I am currently reading “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach. I saw it while tutoring a classmate and immediately went to Borders to buy it after our session. It was such an impulse buy…but one that could not possibly wait for Amazon to deliver it. I am so glad I can be so impulsive and apathetic with my money sometimes because there are those very rare occasions that the spontaneous purchase you made turns out to be one of the best things ever.

The cover itself pulls me in. Mind you, I suppose it does help to have a healthy interest in the human body, its anatomy and physiology and cadavers A strong stomach may help as well. Some of her descriptions can be pretty elaborate and quite vivid. If the thought of shooting bullets into an already dead body, or a school that leaves bodies out in the sun to study decay doesn’t bother you, then I think you’ll be okay. But if you’re the squeamish type…I’d suggest not indulging.

Mary Roach is a funny author. That doesn’t seem like the right description for a book on cadavers. But her approach is not only witty, it’s very informative and extremely respectful. She offers a very unique approach into the lives (or lack there of) of cadavers as seen with this excerpt:

“Blanchard’s textbook was the first to cover arterial embalming. He describes opening up an artery, flushing the blood out with water, and pumping in alcohol. I’ve been to frat parties like that.”

Her book covers body snatching, human decay, human crash-test dummies, ballistics, crucifixion experiments, beating heart cadavers, transplants, cannibalism and more. I haven’t finished the book yet…but I know I’ll be done in the near future. It’s a great read if you’re into that sorta thing and I definitely recommend checking it out. You learn some pretty random facts. You never know when you might need to know a trivia question about cadavers when you’re on Jeopardy or Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!

Oh, also – for those of you who haven’t been exposed to the wonderfulness that is Air I definitely recommend checking them out as well!