New York Times BestsellerâA scientific adventure through our digestive tract, from the author of Stiff and Packing for Mars.
"Her funniest and most sparkling book" (Janet Maslin, New York Times).
In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinksâor has the courageâto ask. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find names for flavors and smells? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis?
With Mary Roach at our side, 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. We also travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terroristsâwho, 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.
"As engrossing as it is gross." âEntertainment Weekly
"With its wealth of you'llâneverâbelieveâit facts and oddball experts, it's a charming conversation starter. (But maybe not at the dinner table.)" âPeople
"An absolute delight. . . . I can't even think of another modern writer, or anyone from a previous era, who has so thoroughlyâand so engaginglyâwritten about the way scientists go about their work." âWashington Post
New York Times BestsellerâA scientific adventure through our digestive tract, from the author of Stiff and Packing for Mars.
"Her funniest and most sparkling book" (Janet Maslin, New York Times).
In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinksâor has the courageâto ask. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find names for flavors and smells? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis?
With Mary Roach at our side, 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. We also travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terroristsâwho, 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.
"As engrossing as it is gross." âEntertainment Weekly
"With its wealth of you'llâneverâbelieveâit facts and oddball experts, it's a charming conversation starter. (But maybe not at the dinner table.)" âPeople
"An absolute delight. . . . I can't even think of another modern writer, or anyone from a previous era, who has so thoroughlyâand so engaginglyâwritten about the way scientists go about their work." âWashington Post