Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

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Summary: More than you knew you wanted to know
Review: This book is both funny and fascinating. As someone who works in the medical field and has been at cadaver labs, I am maybe not as squeamish as other people. But even those people who are will find the stories of head-transplant studies and accident reconstruction more interesting than "gross".

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Summary: Rice Krispies????
Review: You know, I think she had me when she said in a footnote that while she agreed with organ & tissue donation, she preferred not to spend her hereafter as someone's underpants. I laughed out loud and kept on laughing. Not to give anything away, but the whole Rice Krispies & chicken soup thing out of chapter 3 was a scream. I did not know non-fiction could be so entertaining. It's not often that a book inspires me to read aloud to my roommate (who probably wishes I wouldn't), but this one did. I can't give it enough praise. Way to go Mary!!

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Summary: I am not soon going to forget the opening paragraph
Review: in which the author walks into a room with forty students, each of whom has a human head on the desk in front of them. if you aren't dead already, you might die laughing when you read this book. and at the same time it is tender, and shows us how really useful you can be after you die, if only as a way to test the windshield of a car going eighty miles an hour

Rating:
Summary: stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Review: this book was a fun, witty look at the human cadaver. I loved the way Mary Roach discribed things in her quirky way, yet she was very respectful in the fact that she was talking about someones family members. Death was never so funny and informative!!!

Rating:
Summary: Smart, Funny, Fearless
Review: I thought this book might be too morbid or gross for my fairly delicate sensibilities. It is neither. Roach is funny but never at the expense of her subjects or topic. This is a smart ride through a world that we fear to look at. She proves there is no subject so grave that it can't be disarmed with a little humor.

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Summary: A new outlook on the life of the lifeless!
Review: In this book Mary Roach speaks of the dead in such a way that their lives seem more interesting than the average soap opera plot! Oh, the things a corpse can get into! The author of this book is witty, and has a dry but engaging sense of humor about a subject that most cringe in response to. She addresses the insatiable curiosity most humans have with the process of death with the utmost of taste and intelligence. I was unable to put this book down, and I was sad when it was over, I wanted MORE! A great read for anyone, scientifically minded or not. I would highly recommend this book. My copy has made the rounds and currently is residing with reader number 4, with 3 more people in line to borrow it when it returns.
The topics covered range from medical school dissection to the controversial process of plastination, which Gunther von Hagens has brought to the spotlight with his exhibit. From the cannibals in China to the shortage of skeletons, Mary Roach tackles it all! You will not be disappointed, only educated and amused!

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Summary: Great fun and VERY different
Review: When you look up the term "Off the beaten path" in the dictionary, you will, without a doubt, see a copy of this book. Who would have thought a book on this subject would have been successful? Stiff is, without a doubt, a bizarre yet remarkably engaging read: not surprising since Roach is such a terrific writer. The author possesses the ingenious ability of being able to make digestible the most repulsive of subjects. Curious, yet not callus, Roach manages to ask-and yes, answer-questions often best left unspoken (keeping in mind public decorum). Furthermore, Roach is hilarious. If you like weird, funny, and not-for-the squeamish books, try "The Bark of the Dogwood--a tour of southern homes and gardens. Equally parts funny, morose, insightful, and well-done.

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Summary: Very Good Read.
Review: I am a Neurologist by trade, with an interest in Neuropathology. I thought this book was outstanding. Made me reflect on my medical school days with a fond nostalgia, and really appreciate my cadaver - a strange sentence that must really raise the eyebrow of anyone reading this review. I highly recommend this book as an excellent leisure read for anyone, but anyone in the medical field (in any manner) should consider this required reading.

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Summary: Stiff-apendous!
Review: Very original concept for a book, but the author excels in telling a very compelling and humorous account of her experience with cadavers. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: Mary Roach shows a lighter side to death. This book offered a compelling, interesting, and even humorous look at all the deeds the dead have done for the living. Sure, it's a wierd subject, but it as much interesting and fun as it is wierd. Cadavers have gone through a lot of stuff... some things in this book you would never realize involved using cadavers. It makes you wonder if that person in life ever imagined their physical self to be used in such cool experiments.

After asking me about the book I was reading, friends and family of course gave me a suspicious look. But I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone. I picked it up because I am a biology major and genuinely interested in physiology, but even someone not into that sort of thing would enjoy this book. It doesn't make the greatest bedtime reading... but it definately is hard to put down. You can also amaze your friends with little known facts!