Mary Roach's curiosity about science and cadavers are on full display in her book Stiff. It is not a book for those who have difficulty dealing with graphic descriptions of decayed bodies. If you have the stomach, it is an excellent science and history lesson on what happens to our bodies after we die. I enjoyed her book Packing for Mars so I decided to give this book a try. Mary's wit and levity keeping the topic from being too clinical or boring.
Human cadavers are put to use as crash dummies, a teaching tools for plastic surgeons and medical students. They are used to advance forensic medicine and assist others with organ and tissue donation. Are bodies are very useful after we die.
I her history of body snatchers and resurrectioners to be surprising. In the past, medical schools found cadavers to be in short supply so they would often pay for bodies and ask very few questions. This led to one enterprising duo to turn it into a profitable business by murdering people in a boarding house and delivering the bodies for a fee. Other med students would be encouraged by professors to snatch recently buried bodies from graves. This led to an interesting side business for funeral homes making cages and concrete crypts to make it harder to retrieve a body. These were often purchased by the very medical doctors that were teaching anatomy classes.
A big think interview with Author Mary Roach - 30 minutes
The book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is available from Amazon.com.
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