Stiff (Mary Roach)

I remember one of my students recommending her book to me, so when it came up as a suggestion for my book club, I jumped on it, knowing only that it was a book about dead bodies. Boy, am I glad I finally had the chance to read Roach’s first book. It’s as entertaining as it is informative, one of the best combinations for remembered fodder that tends to pop up in conversations long after the last page is read. “Oh! That reminds me of this thing I read in Stiff . . .” Which I brought up recently after watching X-Files the movie, in which two women had disappeared, and Bolder and Scully track down some Russian scientists trying to keep a man alive by transplanting his head to the live woman’s body. In Chapter 9, Roach covers the history of scientists working toward this goal of keeping heads alive, using dogs, with limited success. Roach covers the gamut of what happens to donated bodies and their parts along with what we have discovered thanks to these generous dead folks. Plastic surgeons practice face lifts on donated heads, the history of cadavers’ use in anatomy classes, and experiments with dead bodies to test bullet-proof vests, air bags, army boots, just to name a few. For me, I intend to settle down to read her next books, Spook and Bonk, the next chance I get!