Mary Roach

Stiff – The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

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Beloved, best-selling science writer Mary Roach’s “acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating” (Susan Adams, Forbes) classic, now with a new epilogue.

For two thousand years, cadavers — some willingly, some unwittingly — have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. “Delightful—though never disrespectful” (Les Simpson, Time Out New York), Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die?

“This quirky, funny read offers perspective and insight about life, death and the medical profession. … You can close this book with an appreciation of the miracle that the human body really is.” —Tara Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal

“Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting.” —Entertainment Weekly
This book is currently unavailable
333 printed pages
Original publication
2004
Publication year
2004
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • Мариshared an impression6 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile
    💞Loved Up
    🚀Unputdownable

    Absolutely loved this book and read it in two days!!! Highly recommend it to those with morbid curiosity 👍🏻

  • Soliloquios Literariosshared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile
    🚀Unputdownable

  • Лёля Перемышельскаяshared an impression7 years ago
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile

Quotes

  • Merce Garcéshas quotedlast year
    The problem with cadavers is that they look so much like people. It’s the reason most of us prefer a pork chop to a slice of whole suckling pig. It’s the reason we say “pork” and “beef” instead of “pig” and “cow.” Dissection and surgical instruction, like meat-eating, require a carefully maintained set of
  • Merce Garcéshas quotedlast year
    It’s just that there are other ways to spend your time as a cadaver. Get involved with science. Be an art exhibit. Become part of a tree. Some options for you to think about.
  • Alesi Mhas quoted3 years ago
    Off-putting as cadaveric medicine may be, it is—like cultural differences in cuisine—mainly a matter of what you're accustomed to.

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