2009 Dewey Decimal Project: 129 R
I picked up Mary Roach's Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife off of the "what people are reading" display at the library. I wasn't particularly interested in the subject, but I remember hearing that she's a good writer, and everything I felt like reading off my Amazon Dewey Decimal Project wish list is in the 300s, and I've already covered those this year.
Having read the book, I'm still not particularly interested in the subject, but Mary Roach is a hilarious writer, and I would definitely read something else by her. Of course, some of the funniest parts of the book are her asides and footnotes.A surgical technique recently perfected at the Swallowing Center at the University of Washington* stops rumination in its tracks.
*As opposed to the Swallowing Center at Northwestern, or the Swallowing Center at the University of Southern California, or the one at Holy Cross, or the Rusk Institute, or the Nebraska Medical Center. Of course, the original "swallowing center" is a chunk of your brainstem that coordinates chewing, gagging, vomiting, coughing, belching, and licking, all with minimal fuss and no funding from the NIH.
A later footnote tells us:Further Ometer abuse comes from the Centers for Disease Control (the Flu-O-Meter), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - their Splatometer tracks the abundance of flying insects, whose decline spells trouble for birds - and Gary Ometer, former Director of Debt Management for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. I was hesitant to phone Gary, for his title led me to expect a man of, shall we say, high scores on the Shirley Stiffness Tester, but he was a good sport about it. Gary blames shabby Ellis Island bookkeeping for his family's contribution to the Ometer situation.
I was also amused by her description of meeting Alison DuBois:Perhaps because I'd been reading a biography of the slovenly and bellicose Helen Duncan on the plane to Tucson, it did not cross my mind that a medium could look like a beauty pageant winner. DuBois has long, obedient rust-red hair that turns up just so on the ends and complements her coppery lipstick. Her blush and foundation could have been applied by airbrush, so perfect is the blending. She manages to look made-up at the same time as she looks completely natural and beautiful without device. I can no more understand how a woman does this than I can understand how a woman communicates with dead people. DuBois is paranormally good-looking.
I have to say that the first time I ever saw a picture of the real Alison DuBois, I was shocked by the way she's much, much more glamorous than her TV counterpart.
The weakest chapter in the book is the one wherein "The author enrolls in medium school." I got the sense that she didn't get much out of it but had to say something about it because she'd put in the time and money to attend.
For all that her writing is wonderful and many of her asides are entertaining, there's a spark of irritation in much of what she says about her own experience that made me think that as much as I might like to read Mary Roach's writing, I might not like spending time with her. I was also fascinated by the occasional British-sounding turn of phrase, since she's solidly American.
Having read the book, I'm still not particularly interested in the subject, but Mary Roach is a hilarious writer, and I would definitely read something else by her. Of course, some of the funniest parts of the book are her asides and footnotes.A surgical technique recently perfected at the Swallowing Center at the University of Washington* stops rumination in its tracks.
*As opposed to the Swallowing Center at Northwestern, or the Swallowing Center at the University of Southern California, or the one at Holy Cross, or the Rusk Institute, or the Nebraska Medical Center. Of course, the original "swallowing center" is a chunk of your brainstem that coordinates chewing, gagging, vomiting, coughing, belching, and licking, all with minimal fuss and no funding from the NIH.
A later footnote tells us:Further Ometer abuse comes from the Centers for Disease Control (the Flu-O-Meter), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - their Splatometer tracks the abundance of flying insects, whose decline spells trouble for birds - and Gary Ometer, former Director of Debt Management for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. I was hesitant to phone Gary, for his title led me to expect a man of, shall we say, high scores on the Shirley Stiffness Tester, but he was a good sport about it. Gary blames shabby Ellis Island bookkeeping for his family's contribution to the Ometer situation.
I was also amused by her description of meeting Alison DuBois:Perhaps because I'd been reading a biography of the slovenly and bellicose Helen Duncan on the plane to Tucson, it did not cross my mind that a medium could look like a beauty pageant winner. DuBois has long, obedient rust-red hair that turns up just so on the ends and complements her coppery lipstick. Her blush and foundation could have been applied by airbrush, so perfect is the blending. She manages to look made-up at the same time as she looks completely natural and beautiful without device. I can no more understand how a woman does this than I can understand how a woman communicates with dead people. DuBois is paranormally good-looking.
I have to say that the first time I ever saw a picture of the real Alison DuBois, I was shocked by the way she's much, much more glamorous than her TV counterpart.
The weakest chapter in the book is the one wherein "The author enrolls in medium school." I got the sense that she didn't get much out of it but had to say something about it because she'd put in the time and money to attend.
For all that her writing is wonderful and many of her asides are entertaining, there's a spark of irritation in much of what she says about her own experience that made me think that as much as I might like to read Mary Roach's writing, I might not like spending time with her. I was also fascinated by the occasional British-sounding turn of phrase, since she's solidly American.