Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Paperback)

"... 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." Carnival, Viking, and Holland America, take note.

As a corpse, you can indeed, as on last summer's voyage to the Bahamas, veg out. Or, as the narrative reveals, be an integral part of other activities. Why, I didn't realize that being dead could be so lively.

First and foremost, your cadaver could become the prize of body snatchers, and subsequently be sold to a medical school for the instruction and amusement of students. Or perhaps you aspire to become a crash test dummy, fodder for the military's munitions tests, or the subject of experiments in composting, freeze-drying or plastination. If you're unlucky enough to die in an airplane disaster of unknown cause, investigators may scrutinize your body, or its widely scattered pieces, for clues as to where in the aircraft the fuselage cracked open or the bomb exploded. Your dissected brain or heart could fuel arguments over the seat of the soul, while other body parts serve as the raw material for disease remedies. Or maybe just be eaten by cannibals. And, if you're the outdoorsy type, you can recline in a grove on a grassy hillside behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center where the various stages of human decomposition are studied and recorded.

STIFF is one of the most fascinating books I've read recently, even after taking into account the "yuk" factor. (In ancient Rome, the blood of freshly slaughtered gladiators was thought to cure epilepsy, while modern day Web sites have recipes for Placenta Lasagna and Placenta Pizza for those who would consume the delicacy to stave off postpartum depression.) This is largely due to the author's chatty style and marvelous sense of humor, which is dry as a mummy. For example, when declaring the existence of a Central Park statue of a certain Dr. Sims, otherwise notable for describing a suitable patient position for gynecological exam, Roach writes in a footnote:

"If you don't believe me, you can look it up yourself, on page 56 of THE ROMANCE OF PROCTOLOGY. (Sims was apparently something of a dilettante when it came to bodily orifices.) P.S.: I could not, from cursory skimming, ascertain what the romance was."

I highly recommend STIFF for the not too squeamish adult, or as a scary Halloween gift for one who is. Or as a bedtime reader for precocious youngsters - they'll think it gross, but way cool, as children are wont to do.

In case you're wondering, there's no photo section.

Note: This is my unedited review.

The book, as Roach so excellently puts it in her introduction is, about "behind-the-scenes dead"--the cadavers. Right from a brilliant introduction (Roach's conviction for the subject alongwith her experience with the first cadaver--that of her mum's sets the ball rolling!), one is introduced to the worlds of surgery, anatomy crimes, body decay, cadavers in crash tests, injury analysis in catastrophes such as air-crashes, ballistic and weapon testing, organ transplantation, decapitation, medicinal cannibalism, freeze-drying funerals, tissue digestion, plastination in reasonable detail. It doesn't set out to be some exhaustive illustrated guide to the world of cadavers but ends up being a fairly comprehensive and updated account on the subject.

Each of the topics above finds itself seeped in some history, some science (the research by Roach is marvellous-- just a look at the number and diversity of sources she extracts the information from is proof enough) and some first-hand personal experience (with Roach herself probing at crematoriums, labs, dead-body fields, surgeons, scientists, analysts--each of them equally insightful). Having said that, let the book not lull you into a false feeling of having known everything about cadavers after reading it-- I see it more as a corridor to the curious lives of cadavers.

As said earlier, Roach's a masterful writer who can elicit a chuckle or make you ponder without too many words or preaching. There's nuggets of sarcasm and wit providing the required relief and there are some very passionate and thought-provoking critique of the procedures dead bodies have had to go through over the years. If you have got hilarious footnotes, you also get some wonderful ending words at each chapter's climax (e.g. "We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget.")

Dealing with the world of dead bodies, the book talks about the subject in such colloquial and matter-of-factly language that nowhere does its tone make you feel like some biology student nor its details make you switch off your night-lamp.
The wow factor remains very high throughout, most possibly because of the unconventionality of the "lives of dead bodies". Though its tough to decide what for me was the best chapter, the ones on human decay and injury analysis are superbly penned. The crucifixation experiments and the medicinal cannibalism are perhaps the most graphic and gory chapters of the book (squeamish, sensitive readers-watch out!) while the one of on whole body transplant isn't quite as well written as the others. And yes, the one on freeze-drying funeral where the body ends up as compost is indeed one helluva practical idea and something worth discussing.

All said and done, I'll probably always remember this book and author for lending me some knowledge about this elusive world of cadavers in such a witty and passionate manner, and for making me ponder over the fact of "What shall be done to my body once I die?" In author's words, I'll leave it for my parents to decide (with an exception for organ donation). No strict wills, no after-death wishes. Strange what some books do to you!

Highly recommended!

Mary Roach approaches the subject with great humour, whilst all the time remaining respectful of such a highly sensitive subject. One of the main I enjoyed about the book was how accessible she had made something which borders between science & medicine, meaning that anyone could pick up the book and clearly understand. Aditionally, the research has been carefully carried out and there are so many interesting facts in here I don't think I could bear to be parted from this book.