Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex | Mary Roach | Sex, Science, Mary Roach: how can...

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex | Mary Roach | interesting and oh my goodness funny

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Bonk: The Curious ...

	Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Mary Roach W. W. Norton, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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. 16 illustrations.

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Sex, Science, Mary Roach: how can you go wrong?

Mary Roach's first big book was a kind of multidisciplanary exploration of the history of human cadavers, and it friggin' rocked. Her latest, Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, follows a similar pattern: vast piles of scholarly research, some fun and disturbing field trips, and a lot of unlikely facts wrapped up in a book as clear and fun to read as a best-selling novel.

The only accusation that I could launch at Bonk with the hope of it sticking would be that its organization is loose, almost like a stream of consciousness conversation or a series of loosely realted articles. Each chapter is quite good in and of itself, and they all relate back to the main topic, but they're mostly hung together with loose segues that amount to "that made me wonder about [insert topic of next chapter here]".

That being said, Bonk is a great read: ranging from stuff you probably already know a few things about (like orgasms), to stuff you'd never have guessed (surgically adding an extra ball was very popular once). Roach, as is her great talent, manages to take a dizzying array of information and present it in a manner that's not merely accessible, but genuinely funny. When I read the footnote about Priapus - the roman god for whom four hour-plus erections are named - I laughed so hard I drooled a little.

That's about the only drooling I did when I was reading Bonk; for a book about sex, it's surprisingly unerotic. Then again, it's a book about science, and if anything could excise the eros out of sex, it's probably the rigors, repetitions, and incredibly dry language of science. Roach herself sometimes reads as frustrated by the arid descriptions and piles of lifeless data she had to sift through to find drops of interesting imagery. These she presents upon a golden platter of prose, as relieved to have found something entertaining to write about as the readers are to skip the boring research.

If you like science, and you like sex, you'll probably like this book. Or, to follow that logic to its conclusion, if you don't like this book, you're probably a moron and a liar.

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interesting and oh my goodness funny

Well, the Queen is a scientist by training and therefore a student of finer points of the exchange of genetic matter. In addition, the Queen has been studying chromosomal exchange for many, many years now and has successfully created an F1 generation of her own. In the 1970s genetic exchange was a much more casual matter and the various and sundry methods of exchange were a matter of her intense interest. However, the Queen LEARNED A LOT from Ms Roach's excellent, ribald and informative book. Pigs. Who knew? In addition to being a worthy and descriptive text, the study of the scientific endeavors of Masters and Johnson and the ilk is fascinating in and of itself. You have to admire the intense curiosity of these folks and the ingenuity of their various "methods". I also found satisfying (if you will) the final chapter where the key to transformative genetic exchange encounters was revealed. I will not spoil it for you but suffice it to say that I found it to ring true. I recommend this book with some reservations as the prurient will not find Ms Roach's sense of humor palatable.

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A Documentary on Paper...

If this book were not about sex, I probably would have put it down. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot and I appreciate Mary doing this research. When I read a book I like to discuss it with others who have also read it, but I can't get anyone else to read it. They get bogged down in the nonfictional aspect where she names the researcher and the school financing the research and they just don't want to read on. I, on the other hand, thought the whole project was excellent!

I thought most amazing were the involunary acts the human body undergoes in order to reproduce. Anyone trying NOT to become pregnant had BETTER be on top of their birth control, because the body itself has a different agenda. I was enlightened on the causes of ED -the veins. I thought it was mostly phychological, and would have been devastated in a few years as, my husband is not getting any younger...but there are treamtments, thank goodness for the more modern ones...and the modern views. I thought the ending was a let down as I read it, but an hour or so later, her point hit me and it sort of made me sad. The whole thing about gender empathy, which makes homosexual sex presumably better than heterosexual relations was a revelation that couples do need to talk about what feels good. These conversations must be specific and deliberate.

Mary Roach's sense of humor comes through on every page! And her little interjections at the bottoms of the pages were almost a distraction, but knowing her humor, I read every one of them. Great book, Mary. I can't wait for your next book.

Kimberly G. Anderson
www.goodgirlonline.com

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Who says science is dry?

Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, turns her eye and wit to the history of sex research. She examines the history, controversy, and amusing anecdotes that surround the study of sex, excitement, orgasm, and desire. Unlike studies using cadavers, studies of human sexuality have been around for less than a century (with a couple of rather amusing exceptions). Like cadaver studies, there are regulations, taboos, and difficulties connected to the field. One of the most glaring problems is finding volunteers!

Overall, this is an excellently researched book. Roach reviewed and researched studies in the field, examined current studies, and even volunteered for some studies that didn't allow visitors. Reading the works cited page is one of the funniest things I've done in a long time, and that was after reading about how she had to convince her husband to have sex with her in an MRI so she could get information about an ongoing study.

The topics include examining how arousal differs from men and women (the section considering the differences between how each views porn was fascinating), showing how the exact function and actions of all the fun parts actually work (this history of this is amazing), and describing the equipment used to figure out all this information. The book is informative and a useful read for anyone interested in the field, anyone looking to understand (scientifically) how to improve their sex lives, and anyone who is interested in the history of medical research. Her style parallels her style in Stiff. However, there she used a great deal of gallows humor. In this book, she uses a great deal of raunch humor, which gets a tad bit old after a few chapters. She also greatly overuses footnotes, which distracts from reading (and the reason this book didn't get ranked a 5 star).

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Roach is awesome and funny as usual....

As usual, Mary Roach delivers a funny and entertaining book you would be talking about during a conversation about sex. Every chapter is full of interesting anecdotes on how scientists and psychologists do sex research. If you loved "Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers" you will like "Bonk; the curious coupling of science and sex".

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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