Pages: 318
Original date of publication: 2008
My copy: 2008 (WW Norton)
Why I decided to read: saw Mary Roach speak at a conference
How I acquired my copy: Denver airport bookstore, October
2012
In Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Roach explored
the topic of the human cadaver and how it’s used in science. In Bonk: The
Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, she does pretty much the same thing,
except with sex and sexuality. Roach wanders out into the fringes of scientific
exploration in her books, into the areas that aren’t considered “typical,” and
she writes her books with a liberal amount of humor. Roach traveled all over
the world to witness—and even participate in—clinical trials involving sex. Every
now and then she footnotes her writing with random stuff, including a note
about who Millard Filmore’s running mate was (trick question!).
From start to finish, Bonk is an entertaining read—even if I
did get a few odd looks as I was reading it in public. Sure, the subject matter
can be uncomfortable at times, but even more so is the humor that the author
sees in her subjects. She spares no one, from the artificial inseminators in
Denmark to clinical trials on prostitutes in Egypt. In her introduction, she
even pokes fun of herself and the avenues that her “obsession” sometimes take. “Last
summer I was in a medical school library Xeroxing a journal article called ‘Vacuum
Cleaner Use in Autoerotic Death’ when the paper jammed. I could not bring
myself to ask the copy room attendant to help me, but quietly moved over to the
adjacent machine and began again.” In both of the books of hers I’ve read,
Roach seems to go off on random tangents, but it’s always an intriguing and
entertaining ride.
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