Are you looking for something that's out of the ordinary? Possibly something that mixes humor with science? Why not try Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers this Halloween season? Author Mary Roach takes a subject most of us are uncomfortable with and gets up close and personal with what happens to our bodies after we die. While it must be said that not every picture she paints is a pretty one, Roach's use of humor in her writing allows the reader to laugh and feel at ease. What I found most appealing was that Roach not only presented current uses of cadavers but also went back and looked at the historical uses as well.
The following outline of the chapters will give you an idea of how much you can learn about the scientific uses of human cadavers (aka dead bodies).
- A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste: practice for cosmetic/plastic surgery procedures
- Crimes of Anatomy: gross anatomy classes
- Life After Death: human decay… forensics and mortuaries
- Dead Man Driving: human crash test dummies
- Beyond the Black Box: injury analysis to determine origin of plane crashes
- The Cadaver Who Joined the Army: ballistics tests
- Holy Cadaver: testing the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin… crucifixion
- How to Know if You’re Dead: Beating-heart cadavers… organ donation/brain death
- Just a Head: decapitation… head transplants
- Eat Me: medicinal cannibalism
- Out of the Fire, Into the Compost Bin: other ways to end up... more eco-friendly corpse disposal methods like tissue digestion/water reduction, composting
- Remains of the Author
No comments:
Post a Comment