Richard's Book Club #9
-"Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach (July 27th thru July 30th)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393324826/sr=8-1/qid=1154322416/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4443756-4514543?ie=UTF8
My two-and-a-half cents:
Needless to say, considering it took me three days to read "Stiff...” I found this book quite interesting. I have honestly never been more fascinated and disgusted by something in my life (ok... "A Clockwork Orange" was quite fascinating and disturbing, but movies don't count). I will never look at dead bodies the same way again.
Here are some interesting facts I found out while reading this delightful book:
- Vehicle safety improvements that have come about as a result of cadaver research have saved an estimated 8,500 lives each year since 1987.
- In 1931, Dr. Pierre Barbet was devoted to prove the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin (the linen cloth in which, believers held, Jesus had been wrapped for burial when he was taken down from the cross), and did so by nailing a cadaver up on a homemade cross, inspecting everything from nail placement to body position.
- In eighteenth-century Germany and France, executioners padded their pockets by collecting the blood that flowed from the necks of guillotined criminals; by this time blood was being prescribed not only for epilepsy, but for gout and dropsy.
There's also interesting tidbits about body snatching, decomposing bodies, testing firearms on the recently deceased, the scientific search for the soul, the variety of ways you can leave your remains here on earth (burying, cremation, compost, freeze dried, plastinated, etc.), among other equally fascinating topics about our dead. The thing that makes this book so enjoyable and readable, aside from the morbid fascination you might have for dead folks, is Roach's style of writing. I haven't laughed out loud so hard while reading since George Carlin's last affair in literature ("When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?").
Thank you Laura for your suggestion to read "Stiff...” it was quite enjoyable. I'm always open to ideas on a good book.
Killer Quote: (Describing a Dec. 20, 1828 operation of a bladder stone removal) "After digging with his finger for some ungodly amount of time, he got up from his seat and "measured fingers with those of other gentlemen, to see if any of them have a longer finger." Eventually he went back to his toolkit and, with forceps, conquered the recalcitrant rock... brandishing it above his head like an Academy Award winner. The quivering, exhausted mass that was Stephen Pollard was wheeled to a bed, where he died of infection and God knows what else twenty-nine hours later."
Next: "The Koran Interpreted: A Translation" edited by A. J. Arberry, in conjunction with "The Qur'an: A User's Guide" by Farid Esack
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393324826/sr=8-1/qid=1154322416/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4443756-4514543?ie=UTF8
My two-and-a-half cents:
Needless to say, considering it took me three days to read "Stiff...” I found this book quite interesting. I have honestly never been more fascinated and disgusted by something in my life (ok... "A Clockwork Orange" was quite fascinating and disturbing, but movies don't count). I will never look at dead bodies the same way again.
Here are some interesting facts I found out while reading this delightful book:
- Vehicle safety improvements that have come about as a result of cadaver research have saved an estimated 8,500 lives each year since 1987.
- In 1931, Dr. Pierre Barbet was devoted to prove the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin (the linen cloth in which, believers held, Jesus had been wrapped for burial when he was taken down from the cross), and did so by nailing a cadaver up on a homemade cross, inspecting everything from nail placement to body position.
- In eighteenth-century Germany and France, executioners padded their pockets by collecting the blood that flowed from the necks of guillotined criminals; by this time blood was being prescribed not only for epilepsy, but for gout and dropsy.
There's also interesting tidbits about body snatching, decomposing bodies, testing firearms on the recently deceased, the scientific search for the soul, the variety of ways you can leave your remains here on earth (burying, cremation, compost, freeze dried, plastinated, etc.), among other equally fascinating topics about our dead. The thing that makes this book so enjoyable and readable, aside from the morbid fascination you might have for dead folks, is Roach's style of writing. I haven't laughed out loud so hard while reading since George Carlin's last affair in literature ("When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?").
Thank you Laura for your suggestion to read "Stiff...” it was quite enjoyable. I'm always open to ideas on a good book.
Killer Quote: (Describing a Dec. 20, 1828 operation of a bladder stone removal) "After digging with his finger for some ungodly amount of time, he got up from his seat and "measured fingers with those of other gentlemen, to see if any of them have a longer finger." Eventually he went back to his toolkit and, with forceps, conquered the recalcitrant rock... brandishing it above his head like an Academy Award winner. The quivering, exhausted mass that was Stephen Pollard was wheeled to a bed, where he died of infection and God knows what else twenty-nine hours later."
Next: "The Koran Interpreted: A Translation" edited by A. J. Arberry, in conjunction with "The Qur'an: A User's Guide" by Farid Esack