A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste. Crimes of Anatomy. Life after Death. Dead Man Driving. How to Know if You’re Dead.These are just a few of the chapter headings of Stiff, a book about the various real-life uses for dead bodies in the worlds of medicine, religion, and car crash tests, among others. Mary Roach doesn’t have a science degree, but she sure does have a sense of humor, and a knack for writing humorously, about subjects that we don’t know are funny until we read what she has to say about it. Roach doesn’t hold back on graphic descriptions of dead bodies, their insides, or their remains, so don’t expect an effortless read; you’ll learn more about your body than you ever wanted to know. All the same, who knew that dead bodies could be so cool?!
(Also, I haven't read them, but two books were mentioned in Stiff that sounded intriguing enough to look up; BCCLS owns both of them: Burried Alive : The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson and Thomas Edison's The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison, edited by Dagobert D. Runes.)
Recommended for high school readers of all shapes and sizes.
Call number: YA 611 ROACH
Reviewed by kate the librarian
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So I take it you liked this one? Her others are on par, but I think this one is by far the best!
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