Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Stecchiti: Le vite curiose dei cadaveri by Mary Roach

49 reviews

hanarama's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

Book at a glance:
• Science
• Non-fiction 
• Single topic
• Conversational 

In Stiff, Mary Roach investigates our relationship to human corpses. Through history and into modern day, Roach explores how we feel about dead bodies as well as how they have helped us advance science and medicine. 

I love non-fiction books focusing on single topics or phenomena, and this is no exception. Though lacking in a narrative, Roach allows the subject matter to work as a throughline through the chapters, creating a sense of cohesion as the book moves from donated bodies in anatomy labs, to crash tests, and to some truly horrifying mad science. 

Roach's conversational writing makes Stiff easily digestible. It's a fast and easy read, and often feels as though an acquaintance is sharing this information with you over coffee. 

Perhaps my only gripe is that Roach lets personal opinion color some of the chapters on alternative burial. Outside of the decapitation/head transplant chapter, this is the only time it feels like Roach is uncomfortable. Today more people are thinking about their death wishes and considering alternative burial, and I feel like Roach was a bit dismissive towards these methods. If we're going to be death positive, we should be more open to different methods of internment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Medical trauma, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death, and Car accident

antmahn's review against another edition

funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is absolutely one of my favorite books I’ve read to date. It’s morbid, fascinating, and funny. It takes what some consider a terrifying question, “what happens to you when you die?” and expands it to encompass questions you didn’t even know you had. What actually happens to your body if you donate it to science? How did we advance our knowledge of the human body when dissections were frowned upon? Are there more environmentally-friendly ways to dispose of your body? How has cannibalism been condoned throughout history? If you have a morbid sense of curiosity, I would 110% recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Cannibalism

Personally, the only part I really struggled through was the topic of transplantation experiments on animals. Other than that, the book’s descriptions really let you know what kind of topics you’re getting into with this book.

gryflette's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

toobendy's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

3.0

You need to have a certain kind of comedy to write jokes about death and this author doesn’t have it. I think I thought a single joke was kind of funny. It would have been more enjoyable if she just told me about the body farm like an adult instead of a preteen seeing something icky for the first time. She’s a journalist ffs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

emtur007's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Car accident

anna_m_k's review against another edition

dark funny informative fast-paced

4.5

Funny, informative, but ultimately respectful of the dead, this is a fascinating read. There are some sections, such as the one on medical cannibalism, that I felt were more on the irreverent side of irreverent humor and required a bit more seriousness. But overall I recommend the book to anyone who is curious about the many ways cadavers are, and have been, used in science and some alternative options to burial and cremation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Medical content, and Gore

chetofuor's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Medical trauma

readerette's review against another edition

funny hopeful informative slow-paced

4.5

She makes a few statements that are really about her personal morals rather than anything scientific or journalistic, but aside from that, this is a delightful book. It is not as gory or gag-inducing as I anticipated (chapters 10 and 11 being the most egregious for me). If you've never read other articles or books, or watched shows or films about dead bodies, this book might present a challenge for you, but the humor and relatability of the author's journey to understand cadavers helped me to keep reading and learning and not get distracted by morbid themes or thoughts.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Gore and Cannibalism

vikii's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, and Animal cruelty