Stiff – The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

The problem with cadavers is that they look so much like people. It’s the reason most of us prefer a pork chop to a slice of whole suckling pig. It’s the reason we say “pork” and “beef” instead of “pig” and “cow.” Dissection and surgical instruction, like meat-eating, require a carefully maintained set of

It’s just that there are other ways to spend your time as a cadaver. Get involved with science. Be an art exhibit. Become part of a tree. Some options for you to think about.

Off-putting as cadaveric medicine may be, it is—like cultural differences in cuisine—mainly a matter of what you're accustomed to.

Analogies drawn from the inspection of hen's eggs foundered on the objection that man was not a chicken."

The Mesopotamians played both sides of the argument, assigning emotion to the liver and intellect to the heart.

"Rice Krispies." Ron frowns. Ron used to like Rice Krispies.

Whatever Galen's shortcomings as a comparative anatomist, the man is to be respected for his ingenuity, for procuring apes in ancient Rome can't have been easy

A book about dead bodies is a conversational curveball

Being dead is absurd. It's the silliest situation you'll find yourself in. Your limbs are floppy and uncooperative. Your mouth hangs open. Being dead is unsightly and stinky and embarrassing, and there's not a damn thing to be done about it.

They brave fire without flinching, withstand falls from tall buildings and head-on car crashes into walls. You can fire a gun at them or run a speedboat over their legs, and it will not faze them. Their heads can be removed with no deleterious effect. They can be in six places at once.