Synopses & Reviews
Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers (some willingly, some unwittingly) have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.
In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries; from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
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"Fascinating, unexpectedly fresh and funny look at the multiplicity of ways in which cadavers benefit the living....Informative, yes; entertaining, absolutely." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
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"Roach's dry, irreverent wit makes for a delightful though never disrespectful read." Les Simpson, Time Out New York
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"[A] book as informative and respectful as it is irreverent and witty....Even Roach's digressions and footnotes are captivating, helping to make the book impossible to put down." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
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"A laugh-out-loud funny book....[O]ne of those wonderful books that offers enlightenment in the guise of entertainment." Washington City Paper
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"As weird as the book gets, Roach manages to convey a sense of respect and appreciation for her subjects." Los Angeles Times
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"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year....Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting." Entertainment Weekly
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"Roach displays her metier in tangents about bizarre incendents in pathological history. Death may have the last laugh, but, in the meantime, Roach finds merriment in the macabre." Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
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"Fascinating and oddly fun." San Francisco Chronicle
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"Acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating." Forbes
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"Our own instinctive discomfort with death provides fodder for Roach's dry sense of humor throughout the book." Ana Marie Cox, The Washington Post
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"Roach exhibits both a keen sense of humor and a sincere respect for the dearly departed." American Scientist
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"Roach's conversational tone and her gallows humor bring her subjects to life....Morbidly entertaining." Alex Abramovich, People Magazine
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"Roach...goes into gruesome detail, but she also succeeds in not making the subject at hand too morbid." Kim Colton, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
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"As fascinating as it is funny....The research is admirable, the anecdotes carefully chosen, and the prose lively; and they combine to produce a book that everyone in the health care field should have to read, and everyone else will want to." Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist
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"Droll, dark, and quite wise, Stiff makes being dead funny and fascinating and weirdly appealing." Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief
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"An informative, gently funny but never irreverent look at the various uses society makes of the dead." Tom Pantera
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"[A] mordantly witty history of the scientific contributions made by the no-longer-living." Forbes
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"Roach displays her metier in tangents about bizarre incendents in pathological history." Outside
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"Acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating." Forum
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"This quirky, funny read offers perspective and insight about life, death and the medical profession.... You can close this book with an appreciation of the miracle that the human body really is." Tara Parker-Pope
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"'Uproariously funny' doesn't seem a likely description for a book on cadavers. However, Roach... has done the nearly impossible and written a book as informative and respectful as it is irreverent and witty." Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Mary Roach is the author of four previous books: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Her writing has appeared in Outside, Wired, National Geographic, and the New York Times Magazine, among others. She lives in Oakland, California.