Summary and Analysis of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Based on the Book by Mary Roach

By Worth Books

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Stiff tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Mary Roach’s book.
 
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
 
This short summary and analysis of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach includes:
 

• Historical context
• Chapter-by-chapter summaries
• Profiles of the characters and places
• Important quotes
• Fascinating trivia
• Glossary of terms
• Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work

 
About Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach:
 
Acclaimed journalist Mary Roach’s bestselling book Stiff offers an inside look through the through the weird world of human cadavers. This globe-spanning story is deeply informative, surprisingly funny, and occasionally disgusting.
 
These “superheroes,” as Roach refers to them, brave high-speed car crashes, gunshots, decomposition in the sun, and other indignities all in the name of advancing science and making life better for the living.
 
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504044073

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Contents

Context

Overview

Summary

Organizations of Note

Direct Quotes and Analysis

Trivia

What’s That Word?

Critical Response

About Mary Roach

For Your Information

Bibliography

Copyright

Context

As science writer, Mary Roach’s interest in cadavers was entirely self-motivated, she explains in the introduction to Stiff. In 2003, at the time of the book’s publication, there was not a detectable uptick in national interest in cadavers and/or dead bodies. (Or if there was, Roach did not seem to be aware of it.) However, the early 2000s was arguably the twilight of the golden era of magazine journalism. The Internet news revolution had not yet taken over print, and dozens of highly regarded national magazines were paying good money for deep dives into fascinating topics. And though humans have always been fascinated by death, popular shows such as Six Feet Under and CSI have brought the conversation of examining them to the fore.

Hard-working journalist Mary Roach, with bylines from the likes of Wired, the New York Times, and Outside, had the funding and the opportunity to pursue her fascinations and build up her name. Her curious outsider’s take on a largely unknown and seemingly strange topic resonated with the public, and Stiff became an instant bestseller and award winner. Roach replicated her winning technique in her subsequent books, most of which are dedicated to investigating lesser-known frontiers of science, including Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Her writing style, which is accessible, informative, and uncomplicated, expanded the reach of the popular-science genre, demonstrated by the numerous young adult awards that Stiff received in 2003 and 2004.

In a 2016 profile of Roach that seemed to sum up her influence, a writer for the Everett Herald newspaper notes that the author calls her best-selling books a gateway drug for science. Accordingly, it is not surprising that Stiff has come to be a popular inclusion on high school summer reading lists.

Overview

A Head Is a Terrible Thing to Waste declares the first chapter title of Stiff, Mary Roach’s first-person account of the world of human cadavers. Equal