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Chapter 1, A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste

• Objectification allows people to talk about and interact with cadavers without being upset.
• Cadavers are used to train surgeons, letting them learn hands-on experience.
• Some surgeons are respectful of the dead, but this was not always the case.

Chapter 2, Crimes of Anatomy

• At UCSF Medical School, Mary Roach attends a memorial service for the unnamed cadavers, and students sing and read.
• Anatomy was not always studied with cadavers, not until Herophilus dissected criminals.
• Corpses sometimes come from nefarious places like social cleansing squads.

Chapter 3, Life After Death

• The University of Tennessee Medical Center specializes in studying rates of decay in different circumstances to aid in criminal investigations.
• Most of the University of Tennessee's goals are centered around determining time of death.
• Mary Roach describes the three stages of decomposition: skin sloughing, bloating, and then liquidation of organs.

Chapter 4, Dead Man Driving

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