"Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife."
Let's just say that I have a bit of an off-centered sense of humor. Strike that. Calling it a sense of humor may be too generous. Instead, let's just say that I find humor in things that some others do (should?) not. And I attempt to make jokes about, well, inappropriate subjects. My kids' therapy jar is overflowing--I think there's more money there than there is in their college funds.
Anyway, enter Mary Roach. She wrote "Stiff" after doing research for an article published in "Salon." One of the opening lines in the book ("The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back") sort of prepares you for what's to come. The book humorously takes the reader through the history of corpses. Not only how different cultures and different time periods preserved (or didn't) corpses. Also, there are discussions about how corpses are used and preserved for medical science (including practice for plastic surgery), how they are preserved for burial, etc.
This isn't a science or history book. I have no doubt that the science and the history are true, but you won't (well, shouldn't) see "Stiff" in your high schooler's reading list.
"Stiff" is a fun, quick read. When I read it, "Six Feet Under" was still on HBO. I was also doing work with a company that owned funeral homes and cemeteries. In other words, it was timely, and I recommended the book numerous times to other "Six Feet Under" fans and many others.
If you have a bit of a sick sense of humor, you'll love this book. If you have a weak stomach, you'll probably like it, too. And if your significant other finds the whole subject taboo, I strongly recommend the book. It's worth reading passages just to get them to be a little less repressed.
This comment is tangentially related to "Stiff." I recommend without reservation any books by Henning Mankell. I love the Inspector Kurt Wallender Inspector series( in which you'll find if not a plethora,then certainly a satisfactory number of corpses) but I also love the Africa books. The Wallender books take place in Skane, a southern province of Sweden. Wallender's stomping ground is the coast where it's usually cold and cloudy with a biting wind. He's divorced from his wife and has problems with his grown daughter. He's got big questions to ask the universe. These books surpass the crime/mystery genre and are loaded with atmosphere, soul, and angst. If this isn't your thing, go for the Africa books where you'll find angst in a warm climate.
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