Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Apr 27, 2019 Kerry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction, science, audible

This was my first Mary Roach book. She's just as great as everyone says! I know a lot more about cadavers now. I've also changed my mind about what I want done with my body when I die: instead of being buried without being embalmed (which was my first plan), I'd like to donate my body to science. You can use me for basically anything I guess except arms and ammunition testing. That's assuming, of course, that I wasn't able to donate my organs. If that's the case, then please bury what's left wit ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 31, 2015 Molly rated it really liked it

Shelves: recommended, 4-stars, non-fiction, essays, book-riot-finds, read-in-2015, read-harder-2015

I chose this for the Microhistory task in the Read Harder challenge. I've been wanting to/meaning to read it forever, so this gave me the perfect excuse. (Sidebar: I'm kind of loving this challenge; it's really forced me to get outside of my standard comfort zone)

Having listened to Packing for Mars, I already had a sense of Roach's style, and I've heard that this is the best of her books. There were times that Packing sort of lost my interest (that's the double-edged sword of the audiobook, you

I chose this for the Microhistory task in the Read Harder challenge. I've been wanting to/meaning to read it forever, so this gave me the perfect excuse. (Sidebar: I'm kind of loving this challenge; it's really forced me to get outside of my standard comfort zone)

Having listened to Packing for Mars, I already had a sense of Roach's style, and I've heard that this is the best of her books. There were times that Packing sort of lost my interest (that's the double-edged sword of the audiobook, you can drift in and out), but I found myself fascinated by most of the essays here. Death is a scary, touchy, sensitive subject, and Roach manages to make the whole thing feel less scary -- I love her classification of cadavers as superheroes.

Roach begins with some of the more "typical" uses for cadavers -- as "practice bodies" for surgical procedures (the image of all the heads lined up for practicing facelifts is so creepy!), medical students, crash test dummies... before moving on to some, let's say unexpected uses for bodies donated to science. Like the cadaver lab, for instance, where bodies are placed in different positions and scenarios to determine how long it takes to rot, in what stages things occur, what happens to a buried body vs and exposed one, etc. I mean...I guess there has to be a way to figure that out, otherwise how would forensics teams know when a victim died? Just a little freaky to consider. And I'm with Roach that I don't love that you aren't able to specify what can or can't be done with your body if you do decide to donate it to science. (Roach had dreams of being a medical classroom skeleton, but apparently most of those aren't actual bodies) Being a crash dummy? Kind of awesome. Having my head chopped off so some plastic surgeon can perfect his nose job technique? Slightly less awesome. Being half-buried in sand so forensics can see how long it takes me to rot? Even less awesome.

Overall, this was fascinating and fun (and I love Roach's footnotes). I do kind of wish she would update it with a chapter about the possibility of zombies -- I read an article...somewhere, that basically refuted the idea of a zombie plague, but I'd kind of like to hear Roach's take on the topic, after her extensive study of cadavers. Anyway, I will definitely be seeking out more of Roach's stuff, though preferably on audio.

...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2015 Melissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: techno-brain, she-blinded-me-with-science, cracked-me-the-s-up

Not quite as good as Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, IMO, but a very solid, readable first book from Mary Roach. She gets off track here and there (and dead people aren't quite as funny as ghosts, sex, or being in space) but there's a whole of stuff that can happen to you if you donate your body after death. I did think it was nice that she included a chapter on organ donation. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 16, 2025 Allie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audience-adults, non-fiction, stem, format-audiobooks

Good aside from the Dr Oz jumpscare in the middle. One quibble though is that the narrator mispronounced quite a lot of words. Two notable (funny) examples are the news agency Reuters (rooters) and an accelerometer (accelero-meter).

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2016 Bridget rated it liked it

Very interesting and also quite amusing. It was a bit long considering the morbid topic.

Like · see review

Nov 21, 2016 Donna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

While a book about the use of human cadavers might sound gruesome, in reality this was no more gruesome than some crime fiction. In addition, you learn many things about the science of decomposition.

Three words: narrative-science, black-humor, dead-bodies

Read alikes: police procedurals with medical examiners, forensic anthropologists, etc.

Like · see review