Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

To kick off my month of nonfiction reading, I read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.  As someone who is not religious or particularly spiritual, the admittedly uncomfortable subject matter didn't bother me too much.  Instead, I was ready to learn all kind of interesting facts about how bodies are used in science and medicine.  I was not disappointed.  This book is one of the most entertaining informational novels that I have ever read.

Stiff is all about the different things that happen to our bodies after we die.  Each chapter focuses on a different topic ranging from educational dissections for med students, to research on body decomposition, to organ donation, to cannibalism and more.  Roach maintains a good sense of humor throughout the book, and her light tone manages to both be respectful of the cadavers she writes about and light enough to keep the information she conveys from becoming too morbid.  Through some truly funny writing, she strikes a good balance between being educational and being just like "one of us," a regular person asking all the impertinent questions we would be afraid to ask of the doctors, morticians, scientists, etc. that she interviewed and observed.  For example, with some determined questioning, she gets a research scientist at a body farm to admit that dead bodies, can, in fact, fart as they decompose.  These are the questions we need answered, people!

I found most of the chapters extremely interesting, and zipped through this book just as quickly as I would do with a fiction novel.  It was anything but boring, which was one of my worries when I decided to limit myself to nonfiction for an entire month.  I also made a strong connection with Roach's personal feelings towards the dead.  Like me, she is not religious and takes a practical point of view towards dead bodies.  She doesn't preach too much throughout the book, but it is clear that she believes that there is no disrespect in using cadavers to help the living, whether it's through donating organs, being dissected by medical students or being used to test the durability of bullet proof vests for the army.  I totally agree with her way of thinking, so I was able to experience the treat of reading the words of someone who seemed like a friend, or at least, someone I could have a great conversation with. 

Stiff was a wonderful book that I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in all the things that happen to our bodies once we vacate them.  The world is a weird place, and this novel shines a flashlight onto a piece of it that most of us know nothing about.