Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Description

What happens to your body after you have died? Fertilizer? Crash Test Dummy? Human Dumpling? Ballistics Practise? Life after death is not as simple as it looks. Mary Roach's Stiff lifts the lid off what happens to our bodies once we have died. Bold, original and with a delightful eye for detail, Roach tells us everything we wanted to know about this new frontier in medical science. Interweaving present-day explorations with a history of past attempts to study what it means to be human Stiff is a deliciously dark investigations for readers of popular science as well as fans of the macabre

Mary Roach is a journalist. She has written for Salon, Wired, GQ, Discover, Vogue and the New York Times Magazine. This is her first book.

[A] mordantly witty history of the scientific contributions made by the no-longer-living. [Roach's] knack for detailed research and loose Dave Barry-ish style makes "Stiff" a leisurely and enjoyable read.--Tom Westin (05/11/2003) [Roach] artfully and humorously unwraps the mystery of the dead body....an interesting and informative read.--Deborah Love (09/21/2003) [Roach] has written a curiously funny, touching and respectful study.--Nancy Summers (08/17/2003) [Roach] manages to make material that normally comes with a warning for the faint-hearted somehow light-hearted.--Jill Wolfson (04/27/2003) A fascinating book and, once you pick it up, you won't likely put it down.--William R Wineke (09/14/2003) A joy to read....this is wonderful stuff.--Tim Redmond (05/28/2003) A laugh-out-loud funny book....one of those wonderful books that offers enlightenment in the guise of entertainment. A quick and compelling, if slightly uneasy, read.--Justin Bauer (06/26/2003) A very funny book....full of surprises.--Craig McLaughlin (07/27/2003) Acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating. An informative, gently funny but never irreverent look at the various uses society makes of the dead.--Tom Pantera (06/01/2003) An unflinching, often hilarious cultural history.--Erica C Barnett (10/30/2003) As fascinating as it is funny.... The research is admirable, the anecdotes carefully chosen, and the prose lively; and they combine to produce a book that everyone in the health care field should "have" to read, and everyone else will want to.--Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist As informative and respectful as it is irreverent and witty....Impossible to put down. As weird as the book gets, Roach manages to convey a sense of respect and appreciation for her subjects. Bizarrely entertaining.--Susan Ellis (08/14/2003) Bring[s] alive a subject that has the potential to be deadly dull.--Steve Fiffer (06/29/2003) Delightful....authoritative, endlessly curious and drolly funny.--Adam Wong (05/11/2003) Despite the irreverent, macabre title, this is a respectful and serious examination of what happens to cadavers, past and present.--Michael D Cramer (03/01/2003) Droll, dark, and quite wise, Stiff makes being dead funny and fascinating and weirdly appealing.--Susan Orlean Every detail is fascinating.--Henry Kisor (04/13/2003) Every page fairly drips with dark humor.--Matt Palmquist (04/30/2003) Expect the insightful with the hilarious.--Bridget Kinsella (05/05/2003) Fascinating and oddly fun. Fascinating, unexpectedly fresh and funny look at the multiplicity of ways in which cadavers benefit the living.... entertaining, absolutely. Genuinely funny and destined to be a classic read.--Donald A Collins (06/01/2003) Her morbid subject perverse, unsettling and voyeuristic makes her book hard to put down.--Dean Narcisco (05/27/2003) It's a rare talent that can make people want to throw up and laugh at the same time.--Roy Rivenberg (07/03/2003) Lively and quirky....the writer's style is genuinely warm...she has a keen eye for observation of unique and ironic details.--Michael Jaffee (06/01/2003) Mary Roach is an extremely funny science writer--Laurence A Marschall Our own instinctive discomfort with death provides fodder for Roach's dry sense of humor throughout the book--Ana Marie Cox (06/04/2003) Outrageously funny, irreverent" but respectful....so delightfully written, this book is difficult to put down.--Brian Richard Boylan (05/11/2003) Roach displays her metier in tangents about bizarre incendents in pathological history.--Gilbert Taylor (03/15/2003) Roach exhibits both a keen sense of humor and a sincere respect for the dearly departed. Roach is a masterful writer....Irreverent? Maybe a little. Disrespectful? Emphatically no.--Lisa Parsons (06/19/2003) Roach traces the use of the cadaver...and describes odd, behind-the-scenes moments perfect to halt all discussion at dinner.--T.D. Mobley-Martinez (06/12/2003) Roach...goes into gruesome detail, but she also succeeds in not making the subject at hand too morbid.--Kim Colton (05/21/2003) Roach's conversational tone and her gallows humor bring her subjects to life....Morbidly entertaining.--Alex Abramovich (06/02/2003) Roach's deliberate carefulness diminishes the topic's gore and sets a comfortable, comic tone that finds solace in its own oddity.--Tom Lynch (05/22/2003) Roach's dry, irreverent wit makes for a delightful though never disrespectful read.--Les Simpson (04/17/2003) Surprisingly entertaining. Similar in tone to Bill Bryson's travel books, Roach manages to be humorous yet respectful.--Rick Mathis (08/03/2003) The numerous tidbits of information derived from the author's travels and interviews make [this book] uniquely appealing.--Joseph H Davis, MD (07/16/2003) This bizarre tome will shock, disgust, intrigue and entertain you all at the same time.--Mary Morrison (09/25/2003) Though the cover...will draw many readers to this book, its deft prose will keep them returning.--Fred Bortz (07/27/2003) Well written, with a reader-friendly format.--Howard S Pitkow Well-written and deadly funny.--Bruce Willey (06/19/2003) What saves the subject matter from intolerable gruesomeness is Roach. Her interest is genuine, despite her droll tone.--B.T. Shaw (05/25/2003) Whimsical, hysterical and terribly interesting.--Katy Human (05/31/2003) A joy to read....this is wonderful stuff. -- Tim Redmond (05/28/2003) A quick and compelling, if slightly uneasy, read. -- Justin Bauer (06/26/2003) A very funny book....full of surprises. -- Craig McLaughlin (07/27/2003) An unflinching, often hilarious cultural history. -- Erica C Barnett (10/30/2003) Bizarrely entertaining. -- Susan Ellis (08/14/2003) Every detail is fascinating. -- Henry Kisor (04/13/2003) Every page fairly drips with dark humor. -- Matt Palmquist (04/30/2003) Expect the insightful with the hilarious. -- Bridget Kinsella (05/05/2003) Her morbid subject-perverse, unsettling and voyeuristic-makes her book hard to put down. -- Dean Narcisco (05/27/2003) Mary Roach is an extremely funny science writer -- Laurence A Marschall Outrageously funny, irreverent"-but respectful....so delightfully written, this book is difficult to put down. -- Brian Richard Boylan (05/11/2003) Well written, with a reader-friendly format. -- Howard S Pitkow Well-written and deadly funny. -- Bruce Willey (06/19/2003) Whimsical, hysterical and terribly interesting. -- Katy Human (05/31/2003) ''As weird as the book gets, Roach manages to convey a sense of respect and appreciation for her subjects."