Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Author : Mary Roach
Title : Stiff :  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Published : 2003
publisher : Penguin
Pages : 304
Genre : Non Fiction / Medical

     What happens to your body after you have died? Fertilizer? Crash Test Dummy? Human Dumpling? Ballistics Practise? Life after death is not as simple as it looks. Mary Roach's Stiff lifts the lid off what happens to our bodies once we have died. Bold, original and with a delightful eye for detail, Roach tells us everything we wanted to know about this new frontier in medical science. Interweaving present-day explorations with a history of past attempts to study what it means to be human Stiff is a deliciously dark investigation for readers of popular science as well as fans of the macabre

     I have never given much thought to donating my body to medical research. I suppose it is not a subject that we like to discuss. The whole subject of what happens to us after we die is still one that comes across as taboo. For most of us, we just assume that our dead bodies will be placed in a fine pine box then laid to rest in some shady corner of the local crematory. Should conditions be right my own will be a little lighter as I choose to sign up for the organ donation program. Something I felt I should do, it's not like I will be using them. It was still a tough thing to tell my family though and to this day I'm still not really sure why. I suppose if you have some religious or moral grounding for not doing this then no form of argument will ever sway your point of view. But when it comes to donating yourself lock, stock, and barrel. That's when the real questions start to be raised. I wonder if this is down to having a place to visit once you are gone. Is it, in fact, more about those that we leave behind. Do we, in fact, do it for them. 

     To her credit, this author shows us the most common forms that this kind of donation takes. I thought going in that I had a pretty good idea of what this would entail. But to my surprise, there was so much more than you can be used for once you are gone. For the most part, all of these go on to better the human race. Giving insight into how we can make all our lives not only a safer place but also how to help those who are still alive be are very sick in some way. There was a lot to be gleaned from each of these topics and I would imagine plenty to give you food for thought were you considering this for your afterlife.  The author went on to show me that if not for those who have given their bodies both willingly and unwillingly. Many a thing we take for granted in this modern world of ours probably would not be at the tip of our fingers. It goes to show that there are still certain things that require an actual body to work with. At the very least no doctor or surgeon could become what they are without hands-on experience of a real body. The thought of being the first actual body a surgeon ever cut into would give me pause for thought. 

     While most of the chapters play out much as you would come to expect there is one that really stood out for me. This is one of the human donation programs.  As I said I have signed up for this myself. But it is those strange cases of people starting to act like those of the person there new organs came from. Maybe I have just watched too many t.v series or films on it. Would I want to inflict my habits and personality traits on another or Vise Versa? But could it, in fact, be all in the head of those that receive the organs.  More than likely so, It is probably better to not know where they came from. As long as they are healthy and do there job what more do you really need. So moving on, for me this book flew past as I sat and read it in one sitting. While this book does have some matter of factness to it as you would expect, the author does her best to give it a human face. A sympathetic view of what comes next. I would say that if it where all blood and guts, it would put any potential donor completely off the whole proceedings.  The humor that she brings to this text means that what could come across as an extremely heavy subject somehow feels lighter and allows the reader to breathe. 

     Whilst I greatly enjoyed this book I can't say I am still completely sold on doing it my self. Maybe given some time the notion will grow on me. I have come to have a great respect for those that choose this option. In giving over their final remains they are allowing many people around the world to have better lives. They also help in the solving of crimes, another aspect that could not be done any other way. This author and the book she has given to the world will teach you a thing or two. She has shined a light on a world for anyone outside of it, would never give a second thought to.