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Skeleton School: Dissecting The Gift Of Body Donation
Would you donate your body to science? Our future medical professionals rely on body donations to learn human anatomy first-hand. In 'Skeleton School', award-winning journalist Andrew McMillen gains unprecedented access to the anatomy facilities of one of Australia’s leading medical schools to report on this closely guarded world.
McMillen explores the philosophical and scientific aspects of body donation, as well as how students approach the task of dissecting their fellow humans. He delves into the emotional complexities of this remarkable gift by speaking with families of donors and attending the university’s annual Thanksgiving Ceremony, where donors are publicly honoured.
'Skeleton School' is a timeless work of immersive journalism that examines these unique learning experiences in unflinching detail. By viewing death as a beautiful inevitability, rather than a topic to be feared and avoided, McMillen challenges readers to reconsider their relationship with the inescapable.
McMillen explores the philosophical and scientific aspects of body donation, as well as how students approach the task of dissecting their fellow humans. He delves into the emotional complexities of this remarkable gift by speaking with families of donors and attending the university’s annual Thanksgiving Ceremony, where donors are publicly honoured.
'Skeleton School' is a timeless work of immersive journalism that examines these unique learning experiences in unflinching detail. By viewing death as a beautiful inevitability, rather than a topic to be feared and avoided, McMillen challenges readers to reconsider their relationship with the inescapable.
- GenresNonfiction
232 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2016
20 people want to read
About the author
Andrew McMillen
3 books34 followersAndrew McMillen is an award-winning journalist and author based in Brisbane, Australia.
Since January 2018, he has worked as national music writer at The Australian newspaper. His most recent published work in that role can be found at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/auth...
While working as a freelance journalist from 2009 to 2017, Andrew's writing was published in The New York Times, The Weekend Australian Magazine, Rolling Stone, Good Weekend, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, BuzzFeed and The Best Australian Science Writing 2016.
Andrew won the feature writing category at the Queensland Clarion Awards in 2017, and won the freelance journalism category at the Clarions from 2015–2017. He was also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards at the Queensland Literary Awards in 2015 and 2016.
Andrew’s first book, 'Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs', was published by UQP in 2014. 'Talking Smack' is a collection of stories featuring 14 prominent Australian musicians – including Paul Kelly, Gotye, Tina Arena, Holly Throsby and Steve Kilbey – who Andrew interviewed about their experiences with illicit, prescription and legal drugs. For more about 'Talking Smack', including extracts, reviews and press appearances, visit http://talkingsmack.com.au
Born in Bundaberg to two primary school teachers, Andrew moved to Brisbane in 2006 to study at the University of Queensland and has lived and worked in the city since. As a freelance journalist, Andrew has written about topics as diverse as ‘smart drugs’, suicide, outback police officers, hospital schools, illegal websites, videogame development, overseas romance tours, political satire, webcam hackers and becoming the subject of a Wikipedia article.
From 2015 to 2017, Andrew hosted Penmanship, a podcast about Australian writing culture that featured in-depth interviews with Australians who earn a living from working with words. Guests included Sarah Ferguson, Chris Masters, Tim Rogers, John Clarke, Trent Dalton and Anne Summers. http://penmanshippodcast.com
From 2014 to 2017, Andrew published an email newsletter, Dispatches, which offered an insight into his three passions: writing, reading and listening. It's now defunct, but you can view an archive of the newsletters at https://tinyletter.com/andrewmcmillen...
Andrew’s portfolio of published work can be found at http://andrewmcmillen.com
Since January 2018, he has worked as national music writer at The Australian newspaper. His most recent published work in that role can be found at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/auth...
While working as a freelance journalist from 2009 to 2017, Andrew's writing was published in The New York Times, The Weekend Australian Magazine, Rolling Stone, Good Weekend, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, BuzzFeed and The Best Australian Science Writing 2016.
Andrew won the feature writing category at the Queensland Clarion Awards in 2017, and won the freelance journalism category at the Clarions from 2015–2017. He was also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards at the Queensland Literary Awards in 2015 and 2016.
Andrew’s first book, 'Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs', was published by UQP in 2014. 'Talking Smack' is a collection of stories featuring 14 prominent Australian musicians – including Paul Kelly, Gotye, Tina Arena, Holly Throsby and Steve Kilbey – who Andrew interviewed about their experiences with illicit, prescription and legal drugs. For more about 'Talking Smack', including extracts, reviews and press appearances, visit http://talkingsmack.com.au
Born in Bundaberg to two primary school teachers, Andrew moved to Brisbane in 2006 to study at the University of Queensland and has lived and worked in the city since. As a freelance journalist, Andrew has written about topics as diverse as ‘smart drugs’, suicide, outback police officers, hospital schools, illegal websites, videogame development, overseas romance tours, political satire, webcam hackers and becoming the subject of a Wikipedia article.
From 2015 to 2017, Andrew hosted Penmanship, a podcast about Australian writing culture that featured in-depth interviews with Australians who earn a living from working with words. Guests included Sarah Ferguson, Chris Masters, Tim Rogers, John Clarke, Trent Dalton and Anne Summers. http://penmanshippodcast.com
From 2014 to 2017, Andrew published an email newsletter, Dispatches, which offered an insight into his three passions: writing, reading and listening. It's now defunct, but you can view an archive of the newsletters at https://tinyletter.com/andrewmcmillen...
Andrew’s portfolio of published work can be found at http://andrewmcmillen.com
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 3, 2024
Repetitive but really interesting. The author did a good job of highlighting all the aspects of body donation. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Thanksgiving Ceremony, which had me fighting back tears. I think the author centered himself in the book a bit too much for me, but overall I enjoyed his writing.
August 29, 2016
During 2015, Australian writer Andrew McMillen found himself embedded in an environment that few people in modern society enter. He found himself surrounded by dozens of cadavers that had been donated to The University of Queensland's medical science students.
Skeleton School: Dissecting the Gift of Body Donation is a chronicle of all aspects of this year-long stint observing the people whose careers depend upon interacting with corpses.
Reading the reactions of the teachers and students profiled in the book, it becomes clear that there is no substitute for human cadavers as a teaching aid. Books and plastic models can only reveal limited information. To truly teach the next generation of medical minds, they need to learn from palpating and dissecting human corpses.
McMillen does a great job of describing the people he profiles. The university lecturers, the students, the families of the deceased body donors. All of these characters leap off the page with distinct personalities and mannerisms. McMillen also tastefully injects himself, and his observations into the book in an adept way. He describes how his own grandfather died midway through his time at UQ's School of Medicine, and how this forced him to see things in a new light.
A book on this topic would have always been an interesting read, due to the sheer novelty of peeking inside the hidden world of cadavers and medical students. But the content leaps off the page due to Andrew McMillen's skilful writing. I particularly appreciated his descriptions of the lighter moments that he observed, such as the "hail of dad jokes" delivered to the students by the playful instructor Dr Peter Wragg.
By the end of the book, McMillen appears transformed. He shares his admiration for those who choose the ultimate gift of generosity: allowing strangers to dissect their lifeless body after they have died. He reveals that he is so touched by this that he decides to follow in their footsteps by surrendering his own body to UQ's body donation program: a weighty decision.
Skeleton School: Dissecting the Gift of Body Donation is a worthwhile and rewarding book.
Skeleton School: Dissecting the Gift of Body Donation is a chronicle of all aspects of this year-long stint observing the people whose careers depend upon interacting with corpses.
Reading the reactions of the teachers and students profiled in the book, it becomes clear that there is no substitute for human cadavers as a teaching aid. Books and plastic models can only reveal limited information. To truly teach the next generation of medical minds, they need to learn from palpating and dissecting human corpses.
McMillen does a great job of describing the people he profiles. The university lecturers, the students, the families of the deceased body donors. All of these characters leap off the page with distinct personalities and mannerisms. McMillen also tastefully injects himself, and his observations into the book in an adept way. He describes how his own grandfather died midway through his time at UQ's School of Medicine, and how this forced him to see things in a new light.
A book on this topic would have always been an interesting read, due to the sheer novelty of peeking inside the hidden world of cadavers and medical students. But the content leaps off the page due to Andrew McMillen's skilful writing. I particularly appreciated his descriptions of the lighter moments that he observed, such as the "hail of dad jokes" delivered to the students by the playful instructor Dr Peter Wragg.
By the end of the book, McMillen appears transformed. He shares his admiration for those who choose the ultimate gift of generosity: allowing strangers to dissect their lifeless body after they have died. He reveals that he is so touched by this that he decides to follow in their footsteps by surrendering his own body to UQ's body donation program: a weighty decision.
Skeleton School: Dissecting the Gift of Body Donation is a worthwhile and rewarding book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews