Stiff: Chunk 2 + Q's

In this segment of 'Stiff', Roach talks about her encounter with the dead after they die (like decaying after). She vividly mentions how one body was so far into decay that you could put your ear to the cadaver and hear the maggots feasting on the remnants of the once living shell of a body that has now become an all you can eat buffet. But on a lighter note (lol), the reasons for the buffet was that scientist had a plethora of decaying cadavers lying across a field to monitor body decay and how different factors affect it, for example: one body was decaying with close on to see if fabric had any affects on decay, (i.e. the others are in the nude, but its OK since allot are probably unrecognizable anyway). She later talks about embalming use, history, and facts; plus a recollection of a witnessing of the embalming process at an university morg.

Questions:

1) What aspect of Roach's writing style reminds you most of yourself? Any examples???

2)If you were to be locked inside the field with the decaying cadavers what would be your conditions to spend an hour inside? Note: Don't say "I wouldn't go in", that just ruins the fun =P

Stiff chunk1 (Chp. 1&2)

Mary Roach's book "Stiff", illuminates the past and present curious lives of human cadavers. She bigeins with her at a seminar for plastic surgeons practicing on the heads of the those freshly mortified, with the heads lying in raosting pans, the author also mentioned that the heads reminded her of chickens to be raosted. From there she tells of past attempts on surgical instruction including performing surgeries on live patients in front of aprentices and sometimes alowing them to try there hand at the task. Later she mentions encounters with anatomy students, and there level of respect for there assigned cadavers. This was especially interesting to me because I would expect it to be some sort of comedic antics with the cadavers but instead there was complete reverence and respect.



Questions:

1) Would you expect students in King/Drew to treat cadavers with the same respect as the colege students if in a serious anatomy/surgery training? If not why?

2) Do you think cadaver disections would be so taboo if gross anatomy was introduced in High Shcool