Cadaff Chapter Summaries

My first impression of Stiff, just by the name, wasn’t the most pleasant reaction. When I flipped to the back cover and saw, “Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives our bodies postmortem” I was slightly confused at how an author could take such a heavy topic and make it humorous. As I began to read each page, Roach’s style of humor and brutally honest writing began to show. She had taken a heavy topic into a light and witty point of view. Before reading the book, I had little clue about the extraordinary, heroic, and undercover lives of cadavers. Now that I have finished the book, I have new knowledge about the lives of cadavers I thought I would never have received. Mary Roach took a topic that I was never too intrigued by to something I genuinely enjoyed learning about. Each chapter, from “A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste” to “Eat Me” I was hooked on every word. As I kept reading, I noticed a pattern throughout the book. Roach would constantly mention the idea of respect
For instance, in the chapter “Life After Death” Roach visits the University of Tennessee Medical Center’s Knoxville Hillside, which is dedicated to the study of human decay. A man named Arpad Vass explains some biological components to the decay of humans, such as the fresh-stage decay. In the fresh-stage decay process, also known as autolysis, enzymes begin eating through cell structure to enable liquid to leak out. While we are living these enzymes have been kept in check by our cells to prevent them from breaking down cells’ own walls. Also, in the chapter “How To Know If You’re Dead” Mehmet Oz tells Mary Roach that when a human heart is removed from it’s own blood supply it can continue to beat for no longer than two minutes, until the cells starve of oxygen. Therefore, our heart cells are obligate