By Debbie Chadi, Triangle Executive Editor
If you are lucky enough to chance upon Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, you will first be struck by the two bluish feet reaching towards you from the cover. In this fascinating book, Mary Roach enters the world of dead bodies, exploring topics that range from suturing experiments to seat-belt testing and surgery practice, from human organ retrieval to cannibalism and testing sandals versus boots in land mine explosions. Her keen eye and sharp sense of humor are necessary accompaniments to the often grotesque sights and smells she portrays as she forays into the adventures of human cadavers such as the one you see before you.
Stiff seized my curiosity as a bioengineer interested in helping others. For one thing, “How to Know If You’re Dead,” the chapter on organ recovery in “beating-heart cadavers,” is phenomenal. According to the author, “Up until artificial respiration was developed, there was no such entity; without a functioning brain, a body will not breathe on its own. But hook it up to a respirator and its heart will beat, and the rest of its organs will, for a matter of days, continue to thrive,” (pp. 167-8).
Roach then describes in detail the process of live organ removal, including the organs themselves and the surgeon’s bizarre task of “cutting off spare pieces of veins and arteries to be included… along with the organs, in case the ones attached to them are too short to work with,” (p. 193). By highlighting that one person can save multiple lives through organ recovery, Roach gives an inspired look at one’s potential after-death contributions to science and humanity.
To contrast scientific experimentation with the more usual burial and cremation procedures, Roach devotes a chapter to the preparation of cadavers for these two processes. “Images of dissection and dismemberment are…no more gruesome…than ordinary decay or the sewing shut of your jaws via your nostrils for a funeral viewing,” (p.82) she opines, adding that cremation “isn’t a pretty event” (p. 83).
Describing organ combustion with the same detachment one would ascribe to the mundane aspects of everyday life, the author writes: “The abdominal contents burn fairly slowly, and… even when the vault of the skull has broken and fallen away, the brain has been seen as a dark, fused mass with a rather sticky consistency,” (p. 83). Roach shows that, barring one’s religious convictions and the wishes of one’s family to bury or cremate, a greater amount of good can be achieved by donating one’s corpse to science, a conclusion with which I am inclined to agree.
Though clearly not your typical book, Mary Roach’s Stiff has hit the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list multiple times. Each chapter gives an in-depth view of a completely different topic, making Stiff informative and easy to pick up at any time. It is a worthwhile read if you have a strong interest in surgery and tests on the human body— and an equally strong stomach.
If you are lucky enough to chance upon Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, you will first be struck by the two bluish feet reaching towards you from the cover. In this fascinating book, Mary Roach enters the world of dead bodies, exploring topics that range from suturing experiments to seat-belt testing and surgery practice, from human organ retrieval to cannibalism and testing sandals versus boots in land mine explosions. Her keen eye and sharp sense of humor are necessary accompaniments to the often grotesque sights and smells she portrays as she forays into the adventures of human cadavers such as the one you see before you.
Stiff seized my curiosity as a bioengineer interested in helping others. For one thing, “How to Know If You’re Dead,” the chapter on organ recovery in “beating-heart cadavers,” is phenomenal. According to the author, “Up until artificial respiration was developed, there was no such entity; without a functioning brain, a body will not breathe on its own. But hook it up to a respirator and its heart will beat, and the rest of its organs will, for a matter of days, continue to thrive,” (pp. 167-8).
Roach then describes in detail the process of live organ removal, including the organs themselves and the surgeon’s bizarre task of “cutting off spare pieces of veins and arteries to be included… along with the organs, in case the ones attached to them are too short to work with,” (p. 193). By highlighting that one person can save multiple lives through organ recovery, Roach gives an inspired look at one’s potential after-death contributions to science and humanity.
To contrast scientific experimentation with the more usual burial and cremation procedures, Roach devotes a chapter to the preparation of cadavers for these two processes. “Images of dissection and dismemberment are…no more gruesome…than ordinary decay or the sewing shut of your jaws via your nostrils for a funeral viewing,” (p.82) she opines, adding that cremation “isn’t a pretty event” (p. 83).
Describing organ combustion with the same detachment one would ascribe to the mundane aspects of everyday life, the author writes: “The abdominal contents burn fairly slowly, and… even when the vault of the skull has broken and fallen away, the brain has been seen as a dark, fused mass with a rather sticky consistency,” (p. 83). Roach shows that, barring one’s religious convictions and the wishes of one’s family to bury or cremate, a greater amount of good can be achieved by donating one’s corpse to science, a conclusion with which I am inclined to agree.
Though clearly not your typical book, Mary Roach’s Stiff has hit the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list multiple times. Each chapter gives an in-depth view of a completely different topic, making Stiff informative and easy to pick up at any time. It is a worthwhile read if you have a strong interest in surgery and tests on the human body— and an equally strong stomach.
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