Book: Body of Work

[Nataliemay24]

Anyone read Body of Work? It's a new book by a recent med school graduate about her experience in the anatomy lab and a brief history of med schools' uses of cadavers. did you like it? i'm almost done with it and i'm definitely finding it interesting and enjoyable to read, although it's a bit too "poetic" for my taste.

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[DianaUT06]

Interesting, I just checked it out at Amazon. I might have to go pick that up, thanks! I'm reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down...amazing.

 

[Nataliemay24]

haha, that was the book that incoming freshmen were supposed to read when i started college. next fall i'm probably going to a med school where that's the book you're supposed to read as an incoming first-year. i'll probably have to read it as a requirement for my residency too...

 

[DianaUT06]

haha, that was the book that incoming freshmen were supposed to read when i started college. next fall i'm probably going to a med school where that's the book you're supposed to read as an incoming first-year. i'll probably have to read it as a requirement for my residency too...

lol, it's like a neverending vicious cycle...

 

[IzzyMarieDMD]

Anyone read Body of Work? It's a new book by a recent med school graduate about her experience in the anatomy lab and a brief history of med schools' uses of cadavers. did you like it? i'm almost done with it and i'm definitely finding it interesting and enjoyable to read, although it's a bit too "poetic" for my taste.

Yeah I'm trying to read it but I feel like it is more about her personal feelings about the class than cool history and statistics ..... too bad because I think the history of using cadavers as learning tools is really interesting b/c of all the social/religious/etc. overtones.

 

[Nataliemay24]

Yeah I'm trying to read it but I feel like it is more about her personal feelings about the class than cool history and statistics ..... too bad because I think the history of using cadavers as learning tools is really interesting b/c of all the social/religious/etc. overtones.

there's a chapter towards the end where she talks about how part of the problem with obtaining cadavers was that religious leaders were all about preserving the body just as it is. they said you couldn't cut apart bodies, they had to be buried whole in order to be at rest, etc. but then there are relics of saints all over the place. i had never thought about that irony before. interesting.

but yeah, it is a lot about her personal feelings. usually i can't stand those kinds of "let me write about my feelings because they're so important and deep" books, but I happened to enjoy her feelings about the class, so i liked it.

 

[Lennybruce]

Yeah I'm trying to read it but I feel like it is more about her personal feelings about the class than cool history and statistics ..... too bad because I think the history of using cadavers as learning tools is really interesting b/c of all the social/religious/etc. overtones.

I have not read this book, but a better version for what you are looking for is "Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers". Stiff is well written, while also given a great overview of what happens to a body when it is donated. Hint, most of the time it does not end up on your anatomy lab table, but can end up jumping on landmines or just left out on hill to measure decomposition times.
Brown is pretty proud of the "Body of Work" book because it is from a Brown medical student. It may be good as for a little more insight into the school. I haven't read it, so I don't know, though.

 

[DianaUT06]

I have not read this book, but a better version for what you are looking for is "Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers".

Oh oh, agreed! I read that quite some time ago...a good read.