Shocked: Adventures in Bringing Back the Recently Dead

by David Casarett

Not too long ago, there was no coming back from death. But now, with revolutionary medical advances, death has become just another serious complication.

As a young medical student, Dr. David Casarett was inspired by the story of a two-year-old girl named Michelle Funk. Michelle fell into a creek and was underwater for over an hour. When she was found she wasn’t breathing, and her pupils were fixed and dilated. That drowning should have been fatal. But after three hours of persistent work, a team of doctors and nurses was able to bring her back. It was a miracle.

If Michelle could come back after three hours of being dead, what about twelve hours? Or twenty-four? What would it take to revive someone who had been frozen for one thousand years? And what does blurring the line between “life” and “death” mean for society?

In Shocked , Casarett chronicles his exploration of the cutting edge of resuscitation and reveals just how far science has come. He begins in the eighteenth century, when early attempts at resuscitation involved public displays of barrel rolling, horseback riding (sort of), and blowing smoke up the patient’s various orifices. He then takes us inside a sophisticated cryonics facility in the Arizona desert, a darkroom full of hibernating lemurs in North Carolina, and a laboratory that puts mice into a state of suspended animation. The result is a spectacular tour of the bizarre world of doctors, engineers, animal biologists, and cryogenics enthusiasts trying to bring the recently dead back to life.

Fascinating, thought-provoking, and (believe it or not) funny, Shocked is perfect for those looking for a prequel—and a sequel—to Mary Roach’s Stiff, or for anyone who likes to ponder the ultimate questions of life and death.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Medical, Medicine, History, Audiobook, Death

272 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2014

About the author

David Casarett, M.D., is a physician, researcher, and tenured professor at the Duke University School of Medicine, where he is chief of palliative care and director of the Duke Center for Palliative Care. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Sabin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The style of this book is a mix of cringe-worthy dad jokes and a medical professional’s morbid humour. They were bearable for the first few minutes, but got on my nerves really fast. And I’m not really sure, but, I think, towards the second half, either the jokes stopped, or I got to a point where I would just phase them out completely. Either way, I’m deeply thankful for it.

With that stylistic commentary out of the way, I must say that “the science of bringing back the recently dead” is a very engaging subject. There are so many ways to try and reanimate a drowned person that would keep the curious practitioner entertained for days. You can roll the patients over a barrel, tie them to a trotting horse, give them coffee, tickle them with a feather, blow tobacco smoke in their face, tie them upside down and all sorts of other ingenious and otherwise quite scary methods made to elicit a reaction from an otherwise unresponsive person. The guy has lots of fun with stroke test dummies, and condescending robotic voices of automated defibrillators and also takes us through the history and the future of resuscitation methods, like short term cellular preservation and cryogenics (note: the author is pretty skeptical on that last one).

Ok, it’s funny at times, but Casarett also addresses some very deeply existential problems: when is a person alive and when is he or she dead? When is it Ok for a medical professional to stop trying to bring a body back to life? And what about the Hippocratic oath? While most of his treatment is from a physical standpoint, he lightly delves into issues of morality and accountability too. Most importantly, the book is based on clear science. The author makes a clear distinction between facts with scientific proof, and hypotheses based on these experiments, which are yet to be proven, but are interesting nonetheless.

An easy book to listen to, interesting but not really demanding. It kept me good company on overstuffed train carriages and while doing chores at home.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve spent a lot of years working in various healthcare specialities. Resuscitating those in need was sometimes part of the job. This raised many questions for me; when I received this book through goodreads in exchange for an honest review I was ecstatic. After finishing I can honestly say I was not disappointed.

Dr. David Casarett decided he wanted to view resuscitation from the other side of the paddles. He conveys his findings in an this engaging book. As you read you’ll start to understand the science behind bringing back the dead. And no - these are not zombies (unless you consider the zombie dogs).

From the first efforts to revive the dead through present day ‘work’ in cryonics and suspended animation, from a battery wire to implantable defibrillators - the history of this science is fascinating. I found myself wishing I could give the author a quick call to thank him for presenting some technical information in such a clear easy-to-deal-with manner you don’t need a degree to understand the basics. Also found myself grinning, even laughing out loud at his humor. Whether routine or unexplainable, topics/people are well researched and facts plainly presented, the author expresses his conclusions as his own. Although most everyone will agree being a thirteen line squirrel is rather bad luck.

If you’ve ever wondered how some people survive drowning if the water’s really cold or about people having their bodies (or just their heads) ‘preserved cryogenically’, if you’re curious why suspended animation is only in sci-fi or how that A.E.D. on the wall really works, if you’re not sure why medical things are really so expensive or what you’d actually do if someone hit the ground in front of you in the grocery store - read this book.

I must admit I also wondered about today’s paramedics, their crucial role as first responders and how they felt. When it is your actions that have revived (or not) another human being you have an emotional response be it a “God” complex or blocking it all away. I also lived in FantasyLand, now the real probability that someone - anyone - actually will intercede is a lot less murky.

As to when dead is actually dead - I think they’ve quit putting alarm devices in caskets. Maybe three days but a week would be sure unless you’re in a really cold place then...

Great book.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.

I am eternally fascinated with technology advances in every category. I especially enjoy reading about the road travelled from the beginning of those technologies to where they are now. This book does that and also provides a glimpse of the future.

What advancements are chronicled here? That would be the science and tech of resuscitation/resurrection/life extension. I became very interested in this subject after I had a heart attack at a "too-young" age of 41. I went through the existential crises and fear of death. Consequently, this book quickly jumped onto my "to-read" list, and shortly thereafter, I won a copy.

Resuscitation has come a very long way from the 18th Century. Through trial and error, as well as a bit of happenstance, we have a bit of a fail-safe for when your day ends up really, undeniably bad. The author describes the path from those primitive beginnings with the combination of instruction, narration, and humor. The whimsy he injects into his narrative helps to soften a very dark and uncomfortable subject.

Chapters touch on such concepts as human hibernation, suspended animation, cryonics, resurrection technology, CPR, portable and implanted defibrillators, and future predictions. These are all subjects I have heard about briefly in the past, and now have an inkling of what they are all about. I hope this area of research continues to advance because we all have a vested interest, I would think.

This book was a very good read and really sparked my interest in reading about medical progress. I do recommend this one!

[Matthew Gardiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

The book had a lot of really interesting topics in it. I never really gave those topics very much thought before. I particularly enjoyed how they tried to revive people back in the 1700's. Pretty weird and gruesome. I wish the book had more weird stories throughout. Some more do pop up here and there, which was enough to get me to the end.

I didn't care for the section on animal experiments. And some of the descriptions of sciency stuff and interviews were sometimes a little too detailed and seemed to drag on for me.

Overall it is still an interesting book.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a 1998 study from Johns Hopkins University, doctors were given a list of eleven life-saving measures that are commonly used in hospitals and emergency rooms--ones they themselves had undoubtedly used hundreds of times throughout their careers--and asked which of them, if any, they'd want used on themselves if they should ever be in need of immediate care. All eleven of the choices were standard practice, ranging from CPR and IV fluids to chemotherapy and dialysis, and all eleven were used to treat millions of patients every year without second thought. But when results from the survey of doctors were compiled, the results were surprising, to say the least. Over 70% of doctors surveyed did not want a blood transfusion, feeding tube, or invasive testing; over 80% did not want surgery, chemotherapy, dialysis, or ventilation; and 90% of those surveyed did not want CPR. It is that last statistic--the highest percentage of negative responses of all eleven choices--that is the most startling, as CPR is the most basic of life-saving measures: it does not involve any electrical equipment or medical instruments, can be done by almost anyone with a half-hour of training, and is perhaps the most personal, involving physical contact--hands, chest, neck, mouth--between the living and the dying. In fact, at just over 80%, the only measure that doctors actually wanted was pain medication. In other words, most doctors did not want to be resuscitated or kept alive; they only wanted to die comfortably and without pain.

This 15-year-old survey reveals an uncomfortable truth about our mortality: the people we will someday entrust to keep us alive view these life-saving measures from a different perspective, and they do not like what they see. For all the fantastic depictions of hospital procedures from television shows and in movies, medical practitioners known the reality behind them, and the reality is filled with pain, death, and fear. Take, for instance, CPR--one of the many subjects of David Casarett's Shocked, a book on ways in which the dying and dead can be brought back to life. In order to do CPR successfully, the patient's chest must be pushed down at least two inches, and it must be pushed down 100 times a minute. (The BeeGee's "Stayin' Alive" is a similar tempo and can be sung to help set a consistent pace, though, as Casarett laments, most people under the age of 30 have never heard this song before.) You must stop every 30 compressions in order to breathe into the patient's mouth and inflate the lungs, then return to pushing down on their chest. After a minute, your arms will grow tired, and the compressions will grow weaker and further apart. You will need to be replaced, but even then there's little promise that CPR will actually work without the intervention of trained professionals or medical equipment; in fact, as Casarett reveals in the closing pages, we know very little about how CPR is even supposed to work, and the guidelines for how to perform it successfully continue to change. (Years ago, the breathing was considered the most important aspect; now the chest compressions are advocated over the breathing, even though some wonder if the simple rocking of a body--the sloshing of blood--would be enough to restart the heart.) Even when CPR does work, there may be further damage to the patient, or they might be rendered permanently unconscious and hooked up to ventilation for the rest of their life.

Regardless of how little we understand CPR, it's still favorable to older methods of resuscitation. As Casarett lays out, primitive treatments for drowning victims included rolling them back and forth on a barrel, placing them near a fire, sliding a feather down their throat, and blowing tobacco-smoke up their rectum. Which is the nature of medicine--it is not a perfect art but an evolving one, changing with every patient and study. The medical advances of fifty years ago might be seen today as outdated, laborious, even dangerous, just as the standard practices of today--CPR, chemotherapy, dialysis--might be reviewed with scorn and disbelief fifty years from now. We don't know for sure, but we are at the will and whims of our eras. Thankfully, Casarett spends much of his book investigating new, interesting, and sometimes controversial research that promises--if medicine can do such a thing--to be even more successful at keeping us living healthier and longer.

By far the most interesting of these asks whether it's possible to induce long-term sleep in a human being so they can more easily stabilize after a serious event. In other words, can a person who has suffered a major attack, such as cardiac arrest, be placed in a controlled hibernation so their body can heal and the doctors can better prepare treatment? (This is different than a medically-induced coma, as this would involve the rapid cooling of a patient in lieu of CPR.) To answer this question, researchers must first uncover how blood and organs respond to extremely low body temperatures, its effects on the medical problem compared to other treatments, and any effects it might have on the body. The specific details are grisly at times, but the tests behind this research, which involve enough diverse wildlife to fill a sizable petting zoo, are fascinating, especially when you consider that many of the animals forced into this kind of hibernation are essentially--at least by a layman's standards--dead.

Much of Shocked reads like deconstructed science fiction, and at times it's tempting to submit to childish fantasies by imagining the possibilities inherent in, say, suspended animation or cryogenic freezing. These are fantasies that allow us to comprehend complex possibilities related to our own bodies, sure, but they also give us some distance from thoughts of our own death, which are uncomfortable to consider but also necessary. We shudder at the thought of being kept alive by machines in a hospital bed for weeks, even months, while our family members debate what to do next. We are told to make plans, write up instructions in the case of a debilitating illness, decide if we'd even want to be resuscitated--or given a feeding tube, or administered pain medication--if that decision should ever need to be made, and yet we avoid these discussions until it's too late. We don't want to think about all the terrible paths our lives could take, especially when those journeys are beyond our control while also paradoxically caused by our own bodies. This is the fact that physicians know, and they're more likely to have made these plans, because they see what happens when those decisions are put off too many times. What's more, they see this multiple times a week--an experience that builds up over a career and leads to a much different perspective than what the average person has. Doctors, we say, know best, but that's only because doctors know more than we'd ever want to. They live their knowledge day after day, and given the opportunity to understand what they do, we decide instead to live--and die--in ignorance.


This review was originally published at There Will Be Books Galore.

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know what courses Dr. Casarett teaches at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, but I'm ready to pull up stakes and move there just to sit in on every lecture I can sneak into after reading this book. ( note: if you are an animal lover many of the chapters in this book are NOT for you.)
However it is by far the most enlightening, terrifying, and hysterically funny book on death, dying, and bringing back the recently dead, ever written.
( on drowning victims) " The Russian method was to pack them in ice...or simply throw them outside....It sounded like an ideal ploy to get rid of an enemy, , mother in law, or czarina..." don't worry, " someone would say " we'll just put Catherine in the snow she' ll feel better in the morning."
However...( other methods included warming the victim)
" Warmer temperatures allow damage to the brain, increasing the likelihood that when you wake up, IF you wake up...it will be with the IQ of a snickers bar"
A peek into the beginnings of forensics and how barrel rolling, smoke blown into EVERY opening ( yes that one too!) of the body, throwing a lifeless body over the back of a trotting horse, and tickling the back of the throats with a feather, has brought back the " dead".
Don't say I didn't warn you, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll squirm in your seat, and for sure you'll learn something you never knew before.
If i could give 6 stars I would⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Elyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a somewhat interesting book on resuscitating people. I liked the section on cryonics, though I still find it a very strange thing to do. Especially people who only get their heads saved. Weird! It's amazing what the human body can do to survive, all by itself. The woman left in the ice for a long time was crazy! I don't know anything about CPR and I would never get involved with someone who had collapsed. I would do more harm than good. And I DO worry about the risk of getting sued! People are too sue-happy these days. Interesting book with some duller parts.

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely interesting topics; however, the actual writing left a little to be desired at times. Attempts at humor often felt contrived or flat. But overall a good read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took my time getting through this one. Casarett presents some case studies, some history, facts, and a little science fiction. It’s worth reading.

I wish the avenue exploring the costs associated with medical care was taken further, particularly with those costs being out of reach for many. It affects people right now, and in the future will it be worse(?), as in will you have to have a certain amount to be considered “worth” saving or trying to save, or will humanity see all lives as having equal intrinsic value? This does get touched on in a way with the author’s extensive description of places where he saw and did not see AEDs. There was a gentleman in the book whose medical costs were listed at over $5 million USD but no discussion on how that impacted his life (perhaps it didn’t).

Will quality of life and the individual’s wishes be taken into consideration during this decision making process when an emergency occurs or recovery is unlikely?

What about cryonics and the possibility of and ethics associated with assisted suicide? I could see those going hand in hand for folks hoping for a cure for their maladies in the future as medicine advances.

More perspectives from EMTs and paramedics would have been good, especially a comparison with a newly trained person and a person with years of experience. I was curious to read their views on whether they felt their services were valuable or really just delaying the inevitable on certain calls.

I was disappointed that near death experiences were not discussed.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

History mixed with newer science with a dash of hilarity. If you enjoy Mary Roach you will like this. If you don't like a bit of gallows humor this might not be the book for you. It's strange that I never really considered the history of CPR but now I want to read a more complete examination of it. This book was too short to cover it all and concerned itself with many other topics. Some of the topics I enjoyed more than others but all were made interesting by the conversational style and humor. I wanted more on suspended animation and less on cryonauts. I wanted more on the history of CPR and less on him trying out the horseback technique (though that was funny). I'd also love to find updates to the research he covers since it's been seven years since it was published. At the end he talks about the morality of resuscitation. This is a topic I have thought on and read a fair share about but Casarett had some insights I hadn't considered. I might have to change my mind on it. Anyway I'm going to go think about the possibility of suspended animation now.

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It was interesting and thought provoking; the information was also presented in an easy to understand, humorous manner. There was some discussion of animal experimentation, but it was not a primary focus.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a walk through the history of resuscitation science, from the very idea that death may not be so permanent a thing, to the futurists view of a potential cryogenic solution. The solutions people developed have been at times ingenious, hilarious, and remarkably ill-advised. David Casarett did a good job of having an active curiosity about even the most questionable claims.

Spoiler Alert: It turns out blowing tobacco smoke up a corpse's rectum may indeed help revive them in certain situations.

Unfortunately, tickling the back of their throat with a feather is not so viable a solution and may indeed do harm.

The true strength of this book was found not in the science, but rather the ethical concerns that the author described. While the science is steadily advancing, in its own fascinating way, the ethical concerns remain doggedly silent. Is it always a good idea to resurrect someone? The costs are rarely considered - both medical, and emotional. Resurrection remains an elusive goal, and even when it does succeed it can often render the person resurrected into a shadow of who they once were. Brain damage, coma, and worse can easily be the outcome which only heightens the cost and makes the 'final' death all the more heartbreaking for the family.

This is a tricky problem, and one unlikely to be solved any time soon. In the interim, at least we have this book to begin conversations, and people like Caitlin Doughty helping us to realize that often death isn't as terrifying and terrible a thing as many make it out to be.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid accessible non-fiction and I am glad I read it. It wasn't hard to do and I recommend the book with a single caveat.

I commend him for not getting bogged down in the finer points of physiology, yet not leaving out anything important. While he manages a razor sharp editing eye of the heavy material, the attempt at lighthearted banter needed a second opinion.

The mostly effective witticisms are overshadowed by those that are awkward and grossly inappropriate. I'm fine with 'over the line' humor but Casarett's attempts at lighthearted risque can come off clumsy and uncomfortable. You'd need to be a much better comedian to properly frame the jokes he tosses out. Ever hear someone tell a truly funny joke about a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar- but something in their delivery gives you the creepy feeling the teller probably has at least a small collection of unsavory WWII memorabilia from the wrong side.. Its a bit like that. Not racial, just lacking in... I don't know, empathy? compassion? Its just odd.

Good thing he's well informed and able to distill complex information in a quick paced very approachable style. I'll get over the cringe worthy moments.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more academic than I originally expected, but this is what happens when you have a university professor try to emulate Mary Roach. The attempts at jokes are there, but they largely fall flat or head into "groan" territory. The choice to devote a pretty big chunk of a chapter to cryogenics is also an odd choice given how much the rest of the book appears focused on actual science.

The other chapters are generally a bit more interesting. Discussions of looking at ways to create some type of suspended animation working off how squirrels and other small mammals hibernate is quite fascinating. And another about the use of portable defibrillators that are located in public makes for an interesting public policy discussion.

Casarett also does spend a little time on the question of whether just because we have gotten better at resuscitating people whether that's always a good idea. It's similar to ideas explored by Atul Gawande in "Being Mortal," though not quite as well executed here. Overall, I think I would have rather just read a New Yorker article about the suspended animation stuff and left the rest alone.

[Cate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author was forever doing this thing where he'd meet a guy, give a physical description, and sum it up by saying "basically s/he looked exactly as you'd expect a [profession] to look like." Most of these people had weird jobs that I don't spend any time thinking about, let alone imagining what a practitioner looks like. The stuff about cryonics was interesting, but I prefer the way Lois McMaster Bujold describes it in the Vorkosigan series ;)

Also, lots of descriptions of animal testing and strangely focused on freezing rather than shocking the body. He wants people to think about death and whether extreme resuscitation measures are a good idea/what people really want.

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about 40% information and 60% goofing around. The author's humorous approach that is appreciated by some reviewers is lost on me; I just want him to present the information and get on with it, cut the observations on what people look like, what they are wearing, or what they have to say to him that is so amazing. I think that the author had a good idea, but he needed to get outside of himself and look around a bit more. There are many more cases that could have been cited for both the good and bad sides of resuscitation.

This was a Kindle download form SPL.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated by this book from the very beginning. The idea that caught me was that we are in the XXI century and we still know near to nothing about how our hearts, or for that matter, about how any of our organs work. This is a humbling idea and I was very happy to realize that it is a medical doctor who is saying this, and not only me and my intuition.

This is the cover information of this book. In the jacket, you can read that it contains a number of stories about people that have eventually became famous because they were brought back from the dead. There is one girl, Michelle Funk, who drowned and was dead for about one hour before coming back. There is also the story of a man who was lost for more than 20 days in sub-zero temperatures, with a broken pelvis on top of a small frozen stream, and they found him in a state that can only be described as "hybernation"... only that humans don't hybernate... so, how did he survive? We have no idea!



The following is the editorial information. Here we learn that this book was published in 2014. It is so new and yet so interesting! It is rare to read books that are destined to survive for a long time, and I would guess that this is one of them.



Here is the table of contents of the book. It is pretty straight forward: some amazing stories of survival, then a discussion on the people who believe in cryogenics, then a discussion on how sometimes people are brought back to life by beating the life out of them, and finally reflections on what does it mean to be dead:



This is the first page of the book. Just an appetizer:



I love this description of heart science as the same science that a garage mechanic follows in tinkering with an old 1978 MG convertible. Doctors are tinkerer:



This is an explanation on why the cells in the body "decide to die" instead of continuing fighting for life. It is pretty eye-opening:



These are cold and horrible descriptions of how scientists experiment with animals in order to learn more about how our hearts work. This is so appalling that I almost cried while reading it and realizing how lightly the author seems to take his approach to the matter of animal cruelty:





This is a fascinating explanation on hybernation:



The following is one example of the exquisite sense of humor of this author. I loved the fact that I could bump into a joke almost in every page, and that is something to thank for especially when the main topic in consideration is death:



This is a chilling description of what happened to one of those people who like to be frozen and preserved for a future resucitation. This poor person is most likely to remain dead for eternity, after all the mistreatments his body had to endure. However, he si still frozen and waiting somewhere...



This is an absolutely hilarious joke about how the CPR course works. It is so funny I had to put a HA HA on its side!



This is the author's last opinion on cryogenics: it might not be working as expected yet:



In other words, the cryogenics business is right now just another way of selling life insurance. But there is no real promise of resucitation in the future.



A final word: I loved this book because it is authentic, it is funny and it is informative. The only thing I did not like is the apparent lack of empathy with animals. But you can't have everything, can you?

Well, I hope you liked this review. Did you know that I also have a blog? Take a look here: http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com

[Joshua Buhs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death isn’t what it used to be.

Mostly as a result of technological developments, we can increasingly see that the difference between life and death is not a stark one, but rather a series of steps. We don’t know much about the continuum, though, and interventions to stop death—or even bring people back from the early stages of death—are hots in the dark: sometimes they work, often they don’t. In this book, David Caserett looks at the history that has led us to the point where we can see the continuum between life and death—however murkily—as well as the ethical questions such a new vision raise.

Caserett traces the beginnings of resuscitation to eighteenth century Amsterdam and London, then jumps ahead to consider mostly the twentieth century, with occasional glances back in history. He is particularly interested in attempts to cool the body and slow the metabolism of the nearly- or recently-dead, which leads him to investigate studies of hibernation—hibernation accomplishing both things—and then taking on more futuristic subjects, including suspended animation and cryonautics—that is, the freezing of the body (or brain) of a recently deceased person in hopes that it can be unthawed, centuries hence, when the cure for whatever killed that person has been perfected. He then switches gears to the more prosaic, looking at the way CPR changed popular expectations for how people would react to someone collapsing—even if it didn’t always change the way people actually behaved—and considers how the spread of Automatic Defribillators in public spaces might further change what is expected of the Good Samaritan. The final chapter is a summing up, which also points to the ethical dilemmas he sees on the horizon.

The book, as a whole, is never equal to the sum of its parts: there is something missing (21 grams?) that prevents it from cohering and becoming truly alive. Part of the problem is that he never really addresses the issue he stated was most important to him at the beginning: the ethical questions posed by increasingly good—but still inconsistent—resuscitation methods. He starts the book with the tale of two resuscitation events, one which miraculously brought back a girl who had seemingly been dead for over an hour, another which revived a man but left him comatose and dependent upon costly machinery for almost three weeks, before he eventually passed away? What price resuscitation, then?, Casarett asks. But he offers no answer, only wanting us to know that there is this dilemma. But anyone interested enough to pick up this book probably already knows the thorny issue—it is part of our national discourse over healthcare, its costs, limits, and obligations. The problems have been pointed out again and again. Nothing in this book advances us toward any answers.

The other part of the problem is that the book is too glib—in tone, structure, and analysis. Casarett clearly is taking his cue from Mary Roach: there’s the title, which would fit into her corpus of writings (“Stiff,” “Spook,” “Gulp,” “Bonk”) and there’s the voice, too, which is light-hearted. At first, I was off-put by the constant joking, and the attribution of possible thoughts and motives to others, but eventually I was charmed enough and swept away. But the levity made it hard to take seriously the concerns the author was voicing—if it’s all a joke, who cares? The book flits from subject to subject, with only a few tenuous connections between them, and never really engages with material that would bring out the thorny issues the author says is his interest. Only at the end does the author suggest any possible problems with the science he has examined—otherwise, everything is just fine as it is done. The historical vignettes are Whiggish—not understood within the context of their time, but always measured against what we know now. Casarett puts his thumb on the scales, too, throwing off his analysis: when he wants to disparage cryonautics, he points out the thin research on which it is based and the profit-motive that drives it; but his stories about research of which he approves makes clear that it is also often very speculative, and has its own profit-motive—toward the end, he celebrates scientists becoming entrepreneurs—so what exactly is the difference between what he thinks to be good science and science fiction?

Casarett is at his best when his writing is not really concerned with these overarching issues—when he’s not trying to make a point—but just trying to tell a good story. And there are lots of good stories here—suggestions for further reading. His review of research into hibernation, for example, potted though it may be, is great fun. I enjoyed reading about Dutch attempts in the 18th century to resurrect drowned people—there was lots of tobacco smoke literally being blown up people’s asses, and how fun is that? Casarett explains scientific concepts very well, and a reader will certainly come away from the book with a better understanding of physiology and medicine. It makes for a light but entertaining beach read.

And, despite itself, the book is revealing—the parts adding up to a different sum than Casarett expected: the 21 grams are there, just not where the reader might think to look.

Ultimately, the book is not an argument about the ethical dilemmas associated with our new understanding of death. It is an argument about science in the modern world, what is good, what is bad, and how to trust it. The book is like an eighteenth century book of wonders, a catalog of all the amazing tricks scientists can do. The first three-quarters are meant to wow the reader, to show that we live in a world fundamentally transformed by science: so fundamentally that poor Ben Franklin’s axiom might need to be changed: maybe it’s just taxes that will be guaranteed in the future. Maybe science really is the new religion, doing the same miracles as Jesus.

But then the book pulls back—and even as it has convinced the reader to marvel at science, it worries about wonder. Suspended animation is too closely allied with science fiction—it is too popular, not rigorously scientific. And Cryonatuics is really a kind of charlatanism: it uses the same wonder-making sense of science to sell a bill of goods. Indeed, the general people may not do well with the gifts of science. The last chapter considers CPR, and the often visceral reluctance people feel to performing it. Science is, literally, wonderful—and only the wonders given by real scientists—like Casarett—are to be believed, or relied upon. Have trust in the institutions that exist, he is saying.

Viewed this way, his light tone makes sense. Shocked is about death—but it’s really a comedy. About how, despite a few problems, we really do live in the best of all possible worlds.

[Josie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like books about science history, and while I enjoyed learning more about the various ways resuscitation science has evolved, I found the tone of this book a bit off-putting. The writing style is structured to make the information accessible and less "boring" by being humorous, especially when relating the scientific research. But because this is a book primarily about scientific research involving literal life and death mechanisms and thus heavily based on animal studies, I had to listen to Dr. Casarett's increasingly repetitive and snarky attempts to make sure he conveyed how absolutely horrific animal research is. It was so frequent that, at first, I became distracted and then just so downright annoyed that I had to force myself to finish the book. Fortunately, around the cryogenics section, I was given a reprieve since the remainder of the book was more focused on human interactions and ethical concerns. I understand that animal research is a tough concept to think about for many people. That it causes discomfort and sometimes rage in people and should not be treated flippantly because the animals in question aren't human. However, I also don't think that an author, particularly a doctor who has administered and probably himself benefitted from medicine and procedures from this type of research, should take such a derogatory tone about it in order to make people more comfortable and sell more books. I find that attitude disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst, and it severely hindered my ability to enjoy the book.

[U · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel as though the author tries to be someone he's not. I do understand that he thinks that maybe adding humorous jokes and remarks make him seem witty and funny, but it doesn't work. Death isn't a subject you should really joke around with. And him remarking to a medical professional he met with that he looks like Santa Claus? It simply unprofessional, and shows that he doesn't care to develop a relationship with the researchers he seeks to find out more from. That aside, Dr.Casarett does explain the difficulties and challenges facing modern resuscitation quite well. It's not overly medical for the most part, and it is as if David knows the future of personal medicine is having the ability to use cryonics to store one's body in a cool environment, in order to be able to wake up 1,000 years later in a different world. He's honest, and provides both sides to this debate. He also makes choosing between lemurs and squirrels for studies seem relatively straight forward. But if you're an animal lover, then you'd probably find yourself skipping around frequently as there are times when the author describes "animal experimentation torture" including zombie dogs. To me, though, this wasn't a real problem. If you're a researcher, this can't be a problem.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be a very good nonfiction. Which is to say that it’s being graded on a curve. The writing is good, nearing the point of humorous at some points, and the subject matter is fascinating. I loved how in depth he covered ATP and cell death. However, I think the section cryonaughtics was shorter than it should’ve been and was criticized too lightly. His talk with Maryann was interesting and hard hitting and exactly what this section needed and why didn’t he ask Aaron Drake about cutting that guy’s head off! I was frothing at the mouth for that conversation! Then I think the section of normal people doing CPR was boring and depressing. It honestly have me a headache reading it and it went on for way too long(although it’s probably the most important part). Still 50 pages of that right after talking about people chopping off heads and freezing them will give you whiplash. Having said all that, this is a pretty fun read and even if you don’t like it, it will look cool on your shelf.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some great info, and I enjoyed the historical anecdotes about pre-20th century resuscitation the most. But this is one of those "pop" science books where, in trying to make an admittedly morbid topic more fun and approachable, the author got in his own way. For some reason I recoil whenever a quoted scientist is physically described, as if that adds in any way to the topic at hand. Some of the little adventures--like taking a horseback-riding lesson and throwing up afterwards--seemed utterly pointless. On the other hand, the bits on cryonetics (shudder) were fascinating and I did like his surprisingly deep thoughts in the final chapter when, riding along with paramedics, he witnesses the resuscitation of an elderly woman who may well have been happier dying on the floor of her room than unconscious and full of tubes. It was a quick read and kept me engaged, but I would have liked more science and fewer silly hi-jinks myself.

[Elizabeth Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in the medical field and am so glad I have a better understanding of CPR and its beginnings. This book was so fun but educational.

I am shocked at the low rating, this was so interesting. I loved the humor even if there were a few jokes that edged on the dorky side. I feel like I learned a lot, and the information has stuck with me.

Normally I try to give my thoughts on why my rating differs from the overall rating, but I am really not sure with this one. I was thinking maybe there was not enough about actual chest compressions but that author could only talk so much about CPR before repeating himself. I think when you read about a niche subject there is an expectation of straying from the subject to touch on relevant issues.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second listen for me whilst waiting for my next Moderna jab. I’ve heard and read a lot about critically ill COVID patients and the list of physiological problems suffered, not to mention Long Covid. Now I’m reading about neurological and psychiatric problems in ~30% of the patients.

I wanted to read a medically oriented book, and this is a good audiobook, which I bought after not caring for the author’s style after reading the Kindle book sample. The subjects I’ve always found the Audible version better.

The author covers CPR, historical resuscitation methods, cryonics, suspended animation, etc. I docked a 1/2 star for animal experimentation, and a star for author over explaining very basic biology terms.

3.5 stars bumped up to 4 stars.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting- sort of a history of reviving the dead, and a little bit of the sort of sci-fi future possibilities. Much of it is written in a fairly entertaining way, though it also at time bogs down a little in technical specifics. Also, for all he talks about the Japanese guy who seems to have gone into suspended animation, did no one ever figure out how he did it? That's really weird.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and informative

This is a book that you talk about. I loved learning so much and sharing and talking about it with friends. I work in the medical field, and learning the history of some of our rescusutstion practices was beyond interesting. I think that even if you don't work in the medical field, it's a valuable read. It's important to talk about end of life care before you NEED to.

[Nicole Roccas · Rating 3 out of 5]

For you if you like: medical history; history told through unique lenses; frozen bodies; heart stopping prose (pun intended); deadpan humour; very technical science writing.

Audiobook narrator Walter Dixon was not my cup of tea. I honestly wondered if the voice was AI generated he sounded so mechanical and at times. Not the best choice, especially for a book with so many jokes that fell flat. There's deadpan, and then there's just... dead. Which i recognize is ironic given the subject.

[Becky Roper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A scientific view of the history of resuscitation, and current practices. I enjoyed what I learned and while a knowledge of physiology is helpful, it is not necessary. One strange thing was the amount of space devoted to cryogenics (way too much!) Everything else in the book was based on real science and so this was a stark contrast.

[Margie Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

EMS instructors, those working in EMS, anyone in healthcare would benefit in reading this book. Easy explanations of complex topics of how the heart works. Bizarre methods of resuscitation attempts through the ages leading to our modern methods. Discussion includes ethics. Like that he rode with an EMS crew and offered the "field perspective".

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An uneven read. Some of the chapters are written with a lay reader in mind. A few get very technical to no useful end. The author’s funny, but sometimes his humor falls flat. All that said, he raises some interesting ethical questions and makes you realize, as Miracle Max said in The Princess Bride, sometimes people “are only mostly dead.”