Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Nonfiction

Not for the squeamish, this bestseller by a popular-science author is an often laugh-out loud funny but respectful and serious book on the important part cadavers have played throughout human civilization. Cycling through chapters with titles from “Crimes of anatomy: body-snatching and other sordid tales from the dawn of human dissection” and “How to know if you're dead: beating-heart cadavers, live burial, and the scientific search for the soul” to “Out of the fire, into the compost bin: and other new ways to end up”, this tome is an interesting and enlightening read.