Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Mary Roach’s Stiff: Macabre, fascinating, and funny

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

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Reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers was a real experience. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since I heard someone on NPR talking about it years ago, and I finally got around to it. This is one of those books that fascinated me while it repulsed me, and it made me feel like I was learning a lot while also challenging my preconceived notions about death and body donation. I especially appreciate when Roach tells anecdotes about her sense of humor not quite […]

I’m breakin’ through, I’m bendin’ spoons, I’m keepin’ flowers in full bloom.

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  This book was book club read and it really wasn’t something I would have picked up on my own. Ultimately I’m glad I did. I’m not particularly sentimental about my remains so I’ve always said I’d either be cremated or donate my remains to science. Being less than halfway through my life (if the women in my family are any indication, I may live to be over a century) I didn’t think much about it beyond that. Reading Mary Roach’s book is a detailed […]

Seriously, think about becoming a organ and tissue donor.

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This year I have read three of Mary Roach’s books: Packing for Mars (spoiler – it’s great), Bonk (also very good), and now Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. It was… it was good. But it wasn’t great. Maybe because it was Roach’s first book (before this one she was mostly a freelance writer for publications like GQ, Vogue, and Reader’s Digest) or maybe this topic just made me see some of the weaknesses in Roach’s style. Let’s discuss! While I was talking to […]



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