Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Ratings281
Average rating3.9
Informative, influential and ya, humorous. Because of this book, I'm no longer squeamish of surgery videos. Quite the opposite. I seek them out to see and learn how weird and wonderful the human body is and how we've learned to master it. This is only achievable because of a lot of the history found in this book. Donate your body, people! At the very least, your organs.
Some great stories about the history of cadavers, but not too much else beyond that. I was looking for more humor interjected into the explanations, but it was far from Bill Bryson.
Some great stories about the history of cadavers, but not too much else beyond that. I was looking for more humor interjected into the explanations, but it was far from Bill Bryson.
A little bit much as an audiobook - some of the grosser chapters were pretty rough going, and it's a lot harder to skim in an audiobook. I don't think I'm especially squeamish, but the chapter about grafting live puppy heads onto living dogs was making me sick, which isn't great for driving. That was one chapter of 12, though, and I love Mary Roach's style otherwise.
I love Mary Roach's books. Shes very informative and fun. Her books make you feel like you're not really learning, but you are! Stiff was a great read for me since I'm grossly interested in forensic anthropology. Stiff taught me so many things about cadavers that I would have never expected to learn. Highly recommended if you're into the dead, or you're just interested in learning anything for fun!
Intriguing, mostly entertaining, but not groundbreaking or even particularly surprising. All in all a book I enjoyed but wouldn't talk my friends into reading.
Interesting enough, but the tone put me off. Some of the humor seemed lightly disrespectful or goofy to me, little side quips to take the edge off of the serious subject. Which I would have expected myself to enjoy, but it was a different sense of humor than I wanted.
This was fascinating, educational, often-times hilarious, and makes me want to donate my body to science, even if that means for someone to practice doing plastic surgery.
I read this immediately after [b:Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void 7237456 Packing for Mars The Curious Science of Life in the Void Mary Roach https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1290480157s/7237456.jpg 8159756] - high on a newly discovered favorite author. I think Reading the two quite so adjacently resulted in a less favorable view of Stiff - there is an almost completely replicated chapter between the two discussing the use of cadavers to simulate forces on an astronaut's body during spaceflight, and the voice and humor is nearly identical between the two books. That being said, Stiff was still quite good, perhaps objectively the superior book as Roach covers a very broad range of subjects. She again excels at covering all angles of a subject. For instance, when covering the history of medical cadavers, she comments on the setup of modern anatomy classes, ceremonies respecting cadaver donors, the history of graverobbing for the purpose of providing anatomic cadavers, the history surrounding specific graverobbers as well as specific professors using their services as well as the theories about human anatomy during each period and how these changed over time using knowledge learned through dissection.
Well written, but no point to it but mildly diverting entertainment with little to learn or take away. Wasn't able to finish it.
I really enjoyed this book. It even made me regret not going into mortuary science! Very informative while keeping a light hearted, humorous look at death and dying. I look forward to reading Roach's other books.
Full review http://bookwi.se/stiff-the-curious-lives-of-human-cadavers-by-mary-roach/
Short review: I did not like this as much as I liked her previous book Bonk. But then Bonk was about sex, and frankly sex is more interesting than dead bodies. There are quite a few times when the gross factor was really high. After reading a second book by Mary Roach I appreciate her organizational style more. She seems unstructured, but I think it is a style not a reality. I will pick up more of her books.
I learned quite a bit. It was not pleasant information. I do think that being Freeze Dried and then sonically pulverized seems like a better idea than cremation.
Who knew there was so much to learn about cadavers? A funny book about a macabre subject, but so well written. I was up late reading about cadaver heads used for training plastic surgeons!
I really enjoyed this book. I never believed that a book about death & cadavers could be funny, but the author managed to sneak humor in there along with lots of interesting information. I would definitely recommend this book - except to anyone with a weak stomach.
A book about what happens to bodies donated to science and what we can learn from the dead. Probably not for those that are too squeamish. Somehow Mary Roach makes donating your body to science seem interesting, funny and almost cool. She easily tricks you into enjoying and laughing at a book that provides lots of (sometimes gross) facts and information about how dead bodies help the living more than we could imagine. Very clever and informative, Stiff makes you appreciate and admire those selfless enough to give their body to further science and help others even after they are no longer with us.
This book is great because it reads like a conversation with your most interesting friend.