Synopses & Reviews
"America's funniest science writer" (
Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in
Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in
Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in
Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn't the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In
Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of — or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists — who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.
Like all of Roach's books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.
Review
"There is much to enjoy about Mary Roach — her infectious aw for quirky science and its nerdy adherents, her one-liners... She is beloved, and justifiably so." Jon Ronson, New York Times Book Review
Review
"As engrossing as it is gross." Entertainment Weekly
Review
"A delicious read and, dare I say it, a total gas." Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
Review
"With the same eager curiosity that she previously brought to the subjects of cadavers, space, and sex, the author explores the digestive system, from mouth to colon." New Yorker
Review
"[A] merry foray into the digestive sciences....Inexorably draws the reader along with peristaltic waves of history and vividly described science." Brian Switek, Wall Street Journal
Review
"You'll come away from this well-researched book with enough weird digestive trivia to make you the most interesting guest at a certain kind of cocktail party....Go ahead and put this one in your carry-on. You won't regret it." Amy Stewart, Washington Post
Synopsis
The irresistible, ever-curious, and always best-selling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside.
Synopsis
Like all of Roach's books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.
About the Author
Mary Roach is the author of four previous books: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Her writing has appeared in Outside, Wired, National Geographic, and the New York Times Magazine, among others. She lives in Oakland, California.