onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Gore
Moderate: Death
despair0769's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars
Roach does a great job in this book in including a wide-range of information on cadavers, including their place throughout history and their use in research in the past and into the present day. Stiff provides great educational content as well for those want to learn who want to learn about how donated cadavers are used for science, medicine, and more. And, I think that this book could help anyone form their opinion on what they want their cadaver used for after their death.
I want to mention as well that I generally enjoy reading micro-histories and other books that dive deep into the history of a very specific topic, but I often feel that some of these books struggle to meet the page count needed for an entire book. At times, it feels that the author is stretching to include tangential things that don't really feel useful to the book. But, I didn't feel that at all when reading the book. Roach does a great job of including interesting stories through and keeping the reading engaged.
Roach does a great job in this book in including a wide-range of information on cadavers, including their place throughout history and their use in research in the past and into the present day. Stiff provides great educational content as well for those want to learn who want to learn about how donated cadavers are used for science, medicine, and more. And, I think that this book could help anyone form their opinion on what they want their cadaver used for after their death.
I want to mention as well that I generally enjoy reading micro-histories and other books that dive deep into the history of a very specific topic, but I often feel that some of these books struggle to meet the page count needed for an entire book. At times, it feels that the author is stretching to include tangential things that don't really feel useful to the book. But, I didn't feel that at all when reading the book. Roach does a great job of including interesting stories through and keeping the reading engaged.
bexwynne's review
Too many mentions of using animals, bothered me and made me sadÂ
lanid's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, and Excrement
carolynaugustyn's review
3.0
Well, not my favorite book by Mary Roach, but still pretty interesting. Of all the books I've read by Roach, this one definitely was the first to get me gagging (and I've read Gulp- with all it's info on poop transplants and stomach windows). I guess I wasn't super into the topic because I never really found the information super super interesting. I learned a lot but I never really had pieces of data I wanted to share with someone- and I usually have that moment with her other books. Probably just not the book topic for me but Roach still writes in a fun and accessible way so anyone can learn all about corpses and the science around all that fun death stuff.
lmgestes's review
4.0
This book is not for everyone. But if you love random facts & information about bodies postmortem, then please give this a read! Interesting, insightful, and informative. Roach walks with various morbid subjects with humor and care.
jenleah's review
3.0
For a book about dead bodies, the author was able to inject quite a bit of humor. This made the book enjoyable -- that is, enjoyable for a book about the history of what happens to dead bodies.
It was fascinating to read about the UT body farm and ORNL's research on cadavers. It was also fascinating to learn about the options we all have for our remains.
Definitely not a book for the squeamish or for reading while enjoying lunch.
It was fascinating to read about the UT body farm and ORNL's research on cadavers. It was also fascinating to learn about the options we all have for our remains.
Definitely not a book for the squeamish or for reading while enjoying lunch.
lalulorlor's review
5.0
This was fascinating, educational, often-times hilarious, and makes me want to donate my body to science, even if that means for someone to practice doing plastic surgery.