Engrossing Books About Human Body Parts for People with Macabre Fascinations

Yes, it’s a history of severed heads. In this broad-ranging work, Larson covers the many “uses” of severed heads in history, from trophy heads, shrunken heads, and decapitated heads, to grisly souvenirs in the 20th century and even heads donated to science in the present day. Larson does a great job of dispelling myths and hearsay about the human head. 

Across the U.S. and Europe, there are rumors that libraries and other cultural institutions contain books made from human flesh. Rosenbloom sets out to investigate alleged books bound in human flesh. She is part of the Anthropodermic Book Project, which conducts scientific testing on suspected human-flesh books. Rosenbloom dives into the history of confirmed human-flesh books to find out how they came to be. It’s a story about medical ethics and abuse as some people gave their consent for their future remains, while others did not. 

For folks who want a more comprehensive view of history and the body, the Petras have put together this text that explores body parts through history, starting from the Paleolithic times to the 1990s. The book brings together disparate parts of world history from the Tudor court with Anne Boleyn’s Heart, colonial America with George Washington’s teeth to astronaut Alan Shephard’s bladder.

With a list like this, we would be remiss not to include a book by Mary Roach. While some folks may be familiar with Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, it seemed appropriate to include her book about the world of the digestive system from mouth, stomach, and bowels instead. Roach tries to get to the bottom of how the system works and answer those questions we may be too anxious to ask from passing gas to differences in digestive tracks.

Forensic anthropologist Professor Dame Sue Black explores the way that bones can tell stories of the humans who had them, from what they ate to how they died. It’s also a story about how experts made judgments before all the modern technology and tools that we have. Part history, part memoir of her own work, the book will satisfy the morbid.

For people who want to deepen their knowledge of blood, this book is for you. George brings a microscope to blood, splitting into nine chapters,  covering everything from hemophilia to blood transfusions to leeches. The book reveals the way that blood is full of contradictions; something that all humans have but can be derided, and hidden like menstruation. She explores taboos, folk tales, superstitions, and more wrapped up in this life-giving liquid.

We’ve covered heads, blood, and human skin, now we’ve got a book dedicated to the buttocks. Radke takes an all-encompassing view of this body part, from its role in music and exercise to evolutionary biology about how these rotund body parts evolved. It even explores the cult of celebrity and its love/hate relationship with the derriere. 

It’s a true leap of human thought—take one body part from another human being and put it in another. But it’s something that humans have been doing since Ancient Egyptian times, and even longer. It’s a story about how the practice evolved and the wild ways that people have replaced body parts, whether they were lost in war, a duel, disease, or otherwise. Craddock also looks at how religion and philosophy dealt with these surgeries. 

We’ve all heard about the brutality of Civil War medicine where the solution to most ailments was amputation. Usually without any painkillers. Johnson writes about this phenomenon of formerly right-handed soldiers who participated in left-handed penmanship contests in 1865 and 1866. She brings together the writing of left-handed veterans about their lives, before and after those pivotal battles. 

Last but not least, this book explores the afterlives of saints, who were uncovered from their Roman catacombs and brought to Catholic churches in Germany as holy relics as a reaction to the Reformation. The book explores how people thought these bones were from early Christian martyrs and were dressed up with jewelry, clothing, and more as well as arranged in artistic ways in their new resting place. Koudounaris explores how people thought about these skeletons, whether they were worshiped or a means to riches.