'Gulp' by Mary Roach

Gulp, Mary Roach (3)

I guess I should have felt suitably warned of the content of this book since the author herself gave a few warnings right at the start. She is known for her humorous non-fiction takes on relatively taboo subjects (death, sex, and here – elimination). While Ms. Roach definitely writes in this book exhaustively and humorously about our digestive system, over 100 pages on flatulence and poop can cause any good reader to grow weary of the subject. I will admit that I laughed out loud at quite a few places. She makes good use of the footnote – much of her humor is found there as she shares ironies (such as how Dr. Crapo was the one who coined the term ‘dung lung’). I found the first 2/3 the most interesting – possibly the freshness of the subject wore off as we progressed down the alimentary canal – pun intended. There were quite a few interesting points about digestion that I may need to research further. One example is her claim that the push for more fiber in your diet was basically a marketing tactic – that more recent research shows that frequent bowel movements have a higher correlation to rectal cancer than constipation. The new determinant factor of risk is calories, the more you eat, and the worse it is. Who knew? Overall I will give this book a ‘3’ with the warning not to read it before dinner time and be aware of the literal toilet humor.