Gulp, Mary Roach
Gulp, Mary Roach
4 Rating(s)
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Gulp
Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

Author: Mary Roach

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged: 8 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/01/2013

Synopsis

"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.

About Mary Roach

Journalist and former Salon.com columnist Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times bestseller Stiff, Spook, Bonk, and Packing for Mars. She has written for a number of publications, including Outside, Discover, New Scientist, National Geographic, and the New York Times Magazine. She has earned a number of awards for her work, including the Harvard Secular Society's Rushdie Award, which is their award for outstanding lifetime achievement in cultural humanism. A popular TED speaker, Mary lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on November 01, 2021

When it comes to literature about eating, science has been a little hard to hear amid the clamor of cuisine. Just as we adorn sex with the fancy gold-leaf filigree of love, so we dress the need for sustenance in the finery of cooking and connoisseurship…Yes, men and women eat meals. But they als......more

Goodreads review by Jim on August 25, 2013

I'm considering giving up on this book even though the topic is interesting. If only Mary Roach could restrain herself from quite so much levity. The jokes, asides, and snarky personal observations come on strong. They're constant, unrelenting, (somehwhat geeky humor) and are a distraction from othe......more

Goodreads review by Jim on June 11, 2013

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Roach truly is the funniest, best science writer I've ever had the pleasure to read. Her inquisitive mind doesn't always follow a linear path & the side tracks are illuminating. -------------- "While a seaman might survive the suction and swallow, his arrival......more

Goodreads review by * A Reader Obsessed * on March 22, 2020

3.5 Stars Not the most appetizing way to learn about the ins and outs (literally) of the hows and whys of what happens the second food enters our mouth to ultimately, its final destination but interesting enough. Points for a well researched book, this was peppered with nuggets of history and bits of......more

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