...by Mary Roach, subtitled 'Adventures on the Alimentary Canal'. Published by W.W.Norton Co., in 2013. She is such an entertaining writer, any of her work you would choose to pick up will cause you to be captivated by her humor, as well as thorough research. Other books include "Stiff", which goes into fascinating/creep-you-out detail about what happens to the physical remains when a person dies. In "Stiff", I discovered there is an actual body farm, where cadavers are left in the open air to decompose naturally, to allow forensics students to study, evaluate over time as they observe how insects and bacteria recycle human remains. This one is subtitled 'The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.'
Another book is "Bonk", subtitled as 'The Coupling of Science and Sex.' "Packing for Mars" is about space travel, and what life will be like for humans making long-distance voyages, subtitled 'Life in the Void.' All her writing is packed with interviews, footnotes, obscure facts, trivia, voluminous research into journals and conversations with knowledgeable scholars in the various fields.
"Gulp" will provide more than you wanted to know about the eating and digestion process, but done in such a witty manner you will be intrigued, rather than repulsed. From food preferences and taste buds to the end product as fuel travels the full length of your alimentary process. Informing about how and why, with much detail from experts in various organs along the journey. Interesting bits of obscure data from professionals in institutions and universities from coast to coast.
"...there is a point at which efficiency crosses over into lunacy, and the savings in money or resources ceases to be worthwhile in the light of the price paid in other ways." (p.80)
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