Did you know the human head is the same approximate size as
a chicken? No? Yeah, neither did I. Mary Roach writes a humorous book about
what really happens to our bodies if they are donated to science. Right off the
bat, you know what this book is about, but it’s is not all about death, as in
dying, which is something I would like to stress upon upfront. As a matter of
fact, it’s not as sad as it may appear and has nothing to do with grieving or
coping with loss like many think. It’s a very pragmatic and practical book,
well at least the first half, that introduces what your physically body, aka cadaver,
can contribute to science when your life has ended. For instance, one’s body
could be used for scientific research or even as a crash dummy. Roach really
tries to justify why it is okay and right to use a dead body. Roach successfully
incorporates a very light-hearted tone while discussing such a gruesome topic
of the deceased. She has a perfect balance between gruesome and light-heartedness
within the first chapters. Along with her light-hearted tone she adds a lot of “Did
you knows?” where the readers got a lot of information like “Did you know that most crashing airplanes don’t
hit the ground from thirty thousand feet, the vast majority crash on takeoff or
landing either on or near ground.” Where she also notes that eighty to
eighty-five percent are survivable. This exuberant book introduces fact you probably
never knew and provides reasoning for how a body can be beneficial to science.
Stiff is a book with a universal appeal that any non-scientist can read that
basically introduces how they have benefited us whether it be a heart transplants
or gender reassignment. So far, I would have never thought I would have found a
cadaver so interesting, but I do know.
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