For clarity’s sake, I’m talking about corpses, not The Grateful Dead. Not to say that The Grateful Dead aren’t intriguing. I enjoy their music. But I’ve never read a book about them.

I have, though, read numerous books about the dead. We’re talking books about decomp, morgues, cemeteries, crime scene clean-up, cremation, funeral homes, embalming, all of that fun stuff. Why? I don’t know. I think part of it stems from the fact that I fear things less when I know how they work. I think it’s also morbid curiosity. Mostly, I think it’s because I’m weird. I didn’t freak out when I found my neighbor dead in his yard, but I won’t go to funerals because they keep laying the guest of honor out like a Thanksgiving centerpiece and unlike everyone else, I don’t find that comforting.

Anyway. Here are a few death-centric books that you may find fascinating.

Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner’s Office by John Temple- The book follows three deputy coroners -Ed Strimlan, Mike Chichwak, and Tiffani Hunt- working in a coroner’s office in Pittsburgh. We get to know them, their work, their coworkers, some history of both the field and the area they work, and of course, some grisly details about the cases they investigate -and all the hang-ups that come along with investigating, like the sights, the smells, and the politics.

Obviously, the work fascinates me, but I also really enjoy getting to know our three deputy coroners at the heart of the book. What I really like about the book is how we learn about the work through them. This book came out in 2005, I think, and it’s one of the few books I’ve read several times. In fact, I’m about due for another re-read. Can you have a comfort read about a coroner’s office? If you can, I do, and this is it.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons From the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty- As a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and flair for the morbid, Caitlin Doughty took a job in a crematory and quickly found herself pursuing her life’s work. The book provides explanations of the cremation practice, some history involving how people lay their dead to rest, and answers questions you didn’t know you needed the answers to, like how many bodies can you fit in a Dodge van and how do you get cremains out of your clothes?

What I like about this book is that not only is there this demystifying of death happening, but it’s also being demystified by someone as they were learning the ropes of corpse disposal. There were some awkward missteps and she made some mistakes and she owned up to them all in witty fashion. Maybe a book about cremation shouldn’t be amusing, but this one is.

Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden Histories of America’s Cemeteries by Greg Melville- Working in his hometown cemetery in college led Greg Melville to ponder the rich history of America’s burial grounds. He visited several for the book, including Arlington, Hollywood Forever, Boothill Cemetery, Colonial Jewish Burial Ground, Central Park, and Chapel of the Chimes. Each place of eternal rest exhumed more and more of our country’s history and the final resting places of our dead.

When I first saw this book in Bookpages, I realized that I didn’t really know that much about cemeteries beyond the general notion of that’s where we bury people and you can go sledding in the local one. This book is a fascinating tour of graveyards and their impact on and reflection of society. A cemetery’s history is more than just the people buried there. And even though his family wasn’t always enthused about spending time in these places, I was certainly entertained by the experience.

If you give these books a try, I hope you find them enlivening. If you don’t, well then, just bury it and move on.