Amazon Editorial Review:
"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year....Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting."—Entertainment Weekly

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.


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Heard a lot about this bestseller. Will read and release


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To be released as an international bookray starting in Australia. Posted in bookcrossing forum for members.

PM me and join the bookray- you will either be added to the end of the reading order or slotted in depending on your location.


Some Guidelines

* When you receive the book, make a quick journal entry so we all know it’s safe in your hands. If you can, include an estimate of how long you think it will take you to read it.

* Read the book at your own pace, but try to keep to a maximum of one month. If you’re taking more than a month, add an extra journal entry to let us know where you’re at with the book.

* Once you’ve finished it, make a journal entry with your thoughts on the book.

* Continue the ray by sending a Private Message to the person after you on the bookring list and request their postal address. Please check back here for the latest distribution list.

* Post the book off to the next person, noting that you have done so.
Please keep your journal entries up-to-date so we know who the book is currently with, or whether it is still in the postal system.

The list so far includes:
Aussies:
- foxygirlACT
- mrsbob
- J4shaw
- kzel
- Jean-Sol
- Shelly3110

International:
- zimra (New Zealand)
- sarkiegirl (USA)
- 300dogs (USA)
- jaenelle (USA)
- rebeccaljames (USA)
- minerva1221 (USA)
- Crossing-Guard (Canada) **Book is here**
- Dreamer-kitty (Canada)
- lucy-lemon (UK)
- Kryssa (UK)
- teuffi (UK)
- LadyTrinity (Norway)
- dutch-book (The Netherlands)


Back to FoxygirlACT

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to MrsBob to start the bookring.

I really enjoyed this funny little book. I hope others will too.

cheers

FoxygirlACT

received in the post, reading, then shall pass it on.

Thanks

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Really quite a bizarre little book!
All the things that you weren't sure you needed to know, but now i do, am very happy about it, very interesting read and of course a bit funny too! Which lets face it, unless you some type of nut, death and rotting and the one that ultimately happens (compost, up in smoke, crash test dummy, rotting) to us is a bit strangely amusing!
Off to J4Shaw, when I get down to the post office, Enjoy

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:


In the mail off to J4shaw, Enjoy

Arrived with me today.
I have 75 pages left of my current book, then another bookring (300 pages), then will read this 1. I should be able to manage the 4 week turnaround.

Looking forward to this one, Mary Roach has quite a reputation!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I apologise for holding this one up.
I sent a few PMs to Kzel, but got nothing back prior to me going o/s for 4 weeks...anyway she is attending the June Melbourne Meetup tomorrow so I will pass on to her then.

My review:
I found this book hard to persevere with. Some chapters I found riveting, some I couldn't be bothered with.
All in all I am glad to have read it, and I have learned quite alot of facts (all be it ones I might find a little hard to fit into a conversation down the pub!)
I was actively seeking her books, but I think I might push the other two of hers to the bottom on my "must find" list!

Given to me by j4shaw. Will try and read in the coming week and send off to the next recipient asap

Interesting and entertaining book. I recommend not reading while eating your breakfast though!

Have pm'd jean-sol and will send as soon as I have the address.

Arrived today. Thanks kzel. I have a few books ahead of it in my TBR but will try to get to it asap.

This is such an unusual and interesting book. Praise to Mary Roach for coming up with the idea and managing to pull it off. I probably needed a bit more time with it as more than once I felt the need to put it down and move on to a fiction book for a few days, then pick it up again, which is something I often encounter when I read non-fiction. I also think that the topic of the book probably made it uncomfortable reading for me at times. The book is well-written however I found I was getting a bit tired of the light and cheeky tone of the author towards the end. Still there was plenty to learn from it(some of it seriously quirky!) and I'll be recommending it. It so happens that I bought an op-shop copy of 'Spooks' from the same author a while ago. which will now probably end up on my TBR list next year.
It's now being packed and soon to be on its way to Shelly3110.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to New South Wales!

Arrived safely in the post today. Will be finished my current book within the week so will start this one soon.

I PM'd zimra in NZ about a month ago but got no reply so will PM sarkiegirl in the US as she is next on the list. 29/4/10

ooh!!! Exciting! I didn't expect it to get here! I'm so glad though. I've been wanting to read it for a long time. Even though I've read Bonk and Spook and didn't particularly love them, I have a feeling this will be better. We'll see. I have a few in front of it, but it's summer break, so I should get to it fairly quickly. Thank you!

I wanted to like this more than I did, and I notice that this is a trend when I read Mary Roach's books! I have already read three of them, and on average, they are usually...average. I liked some chapters more than others. It was interesting to hear about operating on cadavers and the cannabalism, but sometimes, I just find myself reading without paying attention, so I would have to go back!
I really appreciate this being sent to me, cause I waited for so long! I will send on, hopefully today!

more people wanted to be skipped, so I'm sending this to crossing guard! Yay!

This book is now in Calgary, thanks so much for including me in this. I'm about half way through another book and can then move onto this one.

Wow, what an interesting book! Like the other readers, I can now proudly say that I know more than I ever needed to know what happens to your body after you die. Too bad it is not knowledge that I can use (I have randomly stated facts from this book since I started reading it and the looks I have got have not been encouraging). Thanks so much for sharing this!

Dreamer-Kitty is the next reader and as she lives in Calgary as well, will be passing it to a mutual friend to pass to her.