The Curious Lives of Cadavers

A couple days ago I finished reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers. This book tells the story of what happens to our bodies after we die. I started reading it last year and was very surprised at the fact that I was laughing about dead bodies within the first few pages. The waitress at the restaurant that I started reading it at even gave me a sideways glance like there was something seriously wrong with me. I know you are all thinking I am nuts, but I am telling you that this is a really popular and entertaining read. Here is the first review off of bn.com so you know that I am not the only one who thinks this...

Impossible (and irreverent) as it may sound, Roach has written a book about corpses that's both lively and fresh. She traveled around the globe to conduct her forensic investigations, and her findings are wryly intelligent. While the myriad uses for cadavers recounted are often graphic, Roach imbues her subject with a sense of dignity, choosing to emphasize the oddly noble purposes corpses serve, from organ donation to lifesaving medical research. Readers will come away convinced of the enormous debt that we, the living, owe to the study of the remains of the dead. And while it may not offer the answer to the ancient mystery we were hoping for, Stiff offers a strange sort of comfort in the knowledge that, in a sense, death isn't necessarily the end.

Overall, a good read even though as usual i did get a few odd looks reading it on the train.

While reading this book I also came across another reason why Jell-o scares me and I am right about it being gross in so many ways. Jello is a gelatin product and gelatin is made of processed cow bone chips and freshly chopped pig hides. Now if that is not gross I don't know what is.

I started reading A Walk in the Woods now, I am going to get a bunch of that read while I am on Jury Duty tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ok jury duty really sucks (so i'll be thinking of you!) and " a walk in the woods" is awesome. Not about cadavers but you should get a few laughs. "notes from a big country" is actually Bryson at his best.

i am into Jonathan Strnage and Mr Norrel. Some Brit hit that was just translated into French. Is it also hit on your side of the pond?

JRH456 said...

So I got picked for the trial, more to follow but Mr. Bryson got me in trouble in the court room during downtime because I was laughing out loud. I read over half the book today.

JS and Mr. N did well here in hardcover but really took off when it was released in TP last summer (or before).