Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Viața secretă a cadavrelor

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Viața secretă a cadavrelor by Mary Roach

81 reviews

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

dark funny informative slow-paced

3.0

I appreciate this book for what it is: A professional journalist writing a history of corpses, while herself being an amateur on the subject. While much of the contemporary content is now out of date, I still walk away from the book with a few key takeaways.

1. Our corpses are not "us". In life, they were our vessels. Now, they are shells.
2. That said, as a future medical care provider and future surviving loved one, the remains of those departed are worthy of respect and care.
3. There's been a lot of thought and disagreement put into how we ought to treat corpses. Do we bury them? Burn them? Dissolve them? Compost? Scatter? Stick in an anatomy lab? Put on display? Pulverize in controlled car crash scenarios? Eat????
4. While sometimes self-aware, this book was a bit orientalizing and generally racist. (The bit about the Spanish American War and the indigenous soldiers? Come on now.)

This book was moderately informative and mildly entertaining. Now I gotta go figure out what to do with my husk when I'm done with it.

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cammiem8's review against another edition

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dark funny informative fast-paced

2.5

Good info but the tone was all over the place and the author portrayed herself as being kind of an asshole to the people she interviewed. Keep an eye out for the Dr. Oz cameo which is very funny in hindsight

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rachleigh251's review against another edition

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informative

5.0

This book was exactly what I was looking for especially as a future funeral director. Roach’s writing was very enticing and it was hard to put down this book! The subtle hints of humor took some edge off the morbid topics and had me coming back for more each time I put it down. I’m definitely excited to read more of her books!

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shieldbearer's review against another edition

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dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

at time comedic at times reflective and somber, this is an excellent read.

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sophiemartin's review against another edition

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This book is a non-fiction account of an author exploring the different ways a human body donated to science can be used. The information in the book is incorrect, the humour while talking about graphic topics is jarring, and it is clear the author has not done their research correctly and throughly. I could not spend any more time reading the blatant disregard for fact checking.

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semeyers's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny fast-paced

4.25

I liked this book so much more than I had anticipated! Mary Roach is an amazing author who describes tough things in a succinct, informative, and light way. Yes, there are a lot of graphic descriptions of gore in this book and it is not recommended for those with a weak stomach (I have a strong stomach and found I couldn't eat while listening to this book even), but I came out of it less afraid of death and less afraid of cadavers as well.

The book, written in 2003, is now slightly out of date

promession, for example, is now legal and used as a form of burial in three countries. "Aquamation" has gained popularity,etc.

, but still a worthwhile read.

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