Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Why not distract yourself from the workings of the world with the workings of your own insides?

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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…or more frequently, the misfiring insides of others. Fistulated fellows? Check. Elvis and his mega-colon? Check. Taste-testing pet food, pus, rancid oil, and/or the saliva of others? All yours and more to spare! I like to, for the most-part, enjoy nonfiction via audio books. Frequently, I wander around the house doing whatever needs doing while playing books through a speaker. While I whole-heartedly recommend Gulp, I do NOT recommend subjecting innocent bystanders (sorry, husband!) to the dirty work within. Not everything here is gross. And really, […]

Visceral Glory

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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Gulp is Mary Roach’s pop-science journey into the human (and occasionally non-human) digestive track, beginning with all things mouth related (saliva, chewing) and ending up exactly where you’d suspect, although with angles you I didn’t anticipate (Elvis’ megacolon; drug smuggling). I’ve previously read Stiff, Roach’s look at the afterlife of cadavers, and although I enjoyed Gulp, I liked Stiff more.  Because it has been some time since I read Stiff, I can’t remember exactly what is less enticing about Gulp, but I suspect it may […]

I have spent a good deal of 2020 in a cadaver-shaped hole.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

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And no, I do not mean an open grave. The more we hurtle towards impending doom- pandemics! global warming! world war!- the more solace I seek in, well, death. I didn’t set out on the morbid marathon on purpose, but here I am! It was not my intention to get down and dirty (ha!) with death this year, but I am enjoying the ride. I have been a long-time fan of Mary Roach since Spook, but for some reason I forgot to start at the […]

Parts of Gulp are hard to swallow

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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I love Mary Roach’s books. They’re funny and irreverent and very educational. Her use of ridiculous footnotes rivals that of Gaiman’s and Pratchett’s Good Omens. So I had really high hopes for Gulp when I first picked it up a few years ago.  Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal is about the human digestive tract, from the mouth all the way down to the exit. It discusses how smell affects taste, the roles of saliva, why poop smells and attempts to make it not smell, […]

Please Mary, may I have some more?

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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Gulp is my second Mary Roach book (I’d previously read and loved Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers) and is a thoroughly entertaining trip through our digestive systems. I do have digestive issues of my own, which no doubt heightened the appeal of this book to me, but as it’s so interesting and entertainingly written, I expect those whose stomachs don’t kick off regularly will also find something to enjoy. Gulp takes you through the whole process – from smell (which actually provides us […]

This is (almost) the end

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

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Mary Roach’s Stiff is a paean to dead bodies. She notes in the introduction that “Cadavers are our superheroes: They brave fire without flinching, withstand falls from head-on car crashes into walls. You can fire a gun at them or run a speedboat over their legs, and it will not faze them. Their heads can be removed with no deleterious effect. They can be in six places at once. . . .  What a shame to waste these powers, to not use them for the […]



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