An absolutely delightful book. Stiff delves into what happens to dead bodies and their many uses, from crucifixion experiments (like trying to prove whether the Shroud of Turin is real) to surgery practice, crash test dummies (not the fake kind but with real dead bodies) to medical cannibalism (think foetus/placenta tonic in China) and the more well-known issue of organ donation and transplant to the new-fangled, eco-friendly possibility of composting (Freezing little bits of bodies and burying them in shallow graves so that nutrients can be released to grow vegetables in your garden). Written in a journalistic style, the book is easy to read and highly informative. Plus, Mary Roach's wry sense of humour carries the narrative very well and I found myself guffawing at her observations, which by the way, are neither disrespectful to the dead nor callous towards the grief of the bereaved. It's not a book about dying or death. This is a book about notable achievements made while dead.
A snippet from the book's introduction reads:
The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.
If I were to take a cruise, I would prefer that it be one of those research cruises, where the passengers, while still spending much of the day lying on their backs with blank minds, also get to help out with a scientist's research project. These cruise take their passengers to unknown, unimagined places. They give them the chance to do things that they would not otherwise get to do.
I guess I feel the same way about being a corpse. Why lie around on your back when you can do something interesting and new, something useful? For every surgical procedure developed, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside the surgeons, making history in their own quiet, sundered way. For two thousand years, cadavers - some willingly, some unwittingly - have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings...
A snippet from the book's introduction reads:
The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.
If I were to take a cruise, I would prefer that it be one of those research cruises, where the passengers, while still spending much of the day lying on their backs with blank minds, also get to help out with a scientist's research project. These cruise take their passengers to unknown, unimagined places. They give them the chance to do things that they would not otherwise get to do.
I guess I feel the same way about being a corpse. Why lie around on your back when you can do something interesting and new, something useful? For every surgical procedure developed, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside the surgeons, making history in their own quiet, sundered way. For two thousand years, cadavers - some willingly, some unwittingly - have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings...
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