Mary Roach: Author of Bonk

Few things make me as giddy as the release of a new book by Mary Roach. Mary's latest book Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex has just been released in paper book. Roach, one of my very favorite authors, and I had a few seconds to chat recently the night before she left on the book tour for the paper back release of the book. (Read my first interview with Roach from 2005.) In her latest work Roach looks at the history of sex and the role that science has played in helping humankind figure out just how our body parts work. Roach is at her very best in Bonk - traveling in person to view a penile surgery, visit a sex toy manufacturer and even participating in a ultrasound study of intercourse. (Don't worry there's more about this below.) Roach approaches her subjects with a simple dedication that is endearing. It also helps that her observations about the subject and the individuals she comes across are hilarious. Coming from another author a book like Bonk might be creepy or awkward by Mary's humor and observation make Bonk and her other titles pure joy to read.

Roach's past titles include the immensely popular Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (once featured prominently in a plot on Six Feet Under) and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. With Stiff, Mary took an unprecedented look into the sometimes stomach-churning uses for human bodies after death. It is fascinating, horrifying, incredibly informative and oddest of all, funny. With Spook, Roach looked at the history of clairvoyants and psychics and the human preoccupation with forging contact with the beyond. Roach is a detective who will stop at nothing to make the right connections in order to get unbelievable access to the subject at hand.

Already a Roach fan? Mary drops a hint about her next book below...


Kelly Hewitt: One of my questions has to do with something that you allude to but never fully reveal. I am trying to think of an appropriate way of wording this ... In Bonk you write about your interest in a particular study taking place that you are only able to visit and learn more about if you serve as a test subject. In perhaps your most outrageous and hilarious attempt to get access to the subject of your book you sign you and your husband up to be part of a study taking place in England in which researchers are taking ultrasound 4-D images via MRI of couples engaged in the act of intercourse while inside the actual MRI machine (There's a question here I promise.) You explain your husband's involvement by saying that you lured him with the free trip to Europe by offering him details about an exciting new study.

Did he really find out about your scheme only after arriving and was his initial reaction to the idea?

Mary Roach: It was worse than an MRI. It was ultrasound, which means the operator is standing right next to you, holding the wand to your skin. Actually my skin. Before Ed knew any details, he was all enthusiastic. As in, "Hey, sex research! Sign me up!" Then he entered the denial stage, choosing to focus on the free trip to England. And finally, as Dr. Deng walked down the hallway toward us, he entered the final stage: glumness and despair and horror. I did let him know what he was in for before we left, though I don't think he really thought it through. People ask us how we could do it. It was less like sex and more like some awkward medical procedure that you just have to get through.

Kelly: I imagine that being the husband of Mary Roach entails a great many adventures in the name of research. What other kind of crazy things have you had him do?

Mary: I dragged him to a Mars/Venus John Gray couples seminar, poor thing. Nothing else crazy that I can think of.

Kelly: In the chapter "Re-Member Me" you write about another research trip in which you head to Taipei to witness male genital extensions and surgeries. Having seen the actual surgeries and knowing what you know now would you ever encourage your husband to have a similar procedure?

Mary: I didn't witness any enlargement or enhancement, just surgical treatments for ED. And those are surgeries of last resort, for men whose ED doesn't respond to Viagra or its cousins. So, no, I surely would not. Maybe when he's 90...

Kelly: I know that I meant to ask this question the last time that we chatted. Were you told that your book Stiff would be a major plot point in the final season of Six Feet Under or was that a surprise?

Mary: I knew that they'd asked permission to show the book (like Norton would ever have said no!), but did not know what they had planned. I assumed it would just be a prop -- a book on Nate's nightstand or some such. The way they used it was utterly a surprise.

Kelly: In Bonk you offer the reader a very interesting rundown of the history of what you call the pioneers of human sexual response. For readers who haven't had a chance to read the book which of the pioneers (who all have equally delightful and unsettling stories) did you find to be most compelling?

Mary: Robert Latou Dickinson. He's the dude who got Kinsey to drop wasp research and get into sex research. Gynecologist in the early 1900s. Way ahead of his time. SUNY Downstate in NYC has a huge collection of his plaster castingss of vulvas. I also like the behaviorist John B. Watson -- the first to study humans having sex in a lab (him and his mistresss).

Kelly: As funny as it is Bonk, like your other two books, packs in a good deal of detailed information. I walked away from this book knowing a great deal about all sorts of anatomical anomalies. I haven't had a chance yet to use a story about Marie Bonaparte, the great-grand niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, who literally had some of her sexual necessities moved like one my uproot a tree but I am sure that the opportunity is just around the corner.

Have you heard of any instances in which one of your books has been used to teach a class (presumably collegiate)?

Mary: Bonk is part of the curriculum in at UT Austin (sexuality class) and one other school. Both Spook and Stiff have been used as a freshman reading "common book" at universities. Stiff gets used in anatomy classes and in high school writing classes.

Kelly: I know it is very soon to be asking but, you've written about the science of corpses, ghost/spirits and now sex. Where do you plan on going next?

Mary Roach: Next one has to do with the fabulous insanity of space travel.

Blast From the Past: Loaded Questions Interview with Mary Roach

This week's Blast from the Past is an interview I did with Mary Roach, author of Stiff, Spook, and the brand new Bonk. Those of you who visit Loaded Questions often know that I get weak in the knees whenever Mary Roach is mentioned. We have maintained contact over the last couple of years and when she sent me a copy of her new book a few months ago I had the chance to email her back and tell her what parts I liked the most. She said that my boyfriend and I, who have a ritual of reading her books out loud before bed and laughing till we cry, are her favorite fans. I am sure she says that to all of her fans but I have certainly been pretending that's not the case.

I wrote a few months ago about starting to read the book, you can read my thoughts and praises of the new book by clicking here.

I emailed Mary this evening to see about doing another interview, which we had discussed doing a few months back. I will let everyone here know the moment I hear back. In the meantime here is my first interview with Mary Roach in which she discusses her best-selling Stiff and first mentions Bonk.




Kelly Hewitt: Despite the often times dour and serious nature of your books, you come across as a very funny and witty person. Is that something that comes naturally during the writing process or is it something that you go back later to add in?

Mary Roach: When I'm very lucky, and material is great and I'm in a relaxed mood and the moon is in the right position and maybe I've had a martini, it comes naturally. But usually I go back and try to massage it a bit, make it stand and deliver. I'm very hard on my prose. It's got to earn its keep or out it goes. I so envy writers who just sit down and pour it straight out into the keyboard. Bastards.

Kelly: One of the things that I like most about your work is the fact that you use such interesting ways of gaining the information necessary for your books. You're sending emails to scientific experts, soliciting guidance from strangers in India, and inviting yourself all over the place. Has there ever been a contact that you were nervous about making or that didn't work out very well?

Mary: I'm always nervous about the initial overture, because I'm usually digging around in fairly sensitive subject areas. Most of these researchers are very wary of getting critical or scornful media coverage. I worry that they're going to do a Google search on me, realize the sort of shenanigans I'm up to, and just hit the Delete button. It's kind of amazing that they don't. I mean, there's really nothing in it for them. It's exposure, but not the kind they really want (unlike, say, a New York Times piece). I'm always SO grateful to the ones who agree to put up with me. People are amazing.

Kelly: A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to see the Bodies Exhibit in Las Vegas. The exhibit is full of bodies preserved and then put on display in various poses, offering an unprecedented view of the human body. Have you been to see this particular exhibit?

Mary: I didn't see the show, but I saw a couple of Bodies bodies in the process of being plastinated, in Roy Glover's lab at U of Michigan -- back when I was researching Stiff. I'm all for these shows, with one caveat. This is a hugely profitable entertainment venture disguised as a purely educational endeavor. So I'm a little uncomfortable with using unclaimed bodies. I'd feel better if all the bodies were people who had given their enthusiastic and specific consent to be used this way. Personally, I think it'd be a cool way to end up. Beats the crap out of rotting in a hole in the dark.

Kelly: So far you've tackled the ins and outs of the human cadaver and the scientific search for the soul. What's next for Mary Roach?

Mary: More bodies in strange labs, but live ones this time. The working title of the next book is; BONK: Sex in the Laboratory. It's a humdinger.

Kelly: Where can those of us who're big fans of your writing get a Roach fix?

Mary: I think that my Salon.com columns are still in the archives.

Kelly: I was reading the introduction to Jessica Mitford's 1996 update of The American Way of Death in which she discusses the very strong response which the funeral industry had towards her when that book was originally published in 1963. You mention her book as a source when you were writing "Stiff". While the books aren't totally alike, they both tackle aspects of death that are sometimes not discussed. Did you have any backlash from certain parts of society when your book was published?

Mary: I expected a lot of backlash, though wasn't sure who from. As it turned out, I got almost none. I think that a book like Stiff self-selects for the right audience. in other words, anyone who is squeamish or very delicate isn't giong to buy or read a book called Stiff. Except for that darn Washington Post reviewer....

Kelly: I personally had not had much knowledge of The American Way of Death until I read your book. When did you first discover it?

Mary: I read it just before my mother died, about 10 years ago. When she actually died, I was all prepared to do battle with the undertaker. I made my brother take off his Rolex, so they didn't steer us to the most expensive caskets, etc. As it turned out, the guy was very low-key, very kind. He actually said, "You don't have to embalm her if you don't want to. It's not summer." He was the direct opposite of what Mitford
had portrayed in her book.

Kelly: What sort of books, movies, and music do you like?

Mary: Books by Bill Bryson, Bill Buford, Adam Gopnik, David Sedaris, Dave Barry, Michael Chabon, Birkhard Bilger, Susan Orlean. Films by the Coen brothers, Robert Bresson, Herzog, Wim Wenders (The American Friend especially), almost anything from that golden era in the 70s (Mean Streets, Rancho Delulxe, Five Easy Pieces...).

What I'm Reading: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

There are some rather exciting books coming out in the next couple of months. I have been lucky enough to get a hold of a few of them. Here's a few of the books that make up the very special stack that sits beside my reading chair.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
By Mary Roach
April 7th, 2008

Few things make me as giddy as the release of a new book by Mary Roach. Her past titles include the immensely popular Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (once featured prominently in a plot on Six Feet Under) and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. With Stiff, Mary took an unprecedented look into the sometimes stomach-churning uses for human bodies after death. It is fascinating, horrifying, incredibly informative and oddest of all, funny. With Spook, Roach looked at the history of clairvoyants and psychics and the human preoccupation with forging contact with the beyond. Roach is a detective who will stop at nothing to make the right connections in order to get unbelievable access to the subject at hand.

For that last two weeks I have had nothing but a smile on my face and it isn't purely because the holidays are over (at last). The reason is that Mary Roach, who I occasionally email and feel flattered every time she responds, sent me an advanced copy of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex! Mary and I had chatted about the release of this book for several months and so when it arrived in a small package I was elated. Bonk, which is due to be released in April of 2008, is about the history of the scientific research of sex. Roach writes about famed American biologist and sexologist Alfred Kinsey as well as a slew of other scientists who have worked hard and heavy to understand some of the more subtle aspects of human sex and how things work.

I am happy to report that Bonk is every bit as good as Mary Roach's two previous books. Those not fully comfortable with the human body and some of the more biological aspects of what happens during coitus should probably think twice. Anyone who appreciates science, history, and a witty look at sex will find that Bonk includes tons of information that should have been included in the talk about the birds and the bees. I will be finished with the book in a matter of days! Loaded Questions will be doing feature on the book and author Mary Roach in March which will include an author interview with the author. Click here to read an interview I conducted with Mary Roach a year ago.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex can currently be pre-ordered with a sizable discount here.