my kind of read. Now, how do I make Mary Roach my eternal BFF?

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The Reading For P...: October-November Nonfiction group read - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach	23	40	Nov 29, 2016 09:16AM
Bookworm Bitches : September 2013: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers	17	146	Jul 28, 2016 12:09PM
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About Mary Roach

Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times bestsellers STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; GULP: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, PACKING FOR MARS: The Curious Science of Life in the Void; and BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

Her most recent book, GRUNT: The Curious Science of Humans at War, is out in June 2016.

Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, Discover ...more

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Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

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Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

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“The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.” — 158 likes

“It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more then half of the people in the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon's scalpel to save our own lives, out loved ones' lives, but not to save a stranger's life. H has no heart, but heartless is the last thing you'd call her.” — 86 likes

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