Dead people. More specifically, this book details all the various things that are done, or have been done over the centuries with human cadavers. She covers everything from medical experimentation, crash dummies, forensic science, to cannibalism and even the Shroud of Turin. And she relates it in such a way that you’ll be dying of laughter.

The author’s wit. Ms. Roach details in a lighthearted tone the delicate topic of the deceased without violating their dignity – she is truly brilliant.

E-mail Ms. Roach and congratulate her on a book well written -- and I did just that.

Comfortable with my own mortality.

Mary Roach, she's also written for Salon.com.

I’m not sure whether to recommend this book on its scientific merits or rather on its entertainment value. Either way, I promise you’ll find Stiff a worthwhile read.

I was truly impressed with the hands-on research that Ms. Roach conducted. She brings the reader along with her while she travels the world in search for the truth. She’s there when plastic surgeons are practicing on real cadaver heads. She’s there in the garden where cadavers are rotting for forensic research. She takes you with her to a remote island in China to search for cannibalism -- then off to Sweden to visit with an environmentalist who would rather see your remains memorialized by a rosebush than a tombstone.



And above all else, if you decide to read this, don’t you dare skip the footnotes. That’s where you’ll find some of the best writing.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers   from Amazon.Com!

Created May 19, 2003 at 1:58pm • Submit your own review...