Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Posted by admin | Posted in Internal Medicine | Posted on 17-08-2010
5
Product Description
“One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year….Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting.”—Entertainment Weekly
Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.
In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors’ conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
email2friend
Unfortunately the product did not arrive in great condition and was not like new. The borders of the book are frayed (bigtime)and some of the pages are crincled. This book was suppose to replace one that I had borrowed but lost in a car accident. I was trying to save some money but it looks like I’m going to spend more since I’m going to have to buy a new one.
Rating: 1 / 5
Overall did not think the book was funny. A few cute one liners but not much else. Was fairly well researched, but do you really want to know this stuff,even for a laugh?
Rating: 1 / 5
The title tells it all……..you will be bored STIFF! Not very entertaining and little information that you haven’t already seen on the History Channel. I had looked forward to this book and was disappointed.
Rating: 1 / 5
The book begins interesting enough. However, past the first three chapters the book is long, boring and not enlightening for most individuals of the medical profession. I would not waste time reading this one.
Rating: 1 / 5
This book’s title suggests an interesting read, but I promise if you know anything about forensic pathology, this book is incredibly boring. If you watch TV shows like CSI and think you know about forensic pathology, you probably would like this book. I work in a forensic pathology department and I found this book hard to read, as the author veers off topic quite a bit. I found myself skipping entire sections (especially when she goes into talking about ballistics gel for what seemed like eternity). If you have a higher level of education, I recommend reading some of the books she uses in her bibilography. I found this book was written for someone who knew absolutely nothing about decendents. I recommend reading Death’s Acre if you would like a more professional description. Most of the material in Stiff is general knowledge to people who have a background in pathology and anatomy. I found this book quite dull.
Rating: 2 / 5