It's just a corpse!

Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: Times Culture Publishing House
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: It's hard to imagine a book about corpses being so elegant, composed, and wise. The author is not a scientist squinting over an autopsy table with a frown. She is a contributing writer for Salon and Reader's Digest, so her writing has a tea-time elegance and a relentless pursuit of truth. No wonder she can extract the fun of reading and the value of knowledge from such a terrifying topic.
── Writer Zhu Yu'an
"Humorous, bizarre, obscure, yet knowledgeable, Stiff makes death both amusing and unexpectedly moving."
── The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean
"Fascinating and humorous, sharp yet incisive. Mary Roach's Stiff tells us exactly how bodies are handled, and its importance cannot be overstated. Her research is impressive, the anecdotes perfectly placed, and her writing lively and engaging."
── The Devil's Advocate and The Alienist author Caleb Carr
After death, is it really just a matter of being buried? For over two thousand years, whether by the deceased's own choice or not, many corpses have been used in bold, emerging scientific experiments. Beyond medical autopsies, they've been subjected to car crash safety tests, bullet and explosive tests, and countless other experiments. The French used corpses to test guillotines; Americans sent corpses into space on shuttles; and corpses played key roles in heart transplant and sex reassignment surgeries.
In a quiet, detached way, corpses have helped humans pioneer historic new frontiers. With a humorous and uniquely personal touch, author Mary Roach details how the remains of the deceased continue to contribute to the living. The book is like a black comedy but also rich in the depth of cultural studies.
Do you know how a body turns into bones after being buried?
Cremation sounds like a good idea, but lungs and brains are surprisingly resilient in the flames, turning into dark, gooey, sticky substances... or perhaps lying in a "corpse farm," gradually decaying under blue skies and white clouds.
Donating a body for "medical use"
Do you know what that means?
Being hit by cars, bombed, shot—using dead people to benefit the living.
Witness the organ transplant process firsthand! Open the abdomen, fill it with ice, and "harvest" organs for transplantation one by one.
The head chopped off by a guillotine still has consciousness; if you call its name, it will still open its eyes.
Jesus wasn't nailed to the cross through his palms but through his wrists. This is true, because someone has actually done the experiment.
The Compendium of Materia Medica records that pickled human meat can be used as medicine.
The embalming fluid in wuxia novels isn't fictional. Using an "organ digester," a human body can be turned into coffee-colored liquid and brittle remnants, clean and tidy.
Alternatively, there's the freeze-drying method: turn the body into fragments and place it in a small coffin made of cornstarch to nourish the earth.
If you think these methods aren't pretty enough, not cool enough, then first take a silicone polymer bath in a boiler, and you can pose in a museum, travel the world, and satisfy your vanity.