Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavars

Ok, this is just a quick post on a book I finished a couple of weeks ago. It's by Mary Roach and it's all about all the interesting and amazing things cadavars are used for. One chapter is all about how cadavers are used to determine the forces that human bodies can endure in car crashes. Cadaver research was instrumental in designing seat belts and air bags. The intro chapter was about plastic surgeons practicing face lifts on cadavar heads. (It was a little freaky to hear her talk about them--the heads-- being in roaster pans.) And a chapter about a woody field outside of some university where they study rates of decay under varying circumstances, all to help forensic science. CSI all the way. Totally fascinating. And of course, a chapter on med students' use of cadavers in the gross anatomy lab.

It made me think about my death and what I want with my body afterwards. Definitely organ donation, no question about it. There was a section on the notion of where life resides in the body--when someone is brain dead, but their heart is still working, and how organs are harvested for donation. But, besides that, I have, up to this point, always favored a simple pine box. Now, I think, why even have a burial? There was a bit about green burials and turning humans back to the soil a la compost. Ideas like these have taken hold in areas like Europe where there isn't a lot of land for cemetaries, and those that are buried have only 30 or so years to reside there before the caskets are removed for someone else to take their place. Anyway, cremation seems like a good option too.

Very interesting book.