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Stiff
- The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 8 hrs
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Editorial reviews
Publisher's summary
For two thousand 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.
Critic reviews
- Alex Award Winner, 2004
"Uproariously funny....informative and respectful...irreverent and witty....impossible to put down." (Publishers Weekly)
"Not grisly but inspiring, this work considers the many valuable scientific uses of the body after death." (Library Journal)
"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year." (Entertainment Weekly)
Featured Article: A Future Corpse's Guide to Death Acceptance
Confronting death does not necessitate a spiral into despondency. Instead we may come a realization that, in acknowledging and accepting this fate, we paradoxically lead fuller and more emotionally present lives. In this list, scholars, physicians, journalists, philosophers, and death professionals share their stories, perspectives, and advice, offering a glimpse into how we can prepare for the end with grace, heart, and humor.
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- By Mel on 04-05-13
By: Mary Roach
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Heart
- A History
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, the human heart seemed beyond our understanding: an inscrutable shuddering mass that was somehow the driver of emotion and the seat of the soul. As cardiologist and best-selling author Sandeep Jauhar tells in The Heart, it was only recently that we demolished age-old taboos and devised the transformative procedures that changed the way we live. Deftly alternating between historical episodes and his own work, Jauhar tells the colorful and little known story of the doctors who risked their careers and the patients who risked their lives to know and heal our most vital organ.
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Fascinating Insight
- By Ironcharles on 10-27-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
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Healing Hearts
- A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon
- By: Kathy Magliato
- Narrated by: Renée Raudman
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Kathy Magliato is one of fewer than a dozen female heart surgeons practicing in the world today. She is also a member of an even more exclusive group - those surgeons who perform heart transplants. Healing Hearts is the story of the making of a surgeon who also calls herself a wife and mother.
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Healing Hearts
- By Jean on 01-14-12
By: Kathy Magliato
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Shocked
- Adventures in Bringing Back the Recently Dead
- By: David Casarett M.D.
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Not too long ago, there was no coming back from death. But now, with revolutionary medical advances, death has become just another serious complication. As a young medical student, Dr. David Casarett was inspired by the story of a two-year-old girl named Michelle Funk. Michelle fell into a creek and was underwater for over an hour. When she was found she wasn't breathing, and her pupils were fixed and dilated. That drowning should have been fatal. But after three hours of persistent work, a team of doctors and nurses was able to bring her back.
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Dead vs. Sincerely Dead
- By Gillian on 06-24-16
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The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth
- And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
- By: Thomas Morris
- Narrated by: Thomas Morris, Ruper Farley
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the 19th century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled.
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Boring Toilet Humor
- By Nemo on 01-30-20
By: Thomas Morris
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The Undead
- Organ Harvesting, The Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers - How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death
- By: Dick Teresi
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear - and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.
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Eye opening
- By Amy Giglio on 07-01-18
By: Dick Teresi
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The Demon in the Freezer
- A True Story
- By: Richard Preston
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The first major bioterror event in the United States - the anthrax attacks in October 2001 - was a clarion call for scientists who work with "hot" agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a number-one New York Times best seller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of USAMRIID, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
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Pretty interesting listening in a horrific way
- By S A on 09-19-03
By: Richard Preston
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The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
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Not one boring moment!
- By WRWF on 12-22-17
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Severed
- A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found
- By: Frances Larson
- Narrated by: Reay Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Western collectors whose demand for shrunken heads spurred massacres to Second World War soldiers who sent the remains of the Japanese home to their girlfriends, from Madame Tussaud modeling the guillotined head of Robespierre to Damien Hirst photographing decapitated heads in city morgues, from grave-robbing phrenologists to skull-obsessed scientists, anthopologist Frances Larson here explores our macabre fixation with severed heads.
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Good narrator
- By Caitlin kestell on 04-27-24
By: Frances Larson
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King of Hearts
- The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery
- By: G. Wayne Miller
- Narrated by: Patrick Cullen
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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G. Wayne Miller has dramatically and meticulously reconstructed an amazing true story: how a group of renegade Minnesota surgeons, led by Dr. Walt Lillehei, made medical history by becoming the first doctors to operate deep inside the human heart.
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Loved every minute
- By Brian on 02-05-08
By: G. Wayne Miller
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Tell Me Where It Hurts
- Humor, Healing and Hope in my Life as an Animal Surgeon
- By: Dr. Nick Trout
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From the frontlines of modern medicine, Tell Me Where it Hurts is a fascinating insider portrait of a veterinarian, his furry patients, and the blend of old-fashioned instincts and cutting-edge technology that defines pet care in the 21st century. Dr. Trout takes the listener on a vicarious journey through 24 intimate, heartrending hours in his life.
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So close, yet not quite.
- By ButterLegume on 04-18-13
By: Dr. Nick Trout
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Flu
- The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It
- By: Gina Kolata
- Narrated by: Gina Kolata
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Feeling feverish, tired, or achy? Listening to Gina Kolata's engrossing account of the 1918 Influenza epidemic is sure to give you the chills. A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and considers what can be done to prevent it.
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overexcited
- By Marilyn on 07-23-03
By: Gina Kolata
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Under the Knife
- A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
- By: Arnold van de Laar, Andy Brown - translator
- Narrated by: Rich Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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From the story of the desperate man from 17th-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell, or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?
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Why did a surgeon need a fast horse?
- By India Clamp on 10-18-18
By: Arnold van de Laar, and others
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Blood and Guts
- A History of Surgery
- By: Richard Hollingham
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in 30 seconds - from first cut to final stitch.
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I love this book!
- By Kristin on 08-25-19
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The footnotes
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A wonderful read!
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Great story - but not for the faint of heart!
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Packing for Mars
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Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? Have sex? Smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour?
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know - and More
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By: Mary Roach
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Gory Details
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Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wickedly informative narrative from the author of National Geographic's popular Gory Details blog takes us on a fascinating journey through an astonishing new reality. Blending humor and journalism in the tradition of Mary Roach, acclaimed science reporter Erika Engelhaupt investigates the gross, strange, and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe.
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Feels like old school Discovery channel
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By: Erika Engelhaupt
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My Planet
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Narrator drove me crazy
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
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Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty - a 20-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre - took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters, gallows humor, and vivid characters (both living and very dead).
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Loved it So Much I Bought it After Reading it Free
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By: Caitlin Doughty
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The Chick and the Dead
- Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors
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Using the most common postmortem process as the backbone of the narrative, The Chick and the Dead takes the listener through the process of an autopsy while also describing the history and changing cultures of our relationship with the dead. The book is full of vivid insight into what happens to our bodies in the end. Each chapter considers an aspect of an autopsy alongside an aspect of Carla's own life and work and touches on some of the more controversial aspects of our feelings toward death.
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Dull
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By: Carla Valentine
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All the Living and the Dead
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Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.
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Excellent
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By: Hayley Campbell
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Tremors in the Blood
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As new forms of lie detection gain momentum in the present day, Tremors in the Blood reveals the incredible truth behind the creation of the polygraph, through gripping true-crime cases featuring explosive gunfights, shocking twists, and high-stakes courtroom drama. Touching on psychology, technology, and the science of the truth, Tremors in the Blood is a vibrant, atmospheric thriller and a warning from history: beware what you believe.
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Incredible Book
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By: Amit Katwala
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All That Remains
- A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes
- By: Sue Black
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
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- Unabridged
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Dame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book, which is part primer on the basics of identifying human remains, part frank memoir of a woman whose first paying job as a schoolgirl was to apprentice in a butcher shop, and part no-nonsense but deeply humane introduction to the reality of death in our lives. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller fans, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all.
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I wanted a science book about forensics. I got a mostly-memoir instead.
- By A Customer on 11-29-19
By: Sue Black
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The Disappearing Spoon
- And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Reporter Sam Kean reveals the periodic table as it’s never been seen before. Not only is it one of man's crowning scientific achievements, it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
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Great Book, Great Narration, But...
- By Henny Button on 09-18-10
By: Sam Kean
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Boys Enter the House
- The Victims of John Wayne Gacy and the Lives They Left Behind
- By: David Nelson
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- Unabridged
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As investigators brought out the bagged remains of several dozen young men from a small Chicago ranch home and paraded them in front of a crowd of TV reporters and spectators, attention quickly turned to the owner of the house. John Gacy was an upstanding citizen, active in local politics and charities, famous for his themed parties and appearances as Pogo the Clown. But in the winter of 1978-79, he became known as one of many so-called “sex murderers” who had begun gaining notoriety in the random brutality of the 1970s.
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What we really needed to know about the Gacy murders.
- By Aaron on 03-02-24
By: David Nelson
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From Here to Eternity
- Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
- By: Caitlin Doughty
- Narrated by: Caitlin Doughty
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- Unabridged
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Fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for their dead. In rural Indonesia, she observes a man clean and dress his grandfather's mummified body. Grandpa's mummy has lived in the family home for two years, where the family has maintained a warm and respectful relationship. She meets Bolivian natitas (cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls) and introduces us to a Japanese kotsuage.
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Caitlin has done it again
- By Shaun on 10-03-17
By: Caitlin Doughty
What listeners say about Stiff
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Paul
- 08-20-10
Simultaneously repulsive and fascinating
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. There were parts that were so repulsive that I almost had to stop listening but I persevered and was rewarded with one of the funniest, fascinating books I've ever listened to. The reader was particularly good. She captured the dark humor side of the book. How can we go wrong when a book lists the most common ways of testing a corpse for truly being dead including a red-hot poker up the butt?
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- MolllyT
- 08-02-15
Loved the print copy so much...
Read the print copy a couple of years ago and even picked up a couple of used ones to give away. And STILL my own copy got feet! Many of my friends are also nurses, if you get my drift, so we are familiar with the corpse and the off-beat humor that MAY help us stay somewhat sane.
Anyway, no one can snitch this kind from me!
I think that Shelly give a great performance to a book that some might feel uncomfortable with.
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- Alison
- 08-11-04
Excellent!
This is a great read for the scientific and macabre mind. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions, looking around to be sure no one heard what it was I was laughing about!
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- Dragonfly87
- 12-26-11
Informative, though a bit dated
What did you love best about Stiff?
I read this (yes an actual printed copy) when it was first released years ago. Since that time TV, movies, etc have pretty much covered much of what this book has to offer. However, the delivery is respectful and scientific...and Human. The narrator lended a somber, but at times humorous, hand to a sensitive topic. Bringing to life the realm of the dead by melding interesting interviews and insights into each story. Overall, well worth the listen. I have listened to other publications by this author and will continue to look for more. I enjoy her writing style and method of delivering such unique topics.
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- Grace Calpus
- 04-02-10
Appropriate death defying humor
If you have a weak stomach, this book is probably not for you unless you're working on building anti-barf strength. However, if you're a health care provider or work in another type of profession that deals with death and dying, this book is for you. It provides a humorous yet oddly serious perspective on the physical life after death. Well worth the read!
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- bracken
- 12-13-11
An underestimated jewel of a book!
This is one of the best books I've purchased from audible. I got it on a whim and was amazed at what an entertaining treasure this book is. I mean, it had such an impact on me that not only did I register as a donor when I renewed my license, I also changed my post-mortem plans of being cremated to being donated to science. Before this book I was horrified at the thought of what would happen to me after death...I cringed at the thought of discussing death. This book has really changed my outlook on the whole thing. Mary Roach is very insightful and I love the way she thinks...the dark humor is very familiar. She went above and beyond in her research, as she isn't involved in the "death industry". I'm so thankful that she decided to write this wonderful book instead of her usual books on travel. Shelly Frasier is amazing as well. Great voice and expression. I have listened to it 3 times as of 12/13/11...and will listen to it again I'm sure.
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- M. Stark
- 09-08-12
Informative & deftly written with humor
Where does Stiff rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
top 5
Have you listened to any of Shelly Frasier’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not heard her other performances but would be glad to listen to another.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No some of the subject matter needs a break now and then.
Any additional comments?
A fascinating subject that is deftly handled both in writing and performance. I bought the book in part because it was on sale and in part because it had good reviews. I agree with the reviews. Well done!
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- Micah
- 11-17-12
It's like a car wreck, you can't look away!
Mary Roach packed the book full of very interesting information. If you can handle the topic, it is well worth the time. It was all interesting, but I found some of the topics to be absolutely fascinating (enough so that I would rewind and listen to them again to make sure I caught everything). Stuff I didn't realize I was too squeamish to want to know!
I am not sure how she kept her sense of humor with such a grotesque topic, but there were many times I was laughing at things that I would never had thought could be funny. She has a very clever sense of humor that is sometimes subtle and sometimes like a club over the head.
Several times I had to check to see if it was Mary Roach narrating because Shelly Frasier made it seem like she was telling a story, not reading text. I am not sure how to explain it, but it flowed very naturally and her comic timing was superb!
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-29-11
Brilliant
This book was recommended to me by a friend a while back, and when I found it here on sale I jumped at the opportunity. I didn't regret it - it was both interesting and funny, and the narrator did a good job. As someone else mentioned foreign words/names aren't pronounciated very well, but honestly.. what can you expect from native English speakers? Most aren't known for their language skills, and so most listeners won't care.
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- Alicia
- 09-11-07
Dead right!
Inspired by the tv series, 6 feet under, I thought it would be interesting to read about what really happens after we die. The author even discusses our options, from the traditional to the enviromentally friendly. This book lead me through a reflection on what death really means to me and so many others. Facts, gore, and humour, what else could I ask for?!!
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