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Stiff the curious lives of human cadavers

An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For 2,000 years, cadavers---some willingly, some unwittingly---have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden t...

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Main Author: Roach, Mary (Author)
Other Authors: Frasier, Shelly (Narrator)
Format: Audiobooks eAudiobook Downloads eAudiobook
Language: English
Published: Old Saybrook : Tantor Audio, 2008.
Edition: Unabridged.
Subjects:
Human experimentation in medicine.
Dead.
Human dissection.
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Online Access: Go to Downloadable Audiobook Here.
Summary: An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For 2,000 years, cadavers---some willingly, some unwittingly---have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure---from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery---cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way. In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries---from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.
Item Description: Unabridged.
Physical Description: 1 online resource (7 audio files) : digital
Playing Time: 08::0:0:
Format: Requires OverDrive Listen (file size: N/A KB) or OverDrive app (file size: 225176 KB).
Audience: Text Difficulty 9 - Text Difficulty 12
1230
ISBN: 9781400120970
Author Notes: Mary Roach was born and raised in Etna, New Hampshire. She has a BA degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. She spent a few years as a free-lance copy editor before she landed a job at the San Francisco Zoological Society turning out press releases. She then moved on to write humor pieces for such periodicals as The New York Times Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle and Sports Illustrated. Her article "How to Win at Germ Warfare" was a National Magazine Award Finalist, in 1995. In 1996, her article on earthquake-proof bamboo houses took the Engineering Journalism Award. She published several books such as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003) and Packing for Mars (2010).

Mary's title Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, made the New York Times Bestseller list in 2016.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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