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A review by meagan_young
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
4.0
I’ll start by saying that I ultimately enjoyed this book.
I guess just from the hype and the subject, I expected it to be more... science-y. The book kind of ended up more as “here’s some interesting facts and ideas” than “here’s the science behind your digestive system and why certain things happen”. It might be that I’m biased as a medical worker, but I wanted a little more science with the entertainment. Most of the science factor was “here’s these people who do this thing, or have this opinion”.
It took me until after I got about a third of the way through before I really got interested and started having some laugh out loud moments. It picked up the humor and shock factor as she worked her way into the more gross and interesting subjects (i.e. It’s a lot easier to make humor out of poop than say, your sense of smell). Fair warning though, I work in a medical lab and I’ve had some gross discussions over a meal, but reading this book on my lunch break actually made me feel a little nauseous for a few chapters.
I guess just from the hype and the subject, I expected it to be more... science-y. The book kind of ended up more as “here’s some interesting facts and ideas” than “here’s the science behind your digestive system and why certain things happen”. It might be that I’m biased as a medical worker, but I wanted a little more science with the entertainment. Most of the science factor was “here’s these people who do this thing, or have this opinion”.
It took me until after I got about a third of the way through before I really got interested and started having some laugh out loud moments. It picked up the humor and shock factor as she worked her way into the more gross and interesting subjects (i.e. It’s a lot easier to make humor out of poop than say, your sense of smell). Fair warning though, I work in a medical lab and I’ve had some gross discussions over a meal, but reading this book on my lunch break actually made me feel a little nauseous for a few chapters.