Books: Gulp by Roach
Gulp is a book that starts with sniffing beer and ends with Elvis's constipation, or at least you might *hope* it ends at the constipation chapter - there's actually one more ....uncomfortable chapter after it. In Mary Roach's forward, she claims "I thought this would be gross, but its really interesting. Okay, and maybe a little gross." P19
Roach has previously written about the historical scientific studies on human copulation. On the uses and activities of cadavers. On the inventions and training required for space exploration. Each of these books has been absolutely fascinating, extremely hilarious, and teasingly educational. The footnotes rival Sir Terry Pratchett. I particularly like the one that is obviously a response from a brand name blender manufacturer. This is not dry boring textbook work, but it is a study of the alimentary canal, of how (and what) we eat.
Questions you are dying to ask the scientist who study this stuff but would heasitate as being off topic, get asked. To the sensory consultant for the brewing industry, how would she choose between an IPA and a Budwiser. "I'd get Bud... People pooh pooh bud. It's an extremely well made beer. It's clean, it's refreshing. If you are mowin gather lawn and you come in and want something refreshing and thirst quenching you wouldn't drink the IPA" p 29. Now me, in that situation, I'd have lemonade. Beer is for flavor, otherwise why put up with the downsides?
There are interesting factoids and myth-shattering. Saliva is apparently really vile. When the scientists study it (and the variety of ways they extract are curious), they need to get it capped off ASAP, as once its out of your own mouth, it is not only taboo but nauseously smelly. Also, the notion that food smells make your mouth water is erroneous. The feeling is an artifact of having attention to the interior of the mouth - you are suddenly aware of the spit. Like you are now, after having read this paragraph. Sorry.
Once you learn of how something's actually work, you may have other ideas, or wonder if other notions occurred to inventors, which lead us to delightful sentences like "Laundry detergent is essentially a digestive tract in a box" p 109
"People who's saliva contains a lot of salt are slightly oblivious to it in their food" p 113
"We sealed off the cloaca of a dead python and inserted an airline down the esophagus." As you do, when wondering if a snake would bust from the struggles of the prey. Now I'm picturing python balloons. P175
The phrase"you don't know shit" can be refuted with the diagram on page 307. There are times I'd wished to have a common vocabulary so I could describe something, and apparently, so do excretologists. Now you know.
Not only is the evolution and functionality of the entire digestive tract covered, so is the maintenance and repair, including the overuse of antibacterials and the now burgeoning notion of replacement of micro flora. "Kissing is a less aggressive form of bacterial transplant....Periodontically speaking, an affair might be viewed as a form of bacteriotherapy." P 323
The spoilers above should be counted as teasers - the book contains a lot of great information delivered in Roach's usual witty style. Highly recommended.