E-Book Overview
The best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex.The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been a paying career or a diverting sideline for scientists as far-ranging as Leonardo da Vinci and James Watson. The research has taken place behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, MRI centers, pig farms, sex-toy R&D labs, and Alfred Kinsey’s attic. Mary Roach, “the funniest science writer in the country” (Burkhard Bilger of The New Yorker), devoted the past two years to stepping behind those doors. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Why doesn’t Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas? In Bonk, Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm, two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth, can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to slowly make the bedroom a more satisfying place.
E-Book Content
MARY
ROACH
b e s t - s e l l i n g a u t h o r of
STIFF
BÔN T h e C u r i o u s C o u p l i n g of S c i e n c e a n d Sex
ISBN 9 7 8 - 0 - 3 9 3 - 0 6 4 6 4 - 3
USA
$24.95
Can. $24.95
In Bonk, t h e b e s t - s e l l i n g a u t h o r o f Stiff t u r n s h e r o u t r a g e o u s c u r i o s i t y and infectious wit on the m o s t a l l u r i n g s c i e n t i f i c s u b j e c t o f all: s e x .
THE STUDY OF SEXUAL
PHYSIOLOGY—what
h a p p e n s , a n d why, a n d h o w t o m a k e it h a p p e n b e t t e r — has b e e n a p a y i n g career or a diverting sideline for s c i entists as far-ranging as L e o n a r d o d a Vinci a n d J a m e s W a t s o n . T h e research has t a k e n p l a c e b e h i n d t h e c l o s e d d o o r s of laboratories, brothels, MRI centers, pig f a r m s , sex t o y R&D labs, a n d Alfred Kinsey's attic. M a r y R o a c h , " t h e funniest s c i e n c e writer in t h e c o u n t r y " (Burkhard Bilger of The New
Yorker),
devoted
t h e p a s t t w o years t o s t e p p i n g b e h i n d t h o s e d o o r s . C a n a p e r s o n t h i n k herself t o o r g a s m ? C a n a d e a d m a n get an erection? Is vaginal o r g a s m a m y t h ? W h y d o e s n ' t Viagra help w o m e n — o r , Bonk,
for that
matter, p a n d a s ?
In
R o a c h s h o w s us h o w a n d w h y s e x u a l a r o u s a l
a n d o r g a s m — t w o of t h e m o s t c o m p l e x , delightful, a n d a m a z i n g scientific p h e n o m e n a o n e a r t h — c a n b e so hard t o achieve a n d w h a t s c i e n c e is d o i n g t o slowly m a k e t h e b e d r o o m a m o r e satisfying place.
MARY ROACH The Curious
Lives
of Human
Science
Tackles the Afterlife.
Outside,
Wired, National
Times
Magazine,
is t h e a u t h o r of Stiff:
Cadavers
and
Spook:
Her w r i t i n g has a p p e a r e d in
Geographic,
a n d t h e New
York
a m o n g m a n y other p u b l i c a t i o n s . S h e
lives in O a k l a n d , California.
Jacket design by The DesignWorks Group, David Uttley Jacket photograph by André Karwath Author photograph by David Paul Morris Printed in the United States of America
SCIENCE
A D V A N C E PRAISE FOR
BONK
"I w o u l d read Mary R o a c h o n t h e history of Q u o n s e t h u t s . B u t M a r y R o a c h o n s e x ? T h a t ' s a g o d s e n d ! This b o o k is—if not better t h a n t h e a c t i t s e l f — t h e n a hilarious a n d e n t e r t a i n i n g alternative."
— A . J . J