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lou_1440's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
xtianreads's review against another edition
3.0
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is a comedic exposition to understand what happens with our body scientifically, the moment we expire, and the moment we donate our body to science in the name of science, from the eyes of a philomath.
A short read with just 320 pages, a book that one can read after a long read. Though, Stiff, as a quick read, has a different effect on people. If you're in the medical field, Stiff can be just another academic book. Talking about how science deals with dead bodies and how the medical field and we, as a society, progress using the skull, flesh, and heads of lamented people. However, if you're not from any medical-related field, this book will shock you. From this point of view, Stiff is blunt, uncanny, and agonizing.
As a Nursing major, I felt like stiff is the comedic approach to one of my anatomy lessons. Explaining how the body decomposes and what people do in the name of advancement.
Stiff is a scientific approach to death. If you're afraid of death, read this. If you're someone who's not scared of dying, read this. Death without religion, death without faith, all in the eyes of science.
"You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." - Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul.
"But can you prove that, Dr. Crick? If not, then it's no more good to me than the proclamations of God in the Old Testament. It's just an opinion." - Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.
A short read with just 320 pages, a book that one can read after a long read. Though, Stiff, as a quick read, has a different effect on people. If you're in the medical field, Stiff can be just another academic book. Talking about how science deals with dead bodies and how the medical field and we, as a society, progress using the skull, flesh, and heads of lamented people. However, if you're not from any medical-related field, this book will shock you. From this point of view, Stiff is blunt, uncanny, and agonizing.
As a Nursing major, I felt like stiff is the comedic approach to one of my anatomy lessons. Explaining how the body decomposes and what people do in the name of advancement.
Stiff is a scientific approach to death. If you're afraid of death, read this. If you're someone who's not scared of dying, read this. Death without religion, death without faith, all in the eyes of science.
"You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." - Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul.
"But can you prove that, Dr. Crick? If not, then it's no more good to me than the proclamations of God in the Old Testament. It's just an opinion." - Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.
trin's review against another edition
3.0
A nonfiction exploration of the various uses bodies are put to after people die. This was interesting and full of light humor, if not necessarily revelatory—I feel like I learned some cool details, but my outlook wasn't exactly changed or anything; I wasn't blown away by the information contained within these pages. I also wasn't squicked by the descriptions of what goes on, with the exception of 1) a few instances involving cannibalism, 2) some descriptions of head-swapping experiments that have implications that still freak me out, and 3) MAGGOTS. Ever since an incident with a dead squirrel when I was little, I cannot abide even the thought of maggots or larvae or...well, you get the idea. And personally, I won't be eating Rice Krispies for a while. (Think about it.)
Anyway, like I said: interesting, but definitely something I'm glad I got from the library as opposed to purchasing.
Anyway, like I said: interesting, but definitely something I'm glad I got from the library as opposed to purchasing.
scytmo's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating, if slightly outdated, exploration of all the things that can happen to human cadavers: from anatomy classes for students studying medicine, to investigating the efficacy of vehicle safety systems, to the various ways people ingest human remains, to their ultimate disposal.
“Mary Roach is an American author specialising in popular science and humour”, according to her Wikipedia page, and that’s exactly what you get here - a well researched look at what could potentially be quite a dark subject, but treated with just the right amount of humour and occasional well-pitched irreverence.
There’s some fascinating insight here into both current and historical uses of cadavers. It’s only a shame that the book is slightly dated now, having been originally published in 2003, so some of the descriptions of “upcoming” advances in areas covered by the book are now over 20 years out of date (although I’d be very interested to know how things have progressed).
“Mary Roach is an American author specialising in popular science and humour”, according to her Wikipedia page, and that’s exactly what you get here - a well researched look at what could potentially be quite a dark subject, but treated with just the right amount of humour and occasional well-pitched irreverence.
There’s some fascinating insight here into both current and historical uses of cadavers. It’s only a shame that the book is slightly dated now, having been originally published in 2003, so some of the descriptions of “upcoming” advances in areas covered by the book are now over 20 years out of date (although I’d be very interested to know how things have progressed).
stephaniesteen73's review against another edition
4.0
Great book but not for the squeamish reader. I learned so much more than I ever expected about corpses, including the related topics of the soul, hereafter, body-snatchers, organ donation, human remains composting, etc. Although one might expect scientific reading to be dull, Roach writes with great humor and I found myself laughing out loud. Particularly amusing were her frequent use of TMI or tangent-related footnotes. Highly recommend!
sklus's review against another edition
5.0
Really good book, full of a bunch of fun information and interesting perspectives. I enjoyed it!
anndempsey's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book at the Cincinnati Airport. Not in the bookstore. In the bathroom.