Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Having read Mary Roach’s newest book, Grunt, in which she talks about the science of keeping soldiers alive, I decided to read her first one, Stiff, for two reasons. One was to see how much she’d changed as an author, but two – and the bigger reason – was a fascination with the subject. Stiff‘s subtitle is The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and the book is about exactly that: what happens to our remains after we die? Like she did with Grunt (and, I’m presuming, all of her books), Roach divides the book into independent chapters, each focusing on different aspects. There’s the bodies that end up in mortuary schools, as well as those that end up dissected by medical students. There are cadavers used as crash testers, those that end up at the Body Farm (where decay is studied, among other things), those that are used to help understand airplane crashes…and those that were used to understand what happened to Jesus and others who were crucified. And there’s much more to be found here, including bodies as compost, as art, and more. It’s a fascinating subject, and one that put Roach on the map – and having read the book, it’s not hard to see why. Done wrongly, the book could seem insensitive, ghoulish, or just depressing. But Roach celebrates these cadavers, reminding the reader just how much has been gained from this research and just how important these bodies have been to not only medicine, but to our society as a whole. At the same time, she never shies away from the discomfort people feel; indeed, one of the most compelling threads in each chapter is discussing with the various people she meets how they manage to maintain a proper emotional balance when they’re working with the dead all the time. Roach is more of a presence in Stiff than she is in Grunt; it feels like more of a first book, and something she might grow away from as she went. But that also feels like a key part of why the book works; after all, death is a fundamentally personal event, and there’s little way to read Stiff and not spend time thinking about what you would want done with your own remains, be it cremation, burial, donation, or more. And Roach builds her own debate into the book, concluding the book with a chapter that finds her pondering what to do with her own remains, having done all these studies and researches into our possible fates. But lest that sound too heavy, Stiff is every bit as engaging and fun as you would hope from Roach’s reputation. Her digressive footnotes and odd asides are still evident, her willingness to ask questions no less charming, and her ability to bring a light tone to even heavy subject matters no less welcome. More than that, she finds depth and thoughtfulness to discuss beyond what you would expect, to the point where you get the impression that she could write a whole second book about bodies and never run out of things to say. That she does all this while being incredibly informative, demonstrating a gift for conveying complex things quickly, and managing to even tell stories, is just testament to her skills as a writer, and the deservedness of her reputation.

I defy anyone to dislike a book whose first sentence is "The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship." Mary Roach's grand tour of the afterlives of corpses makes for compelling--and very often hilarious--reading. The book opens with the first of many colorful scenes, a roomful of plastic surgeons practicing their grotesque (at the best of times) trade on a bunch of severed heads. "The heads have been put in roasting pans--which are of the disposable aluminum variety--for the same reason chickens are put in roasting pans: to catch the drippings." As this passage illustrates, the author keeps the tone of her book light. She is a clever writer, and she makes the sorts of observations of her grim material that the Mystery Science Theater bots might make. But however light her touch, Roach is describing some truly horrific things. There is, for example, the body farm at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where bodies go to rot for science, their skin sloughing off and their genitalia bloating in full view of researchers and their guests--who leave with their footwear uncleanably soiled with the "liquids of human decay." There is the graduate student who composted a ne'er-do-well to see how efficacious a means of disposal mulch-making might be for third-world countries. ("And because the man was buried whole, Evans had to go out with a shovel and rake to aerate him three or four times.") And there is Roach's attempt--failed--to verify the details of a 1991 Reuter's article which claimed that "a man who worked in a crematorium in Hainan Province was caught hacking the buttocks and thighs off cadavers prior to incineration and bringing the meat to his brother, who ran the nearby White Temple Restaurant." Roach hired an interpreter to facilitate her discussion with the director of the crematorium she believed had employed the buttock-hacker. But how to explain to the interpreter what she needed to know? "In the cab, I tried to think of a way to explain to Sandy what I was about to have her do. I need you to ask this man whether he had an employee who cut the butt cheeks off cadavers to serve in his brother's restaurant. No matter how I thought of phrasing it, it sounded ghastly and absurd. Why would I need to know this? What kind of book was I writing?" For those with a strongish stomach, Mary Roach's book is, really, a delightful read. And eye-opening. And unlike most books, it may have the quite real effect of influencing your after-lifestyle choices.

A most interesting book, provided the reader is not among the vast ranks of the squeamish or those who prefer to be ignorant of the physical realities of human existence and what happens to the body after life ends. Roach researched the book well, and what she wrote near the end, on cremation and the more environmentally friendly alternatives to the great heat of cremation, is as timely and pertinent now as when she wrote it.

Fascinating, informative, entertaining, well written/narrated. By the author of ‘Gulp’ (on the digestive tract, mouth to ‘tail’) - also excellent and recommended - and a host of other enlightening books with specific and likewise fascinating themes.

Mary Roach is an enthusiastic globetrotter in search of specific knowledge for her books, often exploring subjects most of us would never imagine. Whether investigating the soul, as in Spook, or human body parts, as in Stiff, she enlightens readers in unexpected ways. Although the books cover very different adventures, the question of the soul quietly returns in Stiff, because the human body and the soul are inseparable parts of living beings. From my perspective, when we leave this world, the spirit continues its journey toward reincarnation. Listening to the Stiff eBook at the gym was a great experience. A small warning: chapter 10 may upset your stomach if consumed right after a meal. Yet the book’s exploration of how the human body can serve science changed my mind — I now favor body donation without restrictions.

Ein sehr schönes Buch über die verschiedenen Möglichkeiten was nach dem Tod mit einer Leiche geschieht. Zum Beispiel als Crashtest-Dummies, für Schönheits-OP-Übungen, etc. Ich dachte es würde mehr um die Prozesse im Körper nach dem Tod gehen (Verwesung etc.), aber da hatte ich mich nicht genug informiert. Statt dessen habe ich dennoch viel gelernt darüber, wofür Leichen genutzt werden und kann dieses tolle und auch leicht humoristische Buch nur weiter empfehlen!

Sorry, haven’t read it yet but looks like a novel worth reading. Hey, it happens to us all one day so we should know the gruesome details of becoming a “stiff”!

A wonderful book, with lots of helpful and humorous information about the human body and what we can all look forward as we age and die! I'm a big fan of Mary Roach's writing style and approach

Good condition. Thank you!

Things I took away from this book: (1) It's fascinating and often (more often than not in fact) quite funny, but it's also divisive, there'll be many readers who will have opposing views on the material it contains; no bad thing because it should open conversations and discussions about subjects that are little talked about. (2) I want to leave my body to science if possible (and if required). (3) I want as ecological an ending to my remains as possible if (2) isn't possible. (4) Mary Roach must have had an absolute ball researching it, travelling to exotic (and not so exotic) places around the world and chatting with some wonderful characters from various fields of medical, scientific, military, and other careers related to the topic. This brilliant book should be required reading on the curriculum at all high schools, colleges and universities to alleviate the discomfort many people have around discussing the end of life. There should be TV documentary series made from it and educational DVDs released about it, it's that good, it dispels a lot of myths around many practices from the past and explains the laws and restraints that govern the use of the dead in modern times. On top of all of that, it exposes the reader to cultural anomalies with regard to life and death, from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the USA. It isn't exhaustive but it is in depth, it's extremely well written and brings some levity to an otherwise 'grave' topic.