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mborer23's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a big fan of Mary Roach's writing, and Gulp does not disappoint. Roach mixes hard science and humor in a way that is skilled enough to seem effortless. Here she tackles the taboo topic of digestion and its mysteries, a constant process from the mouth to the anus (and, for some animals, sometimes right back again.) This book is a fantastic reminder of how grateful we should be every day for our own working alimentary canal, even with its occasional flare-ups and embarrassments. Highly recommended for anyone who's genuinely interested in the science of digestion.
novelbloglover's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Book Review
Title: Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Food
Rating: 4 Stars
From the description alone I knew this was going to be an interesting book, since it basically investigates the alimentary canal, which is the tract that runs from your mouth to your anus. While we know general things about this canal, no one has ever written in-depth about because it touches on subject that most avoid but they are amazing. Starting at the mouth and working along the tract we look at each element that makes up this tract and what it does, how it works and what we know about it function in terms of evolution.
The opening chapter focuses on the nose since most tastes are processed more through our sense of smell and therefore our noses than through our actual mouths. This is thought to be because our brains can identify and break down smells a lot quicker than tastes, but it is more likely since it is safer to identify food that is good to eat and food that might be dangerous through smell rather than risking illness or death by ingesting it. This is even seen in animals since it has been proven that dogs choose food based more on the smell than the taste meaning if it smells good, they will eat it. This even applies to food that has begun to rot, since food early in the decomposition process still has nutritional value to the animal. The only way to know if your dog likes their food is if they throw up since dogs do this because they have eaten the food too quickly and often not chewed it enough. On the other hand, cats have a 50/50 ratio between smell and taste, meaning they are pickier about what they eat and can’t be distracted with nice smells if the taste doesn’t match up. Meaning cats eat more like us than dogs.
The next chapter looks at offal, and why we humans tend to avoid it when animals and analysis have shown that it contains far more in terms of nutrients than the flesh meat which we prefer to eat even though we must supplement our diets with other ways to gain these nutrients. Offal in its truest sense has far more in the way of nutrients than other types of meat and animals tend to eat the insides first including the stomach to make the most of what its meal has eaten and not been able to digest. However, we humans, find offal off-putting because it forces us to confront the idea that what we are eating was once alive and not just meat that appeared to feed us. This squeamishness means that we stay away from the most nutritious parts of the animals we consume and often end up shipping them to other countries where the idea that the whole animal must be consumed or used like China. Following on from this we look at the idea that excessively chewing our food could reduce the amount we need to consume. Obviously, this idea came up during the times of conflict when food was scarce and had to be shipped to soldiers worldwide. Following the guidelines at the time, a huge amount of protein among other things were needed which wasn’t cheap. The idea was the proposed that people were wasting nutrients by not chewing their food enough and while this initially caught on, it was soon proven to be not as effective as was originally claimed because there will always be waste produced not matter how much food is chewed.
We then turn to look at the stomach itself and role acid plays in the digestion and absorption of food. We learn that acid production doesn’t begin in the stomach, it begins in the mouth with saliva. Saliva breaks down food from the moment it enters your mouth and there are two types of saliva, involuntary, which you produce all the time and the type that you only produce when something usually food prompts excess salivation. You can taste this breakdown at work when you eat, for example, when you chew bread you might notice a sweet taste, and this is your saliva breaking down the starch in bread into sugar. Saliva is different between people and in testing some people’s saliva breaks down certain foods better than others. This is important because the enzymes in saliva are used in cleaning products like detergents and stain remover since these enzymes breaks down the proteins that make up the food you eat, therefore, licking stains might begin breaking them down before you wash them, what an interesting concept.
The next two chapters look at the stomach and the role of stomach acid in digestion. Obviously, we understand that stomach acid denatures proteins to allow them to be digested but the bigger question asked is whether you could survive being eaten alive, like Jonah in the bible. Several scientists and researchers over the year have investigated this and the answer is maybe but it depends on the animal being consumed. Most wouldn’t survive the environment of the stomach for very long since even if they were alive when they entered the stomach, the constriction, lack of oxygen and acid would eventually take its toll on the victim leading to death. However, there are some animals that can survive for more extended periods of time like turtles since they store oxygen in their shells and can retreat into them to prevent acid burns, but they will still die given enough time. The only animal currently known to spend an extended period in the stomach and come out alive is a mealworm. The mealworm enters a state of suspended animation which allows it to stay in the stomach for a long time and emerge alive when retrieved from the stomach on animals that swallow their prey whole.
We then spend a few chapters looking at the rectum, which were interesting but slightly disconcerting. The rectum is a very interesting, if taboo, part of the body that deals with it own signals and distresses like any other part of the body. However, unlike other areas, we can to some extent control the rectum consciously by ignoring signals to go to the bathroom and clenching down on the urge which lessens the need. With enough time and willpower, we can signal to the brain to switch off the urge for a short while which is very handy in the underground smuggling within prisons. Roach gets to interview both prison personnel and inmate about these practices and they were surprisingly open about it since it is well known at this point. Inmates explain that it is simply a way of life within prisons removing the taboo from the rectal area, but it is also a skill that requires practice and a certain level of determination. During this process, some people can smuggle huge amount of contraband into these facilities, but it does come with its own set of dangers especially if the contraband in question is drugs as this can lead to overdoses and death.
We now move right to the end of the canal with the rectum and gases expelled from the body. These chapters were interesting and gave some insight into how the bodies works from beginning to end and that of pharmaceutical aids for digestive issues. However, I wouldn’t recommend picking this up if you have a weak stomach or are eating because Roach goes into a tremendous amount of detail about these processes which made even me a little squeamish at times. Overall, this book was very interesting especially as I have recently been diagnosed with IBD and it gave me some insight into what is going on inside my body.
isthisbooktaken's review
funny
informative
fast-paced
5.0
I just love Mary Roach! She’s so funny and is so effective in her explanations.
deschatjes's review against another edition
3.0
More than I ever thought I’d need to know or was possible to know about the alimentary cannel can everything inside outside and around side.
Part of the YA audio sync of 2019 - I’m not sure how many teens would hear this out in all its detail ...
Part of the YA audio sync of 2019 - I’m not sure how many teens would hear this out in all its detail ...