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Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

Blog-a-book Entry #4

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

I read this book because I really enjoyed reading Mary Roach's first book - Stiff. There is just something really funny about reading a book about cadavers written by a woman named Roach. That aside - I enjoyed Roach's first book because of the humorous and artful way in which she discussed death and the physical reality of that state of being. I thought that reading Spook would be the same experience.

In some ways, I really enjoyed Roach's second text, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. One finds in Spook, just as in Stiff, a bitting sense of humor and a clever use of language. Addditionally, it Ms. Roach treats her subjects with a good deal of respect even when others might not. However, this book didn't seem like it came together quite as well as her first peice. Perhaps that is the nature of her subject matter, but at the end of reading this book I found myself wanted her to wrap things up a little tighter.

Overall Spook is a good book - it is just that Stiff was better. I would suggest starting with Stiff and then, if you like Mary Roach's approach to her subjects, move on to Spook.

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