On My Radar: Stiff by Mary Roach
4.5 stars. Fascinating. Funny. Horrifying in parts. The chapters that cover medical animal testing, are especially hard to read. However the author's humor is never crass or at the expensive of another: human or animal.
A couple of quotes from Stiff:
“The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan.”
“Here is the secret to surviving one of these [airplane] crashes: Be male. In a 1970 Civil Aeromedical institute study of three crashes involving emergency evacuations, the most prominent factor influencing survival was gender (followed closely by proximity to exit). Adult males were by far the most likely to get out alive. Why? Presumably because they pushed everyone else out of the way.”
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