Oh, the places you’ll go…when you’re dead.
When you’re searching blindly for a purpose or direction in life, it’s probably natural to find your mind wandering into some pretty morbid places. I’m not saying I’m feeling depressed or that I’m contemplating the fringe benefits of kicking the bucket; I just think that, with all the time in the world to ponder life’s mysteries, it doesn’t take long before you’re left pondering the biggest of them all.
So it’s little wonder that I’ve taken such a liking to Mary Roach’s book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. (Amazon link)
It’s not just that the book provides such an unflinching and candid account of the many fascinating things that happen once you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil. What makes this book so special is how Roach treats her subject matter with such a delicate balance of awkward hilarity and genuine reverence. Dying is a serious, somber event, but what happens after the fact is sometimes disgusting, sometimes uncanny, and almost always utterly fascinating.
Roach is the kind of writer I aspire to be. She’s got a sharp wit and an irrepressible curiosity that imbue this book with an oddly endearing personality. You’re probably going to feel an uncomfortable, unsettling feeling as you read her descriptions of cadavers being dissected, subjected to car and weapon safety tests and, yes, decomposing in the hot Tennessee sun, but Roach’s frank personality adds some much-needed levity to an unquestionably weighty subject.
It’s a strange kind of book to recommend, I know, but it’s also unlike just about anything else out there. And in my experience, reading a book with a dead person on the cover makes for some unusual conversations with strangers at coffee shops.
Tags: books, cadavers, dead people, Mary Roach, nonfiction, science, Stiff, writing