Aug 13, 2026 · 1 hr 32 min · 16 segments
In *Flights*, we encounter human anatomy in a number of ways—body parts in jars, wax figures, and the search for a secret preservation formula. Why did this kind of bodily preservation begin? How did…
Sarah RayGuestEvan EstrackHostStephanie TamHostHave you ever read a novel where anatomy and, how should I put it, bodily preservation features as much as in flights?
I'm in the same boat and I'll confess that these sections, while intriguing, threw me off.
I found the travel flow much easier to get into and even the longer sections that initially seemed unrelated, I eventually was able to pattern match to, but I wasn't sure how anatomy fit in.
I think it's fair to say I have mixed feelings around public displays of human remains.
I had similarly conflicted feelings around encountering this collection of shrunken heads and other cultural, quote unquote, oddities from Ecuador at the Pitt Rivers Museum when I was a graduate student at Oxford.
And I feel like there's something that is both morbidly fascinating and possibly worthwhile to explore here.
On the one hand, I think these things can be an opportunity to learn about other cultures and the human body, kind of like a scientific and anthropological exercise.
But on the other hand, the way it's been historically done has often been problematic, like part of the colonial impulse to collect, display, and in the process of doing so, exoticize and dehumanize the people whose bodies are involved.
So in a lot of cases, it feels like there's an unequal power balance in terms of who gets to display other people's bodies and who gets put on display.
And interestingly, the Pitt Rivers decided to replace that display several years ago with an installation explaining the museum's recent work towards the restitution of the remains.
There are also cases where bodies are donated to be displayed for scientific purposes.
And that feels like a more consensual process, like in the Body Worlds exhibit.
Although, to be honest, I also had mixed feelings going through that exhibit as a kid.
So maybe I'm just not a huge fan of dead bodies at a visceral level, even if I can ethically or intellectually rationalize it.
When I was a kid, I visited Body Worlds 2, and I probably hadn't thought about it for two or three decades until picking up flights.
And if you haven't seen Body Worlds or been to the exhibit, essentially, it was created by this German anatomist.
and kind of eccentric figure who created this technique for preserving human bodies called plastination.
And so you have these bodies that are kind of like skinned and they're in all of these different positions.
Have you ever read a novel where anatomy and, how should I put it, bodily preservation features as much as in flights?
I'm in the same boat and I'll confess that these sections, while intriguing, threw me off.
I found the travel flow much easier to get into and even the longer sections that initially seemed unrelated, I eventually was able to pattern match to, but I wasn't sure how anatomy fit in.
I think it's fair to say I have mixed feelings around public displays of human remains.
I had similarly conflicted feelings around encountering this collection of shrunken heads and other cultural, quote unquote, oddities from Ecuador at the Pitt Rivers Museum when I was a graduate student at Oxford.
And I feel like there's something that is both morbidly fascinating and possibly worthwhile to explore here.
On the one hand, I think these things can be an opportunity to learn about other cultures and the human body, kind of like a scientific and anthropological exercise.
But on the other hand, the way it's been historically done has often been problematic, like part of the colonial impulse to collect, display, and in the process of doing so, exoticize and dehumanize the people whose bodies are involved.
So in a lot of cases, it feels like there's an unequal power balance in terms of who gets to display other people's bodies and who gets put on display.
And interestingly, the Pitt Rivers decided to replace that display several years ago with an installation explaining the museum's recent work towards the restitution of the remains.
There are also cases where bodies are donated to be displayed for scientific purposes.
And that feels like a more consensual process, like in the Body Worlds exhibit.
Although, to be honest, I also had mixed feelings going through that exhibit as a kid.
So maybe I'm just not a huge fan of dead bodies at a visceral level, even if I can ethically or intellectually rationalize it.
When I was a kid, I visited Body Worlds 2, and I probably hadn't thought about it for two or three decades until picking up flights.
And if you haven't seen Body Worlds or been to the exhibit, essentially, it was created by this German anatomist.
and kind of eccentric figure who created this technique for preserving human bodies called plastination.
And so you have these bodies that are kind of like skinned and they're in all of these different positions.
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