Published in 2008. 319 p.
Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mary Roach, a scientific author with a sense of humor, goes globe-trotting in order to learn what science has found out about sex through its research. She focuses on arousal and orgasm in both males and females (human and not, but the not only as it pertains (or specifically doesn’t) to humans.)
Review: I’m in love. As the girl who barely passed certain science classes in high school and college, it is a miracle for me to be able to understand, nay, enjoy, a book that can be found in the science section of your local bookstore. Granted, sex is a topic that is universally interesting (okay, maybe not for the two medically asexual people in the world,) but still, despite words like vasocongestion (the swelling of bodily tissues caused by increased vascular blood flow and a localized increase in blood pressure…thank you wikipedia,) the book is understandable and thoroughly enjoyable.
As a science author, Roach does not stray away from the big words, high-tech procedures and instruments of research, and from being there in person. Roach clearly rejected her high school English teacher’s rule to never put herself in her writing: Roach appears very often throughout the course of the book. She got into all of the research rooms that she was allowed into, sometimes to the point of volunteering for various studies herself, and with her husband (Bravo, Mr. Roach.) Her point of view and funny running commentary (yes, she’s a footnote sort of girl…expect one to two on most pages) make the situations less awkward, and at the same time, hysterically funny. While watching a paralyzed girl masturbate from the other side of the double-sided (but not soundproof) glass, Roach nearly fell off of a desk, and in the process, knocked many other things off the desk, causing her doctor friend to scream. Roach blamed the skirt she was wearing, and afterwards asked the study subject (the paralyzed girl) if she had heard screaming from behind the glass, to which the girl responded in the affirmative. Roach then launched into a discussion of the findings (actual and hopeful) of the study. It is episodes like these that make Roach the perfect author for a book like this. She personalizes and humanizes the science, putting it in layman’s terms (after she’s used all the big words the scientists use) and making it accessible for the intelligent reader.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book is that Roach explores things that could be potentially useful for the sex-having person. For example, she tells you why pheromone perfume and cologne is a crock of shit (or urine, or sweat…ick. And ick again. And one last time…ick). She tells you why suction aids masturbation (but why doing the aforementioned act with a vacuum cleaner is not advisable.) You find out everything you need to know about your own and your partner of choice’s “bits,” and what helps stimulate men and women, and what doesn’t. The book has a ton of sex advice, but bases all of it on concrete research that she goes over with the reader. It’s a sex manual with evidence, in a way. It’s also a fantastic read (I can’t tell you how many times I missed my train stop (and almost did even more times) because I was so absorbed in the book.)
This is not a book for the unintelligent…if a reader who enjoys the topic of sex but is at the Sophie Kinsella level of reading, the reader won’t make it through this book. This book is also not for the, ahem, inexperienced. A younger person with whom I am acquainted read this book right before I did, and commented that he didn’t particularly like it, and that it was not as funny as he had expected, or as “good.” My reaction (as it generally is whenever he makes a sex-related remark): go have sex, sweetheart. Then we’ll see what you really think. All in all, though, I would recommend this book to all open-minded, intelligent individuals. Happy humping.
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