jjares reviewed on 1/1/2020 + 3413 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This is a rather unique book about a subject few of us humans pause to consider. What happens to the bodies that are donated to science, a teaching hospital or even the Body Farm (of the University of Tennessee)? Having read 8 books by Dr. Bass (of the Body Farm), I sort of knew what would be discussed. However, Mary Roach has a way about discussing a subject that takes the grimness (and some of the gruesomeness) out by injecting her lessons with a lively wit.

One of the things I came away with was an understanding that cadavers are treated with the greatest care and even reverence. Roach mentions the 3-hour service that gross anatomy students attend (by choice, not requirement) to thank their body for the lessons they have learned over the course of the year. Students have even written poetry and recited it at the meeting; with not a dry eye left in the building. Interestingly enough, Roach indicates that some medical schools are phasing out cadaver study because digitizing has made such inroads in allowing medical students to see everything through slides and film.

Roach talks about the history of gathering cadavers for scientific study. During periods of poverty (hundreds of years ago), people were known to dig up a relative and sell it to a medical school. Roach talks about the wide range of uses for which the cadavers can help. She also mentioned that there are some circumstances in which cadavers are not used because family members might feel the bodies were not treated respectfully enough.

Make no mistake, some portions of this book are not for the faint-of-heart. The author uses a light and humorous touch but some of the chapters are a bit graphic. One of those (for me) was about how doctors, in past generations and locales, made sure that a person was really dead.

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