I can summarize my feelings (there are many) about this book in just a few words: LOVED IT.

Of course, now I’ve got to explain why I loved a book that is literally about dead bodies. No, I’m not a serial killer looking up how to disguise anything. And yes, I know this is a highly specific negative.

Anyway, I think everyone should read this book.

To begin with, we should all read this because we are all going to be cadavers at some point. Despite whatever you think regarding life after death, we’re all pretty sure that our bodies are going to die eventually. We might not like to think about it, especially when we’re young, but it’s just a part of life. This book shows that death is not necessarily the end, not in a religious understanding of life but in a physical way.

In this book, Mary Roach discusses several things that can be done with our bodies after death: we can be crash-test dummies (because actual dummies don’t work as well when it comes to identify certain injuries possible in a car crash), or we can help other people study, donating your body to science. Probably, most people know about the latter option, but Roach does a really good job at showing how people who work with the bodies and how they relate to them. Those interviews were among my favorite parts of the book. Scratch that, they were my favorites.

Of course, you may not be particularly keen on medical students cutting you up (I’m not sure I am, either, even after reading this). In that case, there’s also a bunch of options that are not necessarily the traditional burial or cremation. I found particularly interesting the ecological burial that Roach describes, in which basically your body is made into compost, so it can be used to nurture a plant. I thought it was really good and I want it to expand world wide and become an option for everyone.

Death is one of those “taboo” topics, so it’s rare to find something like this book. She treats death naturally, and makes it very close to the readers. We’re often used to think that death is something that happens to other people, but this book manages to make you conscious of your own mortality. And it’s not in a depressing I-have-too-little-time way. It’s more like something around “it’s going to happen and I’m totally okay with it”. Also, she brings up alternatives by which our bodies can do something, even if we’re already dead.

Writing scientific non-fiction is quite hard, and it’s doubly hard for it to be interesting and fun. Roach writes in a very funny and creative way, despite the subject matter (also, she never feels disrespectful, even if she does throw a joke or two around). I was truly captivated by her, so I really want to read everything she’s ever written (I’m like that). I highly recommend this one, it’s cool and easy to enjoy.