Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
by: Mary Roach
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Product Description:
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.
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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Rating: 
- Newly discovered Mary Roach, and glad I did!
"Bonk" is funny, enlightening, fascinating and, oddly, sexy in a way. Mary Roach makes her topic speak to the reader in way that keeps interest and makes her work very hard to put down. I will be reading more of Ms. Roach.
Rating: - Fun and funny, don't miss the point!
This book is very funny.The point of the book is sex research, what they do and did, where, when, how, etc... not about the act, about the research and researchers.Mary is funny and writes in a funny manner.Don't get it to learn about sex get it to learn about what people have been doing for centuries to learn about sex.
Great read, fast, and enjoyable as all of Mary's book are.
Rating: - For a good time, read Bonk
Mary Roach has created her own genre of writing, more understated than Hunter S. Thompson, but every bit as innovative and unique, perhaps even more so. She tackles touchy subjects and does it in a way that is honest and always very funny. Science, derived from the Latin, "to know," forms the central thesis of all of her books. Truly fun if you want to torture your dear husband with horror stories about penile implants and impotence cures.Every other day you hear some politician decrying the lack ... Read More
Rating: - Thanks a hell of a lot, Ms. Roach
I laughed and laughed over Roach's first two...and gave them to my mother as gifts.She also laughed out loud at them.So I was hoping to get some easy xmas shopping done here and get her third book for mom...but obviously that is not going to happen.This third book is just as funny and interesting, but hell if I can get it for my mother.Thanks a lot, Mary, and you owe me a mom-appropriate gift idea this year.
Rating: - 4.5 Stars for a Humorous Quest on the Life of Sex Scientists
I read the British paperback edition of 2008. Mary Roach, who has tackled Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife in a popularly funny and fascinating way, now takes a close look at what scientists have indulged in, when it comes to sexuality. There may be some enlightenment on sexuality itself, however, this book is more about what various scientists from around the world have concerned themselves with and how they have approached their sexual agendas. Which ... Read More
- Newly discovered Mary Roach, and glad I did!"Bonk" is funny, enlightening, fascinating and, oddly, sexy in a way. Mary Roach makes her topic speak to the reader in way that keeps interest and makes her work very hard to put down. I will be reading more of Ms. Roach.
- Fun and funny, don't miss the point!This book is very funny.The point of the book is sex research, what they do and did, where, when, how, etc... not about the act, about the research and researchers.Mary is funny and writes in a funny manner.Don't get it to learn about sex get it to learn about what people have been doing for centuries to learn about sex.
Great read, fast, and enjoyable as all of Mary's book are.
- For a good time, read BonkMary Roach has created her own genre of writing, more understated than Hunter S. Thompson, but every bit as innovative and unique, perhaps even more so. She tackles touchy subjects and does it in a way that is honest and always very funny. Science, derived from the Latin, "to know," forms the central thesis of all of her books. Truly fun if you want to torture your dear husband with horror stories about penile implants and impotence cures.Every other day you hear some politician decrying the lack ... Read More
- Thanks a hell of a lot, Ms. RoachI laughed and laughed over Roach's first two...and gave them to my mother as gifts.She also laughed out loud at them.So I was hoping to get some easy xmas shopping done here and get her third book for mom...but obviously that is not going to happen.This third book is just as funny and interesting, but hell if I can get it for my mother.Thanks a lot, Mary, and you owe me a mom-appropriate gift idea this year.
- 4.5 Stars for a Humorous Quest on the Life of Sex ScientistsI read the British paperback edition of 2008. Mary Roach, who has tackled Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife in a popularly funny and fascinating way, now takes a close look at what scientists have indulged in, when it comes to sexuality. There may be some enlightenment on sexuality itself, however, this book is more about what various scientists from around the world have concerned themselves with and how they have approached their sexual agendas. Which ... Read More
