Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

"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.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 04/01/2013
ISBN: 9780393081572
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.70w x 1.30d

Review Citations: Library Journal 11/15/2012 pg. 58
Publishers Weekly 01/21/2013 pg. 55
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2013
Library Journal 03/01/2013 pg. 87
Booklist 03/01/2013 pg. 10
Entertainment Weekly 03/22/2013 pg. 67
Entertainment Weekly 03/29/2013 pg. 13
People Weekly 04/15/2013 pg. 56
Shelf Awareness 04/09/2013
New York Times Book Review 04/28/2013 pg. 19
New Yorker (The) 05/06/2013 pg. 75
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/04/2013 pg. 32
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2014 pg. 9
BookPage 04/01/2013