I'd written before that science and mathematics were never my forte in school. Which is unfortunate, because I love learning the facts and figures behind our amazing world. This is precisely why I get overly excited when I watch a program (hello, Discovery, History, and the National Geographic channels!) or read a book that can explain things to me in straight, matter-of-fact, and entertaining ways that do not make me want to gouge out my eyes. A few years ago I picked up a book called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Roach takes a macabre and often shushed topic to investigate the science and industry surrounding death...