Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

This is an excellent book. It does indeed lose some of its rhythms in the second half, but it's still very interesting. I enjoyed it, even on the parts I was grossed out!

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lw_69's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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roadki77's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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bronzemist's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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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 While much of the contemporary content is now out of date, I still walk away from the book with a few key takeaways.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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