Stiff The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers By Mary Roach

The author Mary Roach shares her knowledge of the dead in the book “Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers”. Roach is both the narrator and character in the book. We discover that she struggles with the choice of whether and how to leave her body to science. The book is gross, graphic, and somewhat humorous as it provides medical and scientific information on the dead and how their bodies are used for science, medical research, and other studies. Mary Roach divided the book into twelve chapters. Each chapter deals with “the curious lives of human cadavers”. She tries to explain how and why dead bodies have been used and treated in the past and present. The first three chapters present information about using cadavers to practice

Chapter four presents how cadavers can be used as crash dummies. Using cadavers allowed testing the airbags in a new car and the safety of both windshields and steering wheels. Chapter five explains how the injuries sustained by the victim of a deadly car accident can tell the story of what happened in the accident. If a driver in an accident attempts to lie about the events of the accident, the cadaver in a test environment might tell a different story as the evidence points to the truth. Chapter six provides information in reference to ballistics research and why people fall down when they are shot. Roach wonders if it is an automatic instinct to fall down when you are shot, because often people fall down even when they are not seriously

Chapter seven deals with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. People speak of how Jesus was nailed on the cross by nails driven through his hands; however, Dr. Pierre Barbet disagreed that the nails through his hands would be unable to hold the weight of a human on the cross. Barbet tested the nail through the palm, but discovered at 100 pounds the weight was too much. Driving a nail through the wrist instead of the palm held the weight. Chapter eight focuses on the topic of when people are brain dead and the definition of death. For example, in the book, person “H” was brain dead, but her heart, liver, and other body organs are still functioning. The chapter also provides information on a time in history when it was hard to determine if a person was brain dead. “Before brain activity could be measured, the stopping of the heart had long been considered the defining moment.” (Chapter 8, page 170) Sometimes finding a heartbeat was difficult and lots of people feared being buried alive. Chapter nine discusses decapitation and the guillotine. The guillotine was named after Joseph Guillotine. Guillotine later withdrew his support of the guillotine because he thought that the head was conscious after being cut