These past few weeks I have been slowly, yet enthusiastically, reading science writer Mary Roach's book Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Yup. I just willingly read an entire book on the digestive system, and I loved it.
Roach's book is broken up into seventeen sections, each tackling one of the oddities of food intake. For example, there's a chapter dedicated to how pet food is created to be pleasing to animals. There's another on a man who had a hole in his stomach, which allowed his physician to study what happened internally. You can learn about what exactly you can stuff up your -ahem- butt, just in case you ever find yourself in prison (and want to smuggle in cell phones! That's all I meant, I promise) or forced into becoming an international drug mule (yet have we learned nothing from Orange in the New Black?). You will also learn about the noses of professional sniffers, including those that make up those wonderful descriptions of wine (you know, the ones that compare a Chardonnay to "a fresh cut lawn strewn with strawberries in March of 2011, just after a raccoon with wet paws has walked across it"). Constipation is discussed. So is saliva. All the gross stuff.
Yet, none of it really seems gross, or boring, for that matter. And Lord knows there's potential, on both ends (badumdumdum). Roach is incredibly skilled, though, both in constructing her actual prose, but also in determining how far to take her subject. She's humorous, intelligent, and has a quick, biting wit. Basically, I'd like to be best friends with her.
I am resisting the urge to order the rest of her books, but I've added to my collection lately, so I'm trying to resist.
Adding this to my list, stat!
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