Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
By Mary Roach
Edition: reprint, illustrated
Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2004
ISBN 0393324826, 9780393324822
303 pages
So far this challenge has not seemed to affect my life much. I still do the same things I normally do. I mean I spent a whole day this weekend vegging on Lost, and I've seen Star Trek twice.
Maybe I have a morbid streak but the science of death, particularly what happens to the human body. It totally intrigues me. Who knew all the possible uses for a body donated to science? It also seems that the biggest use, in anatomy labs at Medical Schools, will soon be a thing of the past.
Mary Roach relays the history of whats been done with cadavers, interlaced with her own exploration of modern day uses. This book is never icky or overly graphic. In fact I think she
has gone out of her way to remain clinical but understandable. For example, there's a chapter in this book about ballistic testing, including the topic of why humans drop immediately even thought they do not die immediately upon being shot. The idea is to see whether it's a trained condtion, as most animals don't drop once shot, or if something in our bodies causes the reaction. Reading one of the prevaling theories caused me to skip back to Star Trek this weekend, and apply the chapter to the movie: Now I think I know why a Phaser set to
stun would work to immobilize and drop a person. It has to do with the RAS of the brain, but to find out more you'll have to read this book.
Three point Five out of Four Stars.
By Mary Roach
Edition: reprint, illustrated
Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2004
ISBN 0393324826, 9780393324822
303 pages
So far this challenge has not seemed to affect my life much. I still do the same things I normally do. I mean I spent a whole day this weekend vegging on Lost, and I've seen Star Trek twice.
Maybe I have a morbid streak but the science of death, particularly what happens to the human body. It totally intrigues me. Who knew all the possible uses for a body donated to science? It also seems that the biggest use, in anatomy labs at Medical Schools, will soon be a thing of the past.
Mary Roach relays the history of whats been done with cadavers, interlaced with her own exploration of modern day uses. This book is never icky or overly graphic. In fact I think she
has gone out of her way to remain clinical but understandable. For example, there's a chapter in this book about ballistic testing, including the topic of why humans drop immediately even thought they do not die immediately upon being shot. The idea is to see whether it's a trained condtion, as most animals don't drop once shot, or if something in our bodies causes the reaction. Reading one of the prevaling theories caused me to skip back to Star Trek this weekend, and apply the chapter to the movie: Now I think I know why a Phaser set to
stun would work to immobilize and drop a person. It has to do with the RAS of the brain, but to find out more you'll have to read this book.
Three point Five out of Four Stars.
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