Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Author: Mary Roach
Rating: â 4/5
Date Read: 2012/08/11
Pages: 304
In the winter of 2012, I spent five weeks in a basement medical school classroom, taking an advanced course in neuroanatomy. I didnât know what to expect, and was surprised when we were instructed to grab gloves, a scalpel, and what could only be described as a brain in a bucket. Compared to the cadavers given to the physical therapy students who sometimes shared our lab space, we didnât have much information about our brains. Each cadaver was housed in a stainless steel table, the top of which detailed the name, age, sex, and cause of death of the cadaver inside. Our brains, on the other hand, were completely devoid of identifiers. The best we could do to humanize our subjects was carefully examine the substantia nigra to ascertain whether the donor suffered from Parkinsonâs disease.
I expected this work to throw me into a state of existential ennui: after all, I was holding in my hands everything that once made someone (someone who no longer existed) human. Strangely, it wasnât that strange. The brains quickly became objects. They could teach us, they interested us, and they made us go home smelling slightly of formaldehyde (I once found grey matter in my hair, which was enough to remind me to wear it up during lab days). Sure, we respected what they had once been, but we didnât let that freak us out.
When you think about donating your body to science, you likely imagine a similar scenario. Most anatomical donations (if you pick up this book, youâll soon learn all sorts of euphemisms for âbodiesâ) are used by medical students and scientific researchers, in laboratories where they can learn about human anatomy. In her book Stiff, Mary Roach details the more unusual activities that bodies can participate in after death. She follows bodies everywhere, from decomposition labs to auto crash tests to the intestines of other humans. Iâm not squeamish, but the books likely wouldnât bother me much if I was. Like my donated brain, the cadavers take on some sort of thingness, and objecthood. Roach means no disrespect, and she mentions that cadaver researchers use this objectification strategy to get through day-to-day life with the dead.
The only part of the book that bothered me was the chapter on plane crash analysis. When the black box sinks to the bottom of the ocean, the bodies can tell the story of what happened on the plane. You may not be surprised to find out that planes could be safer, but your life is not worth the extra money that would have to be spent on features like three point seat belts and airbags. As a fairly frequent flier, it made me a bit queasy.