Mary Roach

The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Bonk

Bastien Vaucher

My conclusion, a conclusion you will encounter many times in the course of these pages, is that the sexual anatomy and responses of the human female are as uniform and predictable as the weather.

I will leave you with the story of a fifty-six-year-old government officer in India who told emergency room doctors that he had cut off his penis in order to cure a longstanding case of incontinence. One of the physicians, who wrote up the case for the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, suspected deeper mental turmoil was at play, as the patient had earlier jumped into a well, in what was ruled an attempted suicide. Though given this man's flair for therapeutic over-kill, it's possible he was merely thirsty.

Women who came to him (Aethios) for contraceptive advice were told to wear a piece of cat liver in an ivory tube attached to their left foot. Though 1 suppose this might well keep you from getting pregnant, in the same way that wearing Crocs might.

Pratik M

If you couldn't digest Roach's Gulp! (get it?), you should probably stay away from Bonk. This book is even better than the travails of your alimentary canal as it aims at a much lower level i.e. your genitals. No other physiological occurrences have been more important yet have been studied so less often. 

Citing heavily from Masters and Johnson (BTW definitely watch 'Masters of Sex' on Showtime), Kinsey, et al., Roach brings her inimitable humor to the science of sex. Some chapters will have you clenching the pages a little too tightly especially for men as she describes the bravery of some men to go the extra mile for science so that we would learn. Or maybe they just didn't have any option coz they screwed up (I'm full of puns today). If you've checked out the early part of 'Orange is the New Black', you'll be not be surprised to know that women are equally unaware of their nether regions. In their defense, it's much more complex. Just like their minds. 

So if you aren't a prude and can get thru lines such as '...if you thought defecation-induced orgasm was gross, think of the other way around' and didn't throw up your dinner, then you should definitely read Bonk. Perhaps you can impress the lady with science if not with your charms.

Laura Mauler

LOVED IT. The different aspects of sex and science that the author explores are fascinating, and her writing is smart and funny. Just like in "Stiff" she goes a little overboard on the footnotes, with about one note on the bottom of every page. Luckily, these notes are hilarious or cringe-worthy (often they're both), making them worth the disruption of the main narrative.

Basically Mary Roach has been one of my favorite authors, and this book puts her solidly at the top of the heap.

A whimsical assessment of the science of sexual physiology considers the lighter side of such topics as mythologies about a woman's ability to experience orgasm and the ineffectiveness of Viagra on female pandas.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Wynter

My head is now so full of hilarious and enlightening trivia on human (and animal) sexual intercourse, I am guaranteed to be the life of the party next time I am surrounded by tipsy audience. I'm so glad I finally got around to trying out one of Mary Roach's book. She's certainly living up to her reputation of being equally funny and educational. I'll be checking out the rest of her research projects soon. Meanwhile, read this book!

Michael Springer

This book review has received a strong 'R' rating for disturbing sexual content. If you are eating, you might not wanna read this review right now. 

DON'T go into this book thinking it'll get you in the mood. In fact, it may disturb the mood right out of you.

Did you know? Before Viagra, guys who couldn't maintain a good stiffy would often have "stilts" of some sort inserted inside of their penis skin, and they would essentially wander through life with a half-boner that never went away so they could still bonk. Special pants were designed to make this perpetual-half-mast issue less obvious.

Also, apparently a lot of guys are turned on by putting stuff inside the skin of their penises. To me, this sounds like exactly the LAST thing I would EVER want to do. For those of you without a penis, let me remind you, tis quite sensitive. Picture putting a bicycle in your mouth. I expect that would be about as painful as putting a gerbil up your. . . I did mention gerbils are popular for this, right? 

ALSO, congratulations to homosexuals. In several studies, it has been suggested that homosexuals tend to be much less inhibited during sex. They tend to take their time about it much more, to spend more time with foreplay, and to communicate more actively with their mates during bonk. Apparently, heteros have a tendency to just git 'er done, then go back to watching TV. 

Because humans tend to be prudish, for many a year, all studies of sexuality were done by watching other animals doing the bonk. Unfortunately, this is a very ineffective way of studying HUMAN sexuality, since pigs and monkeys tend to orgasm in a matter of seconds and not derive a lot of enjoyment out of it. 

Also, do you know about electrical dick machines? Well, now you do! You can buy a kit to build your own machine that serves the purpose of making a plastic cock gyrate. Check out the latest issue of Boy's Life, they always encourage the buying and building of random shit--I can't tell you how many times I tried to convince my parents to let me buy a kit to build a hovercraft, but they always asked, "What are you going to do with a hovercraft?" And I would inevitably respond with, "I don't KNOW, but hovercrafts are awesome!"

Similarly, electric dick machines are awesome. 

AND, perhaps this is the most important and encouraging fact of all. SHORTER WOMEN (in general) ORGASM BETTER AND MORE OFTEN. There is science to back this up, and I don't remember the details, but I do remember the rule of thumb: the distance between belly button and vagina is a good indication of the clitoris's location. The shorter this distance, the more conveniently placed the clitoris, and the more action it will receive during bonk. 

This was quite entertaining, and I learned a lot--some of which I didn't want to know. That said, I didn't find this one as entertaining as Stiff. Bonk is similar in a lot of ways, taking the same humorous approach to the topic, and focusing on the bizarre and fascinating. If you feel like reading something that's light, fun, and able to make your genitals suck up into your body with fear, give this book a go.

Kerry Gibbons

She's done it again. Great book, learned a lot, very entertaining. Wish she would do one on the science of sleep!

I tried. I powered through to 28% before I realized I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I loved Roach's boom about cadavers, Stiff, and this seemed interesting. It has some good factoids and some disturbing studies, but the overall feeling is boredom for me. There are too many random studies with silly asides from Roach for me.

A. D. Knapp

Spooky Clair

Sherry

Zach Grosser

The Rabid Geek

Alina

Kitt

Katie 

Belle

Sara Piteira 

Alli Sweeney

Few things are as fundamental to human happiness as sex, and few writers are as entertaining about the subject as Mary Roach.Can a woman think herself to orgasm?Is your penis three inches longer than you think?Why doesn't Viagra help women - or, for that matter, pandas?Does orgasm boost fertility? Or cure hiccups?The study of sexual physiology - what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better - has been taking place behind closed doors for hundreds of years. In this fascinating and funny book, Mary Roach steps inside laboratories, brothels, pig farms, sex-toy R&D labs - even Alfred Kinsey's attic - to tell us everything we wanted to know about sex, and a lot we'd never even thought to ask.

Bonk The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Reviews

Highlights