UBC: Roach, Stiff

[truepenny]

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[audiobook]
[library]

This book is awesome. Funny without being callous, thought-provoking, and endlessly fascinating. It's about all the kinds of research that cadavers are used for, and if it has a greater purpose than run and find out, it's to encourage people to donate their bodies to research when they die.

I love Roach's narrative voice; I love the way she wanders off on tangents. I love her endless curiosity and her journalist's ability to ask embarrassing or awkward questions without flinching. Or, without flinching much.

Also, for once, I whole-heartedly recommend the audiobook. The reader has a flat, dry, deadpan delivery that suits the book perfectly. Usually, I yell at audiobook readers. This time I giggled.



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Comments

[larryhammer]

Tangent: We've been listening to children's audiobooks in the car, to distract TBD, and yes about the readers. But we're in the middle of a WONDERFUL one: Kathy Appelt's The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp, set in Texas bayou country, is read by Lyle Lovett. O. M. G. so good.

[oracne]

I've been interested in this one for a while - good to have a rec!