Stiff

Whether buried, burnt, snatched, dissected or decomposed, some people have been more useful dead than alive. From testing the efficiency of the guillotine, experiments to determine the weight of the soul, and calibrating crash-test dummies, to advances in modern medicine, the deceased body has been a silent partner to many of the major advances in the understanding of ourselves. In this fascinating, unusual exploration into the macabre, Mary Roach's search for the many uses of the human body stetches from China and the myth of human dumplings, the ghoulish history of nineteenth-century body-snatching and experiments involving crucifixion to check the veracity of the Turin Shroud, to a present day Body Farm, plastic-surgery labs and conferences on human composting. Stiff tells a story of the last 2,000 years, in which cadavers have been at the forefront of scientific exploration: from Ancient Egypt to medieval pharmacies - and even the contemporary labs that have successfully performed a head transplant on a monkey. Combining riveting story-telling with science, history and reportage, Stiff is one of the funniest, most intriguing books you will ever read.