Good and Cheap (Books)! Day 6

I spent most of the weekend trying to catch up on my Mary Roach reading. She has a brand new book but I really want to finish reading her backlist before I move on. This weekend,  I finished Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, so I only have Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

I was hooked on Mary Roach from the start with her first book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and I think that first book remains my favorite. The book starts off with cadavers being used so cosmetic surgeons can practice (so gross). Then it goes on to the ins and outs of decomposition (I once listened to a podcast about body farms so this was sort of right up my ally, sadly), and then goes on to interesting things that maybe you didn’t know would be interesting, like body snatching or cannibalism. [Who doesn't think cannibalism is interesting?]

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex is probably Roach’s funniest book (although she is pretty hilarious in every book I’ve read). She delves into the history of sex research, including medieval sexy times, which, you know, good riddance. The best part of Bonk is when the author and her husband volunteer for a sex experiment, and yes there is an observer. Hey, are you running low on dirty talk with your special someone? [Dear Gianna: I am NOT your special someone. Love, Liz.] Pick up this book and you’ll have her swooning. You learn sexy terms like vaginocavernosus reflex. I think anytime you put the words vagina and cavern together, you’ve won. And for you ladies, whisper this little nugget in your fella’s ear: nocturnal penile tumescence monitoring. I think this simply means watching a penis at night. Liz knows for sure, just email her for details. [I'm distancing myself from everything mentioned in this entire blog post.]

You can’t lose with Mary Roach. She is funny, smart, and really has a knack for finding interesting subjects to write about. Her new book is called Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, which I think has something to do with the stomach or mouth, neither of which I  think I have any interest in, so you know, Mary Roach will probably change all that.