What makes whale skin delicious to the Inuit but gross to the average American? Why did an early 20th-century nutritionist encourage chewing each bite seven hundred times? Did constipation kill Elvis? Science journalist Mary Roach set out to answer these question in her new book Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. With a humorous and thoroughly engaging tone, she takes us through the process of eating and digestion, uncovering unusual bits of medical history (like the man whose colon, at his death, had a diameter of 28 inches) and interviewing doctors and researchers working with everything from saliva to fecal transplant (first performed in the 1950s, when, according to the doctor who pioneered the procedure, "...if we had an idea, we simply tried it"). You might not want to read this on your lunch break, but you'll probably discover that your digestive tract is more interesting than you ever imagined. - Michelle (Sunset)
Monday, May 20, 2013
Book Review: Gulp
What makes whale skin delicious to the Inuit but gross to the average American? Why did an early 20th-century nutritionist encourage chewing each bite seven hundred times? Did constipation kill Elvis? Science journalist Mary Roach set out to answer these question in her new book Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. With a humorous and thoroughly engaging tone, she takes us through the process of eating and digestion, uncovering unusual bits of medical history (like the man whose colon, at his death, had a diameter of 28 inches) and interviewing doctors and researchers working with everything from saliva to fecal transplant (first performed in the 1950s, when, according to the doctor who pioneered the procedure, "...if we had an idea, we simply tried it"). You might not want to read this on your lunch break, but you'll probably discover that your digestive tract is more interesting than you ever imagined. - Michelle (Sunset)
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