Library Guides: Morbidly Curious Books: Home

Books from the Collection

Stiff by Mary Roach
Call Number: R853.H8 R635 2003
ISBN: 9780393050936
Publication Date: 2003-04-17
Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.
Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom
ISBN: 9780374134709
Publication Date: 2020-10-20
On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand? .
Nine Pints by Rose George
ISBN: 9781627796378
Publication Date: 2018-10-23
An eye-opening exploration of blood, the lifegiving substance with the power of taboo, the value of diamonds and the promise of breakthrough science
Blood Work by Holly Tucker
ISBN: 9780393070552
Publication Date: 2011-03-21
A riveting account of the first blood transfusion experiments in 17th-century Paris and London.
Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy
ISBN: 9780593240472
Publication Date: 2023-04-18
Drawing on the latest research in fields ranging from genetics and anthropology to archaeology and economics, Pathogenesis takes us through sixty thousand years of history, exploring eight major outbreaks of infectious disease that have made the modern world.
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
ISBN: 9781501134630
Publication Date: 2020-02-04
Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand.

eBooks

Over My Dead Body by Greg Melville
ISBN: 9781419754852
Publication Date: 2022-10-04
Over My Dead Body explores everything--history, sustainability, land use, and more--and what it really means to memorialize.
Plagues and Pandemics by Douglas Boyd
ISBN: 9781399005180
Publication Date: 2022-02-03
All you need for a plague to go pandemic are population clusters and travelers spreading the bacterial or viral pathogens. Chillingly, historian Douglas Boyd lists many sub-microscopic killers still waiting for tourism and trade to bring them to us.

Your Dark Academic Host

Greetings! I'm your morbidly curious curator, Mara.

I am a dedicated non-fiction reader who enjoys the darker sides of history and science. I hope you find something on this page to satisfy your morbid curiosity.

Contact Mara:

Email Me

573.882.1827

Subjects: Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics, Religious Studies

Books from Elsewhere

These books come from a variety of sources: other University of Missouri libraries, libraries that belong to the MOBIUS consortium, and books from Daniel Boone Regional Library (requires a DBRL card). If you need help accessing any of these, just ask Mara

Goodbye Hello by Adam Berry
ISBN: 9798888450406
Publication Date: 2023-09-26
From paranormal investigator and host of Kindred Spirits Adam Berry comes Goodbye Hello, which blends supernatural and psychological research to explore the paranormal and afterlife to try and help answer big questions about the end.
Cannibalism by Bill Schutt
ISBN: 9781616204624
Publication Date: 2017-02-14
Zoologist Bill Schutt sets the record straight, debunking common myths and investigating our new understanding of cannibalism's role in biology, anthropology, and history in the most fascinating account yet written on this complex topic.
Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt
ISBN: 9781426220975
Publication Date: 2021-03-02
Acclaimed science reporter Erika Engelhaupt, author of National Geographic's popular Gory Details blog, investigates the gross, strange, and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe. From the research biologist who stung himself with every conceivable insect to the world's most murderous mammals, this entertaining book explores oft-ignored but alluring facets of biology, anatomy, space exploration, nature, and more.
Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar
ISBN: 9781452112749
Publication Date: 2013-10-22
In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident--unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes--have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.
Gardening Can Be Murder by Marta McDowell
ISBN: 9781643261126
Publication Date: 2023-09-05
This fun, engrossing book takes a look at the surprising influence that gardens and gardening have had on mystery novels and their authors. With their deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites, gardens make an ideal scene for the perfect murder.