Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

“The human digestive tract is like the Amtrak line from Seattle to Los Angeles: transit time is about thirty hours, and the scenery on the last leg is pretty monotonous."

Are you ready to take a fantastic voyage? A riveting journey from mouth to anus? Filled with humorous and informative nuggets, that will have you wincing one moment and giggling the next. Look no further, because Roach has done it again, with tireless research, throwing herself into her subjects with daring and bravado. Everything you want to know about saliva, stomach acids, flatulence, rectum storage and the joyous human marvel called the sphincter muscle. You will even find out what really killed Elvis and yes, it deals with “down there”.
If you haven’t show more sampled Roach’s nonfiction, here is your golden opportunity. Just eat lightly before reading. show less

Mary Roach is one of the few authors - hmm, possibly one of two or three in the universe - whose books I want to read the moment they come out: yea, even unto ordering them new (gasp!). Her previous books have covered a variety of topics including cadavers, ghosts, sex, and space travel, all with informative and hilarious results. Her new book, Gulp, on the physiology of eating and digestion, does not disappoint. How can you not adore a book that has chapters named "Bolus of Cherries: Life at the oral processing lab" and "The Ick Factor: We can cure you, but there's just one thing" (about fecal transplant therapy)? Well, maybe you can, but I can't.

You will occasionally not believe me, but my aim is not to disgust. I have tried, in my

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way, to exercise restraint. I am aware of the website www.poopreport.com, but I did not visit. When I stumbled on the paper "Fecal Odor of Sick Hedgehogs Mediates Olfactory Attraction of the Tick" in the references of another paper, I resisted the urge to order a copy. I don't want you to say, "This is gross." I want you to say, "I thought this would be gross, but it's really interesting." Okay, and maybe a little gross.

Review from my blog, This Space Intentionally Left Blank show less

I do love Mary Roach. She fearlessly takes the road less travelled, each and every time.

This particular road starts with the mouth, and ends with the ass. And this is one lady who's ass can cash the cheques her mouth writes.

Great book, lots of fun, as usual.

Gulp is one of the most disgusting books I have ever read. Disgustingly brilliant and fascinating! Mary Roach is the queen of taking taboo subjects (death, sex, war, the alimentary canal, etc.) and breaking them down into compulsively readable books that everyone can appreciate. Gulp takes a look at everyone's favorite organ, the alimentary canal (I mean who doesn't love the poop emoji?!), and takes a deep fascinating look at it. There is a chapter on the properties and uses of spit, a chapter on constipation (learn more about Elvis!), a chapter on on overeating or over chewing, studies on competitive food eaters. Everything you could ever want to know about what happens to food between when it enters your mouth until it gets shit out show more (so much about poop!), is covered in this fascinating nonfiction book. Read it! Soo interesting and hilariously (yet reverently) written. show less

Roach takes a top-down approach to the digestive system, exploring the complex, fascinating, and sometimes disgusting process of digestion from one end to the other. She touches on interesting historical figures, interviews scientists currently working in the field, and even does some hands-on research. I definitely feel like I learned a lot, though I probably won't bring it up as dinnertime conversation! Roach's writing is conversational and humorous, with amusing footnotes generously scattered throughout. Despite my edition's teeny-tiny font size, this book goes down easy.

A hilarious but lovingly detailed tour of the human digestive tract from mouth to anus. The author will not spare the reader any scenic overlook, no matter how gag-inducing. This will not be a comfortable read for many, but it is so full of fascinating facts and will deeply satisfy all the curiosity deemed unseemly by polite society. I'll admit that I hesitate with this one. I love and have read all of Mary Roach's other books, but I almost stopped with this one. I'm not fully sure why. I'm not a delicate or easily disgusted person. But, I don't know, I thought it would be boring? I think I imagined that the digestive tract was basically just a garden hose distributing nutrition throughout the body.

But from the first page I was show more captivated and beguiled by lively humor and broad entertainment. This book, along with Ms. Roach's others, is hugely recommended. show less

Quintessentially Roach, this book tells you everything you were too embarrassed to ask about your digestive system. Through more research than most would even think about making, interviews, and even (you've got to pause here and take a breath) SPOILER ALERT, a colonoscopy without sedation, Roach is bound and determined to "tell all."

The book lost something, at least for me, because of the narration by Emily Woo Zeller. Roach is cute enough on her own. Her words convey her sly, dry sense of humor just fine. The bad accents Zeller employed detracted, rather than added, to my enjoyment.