Cover image of 'Bonk," a book about Sexology from A to Z

So, Mary Roach is a very funny person. There may be no other writer on the planet who could delve so deeply into sexology from A to Z—the mechanics, the chemistry, and the psychology of sex—while managing to unleash laughter out loud on just about every other page. The woman is a marvel.

Like Roach’s seven other widely-admired books of popular science—among them Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife; and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void—Bonk is thoroughly researched and full of insight. However, as you can tell from the titles, she picks her subjects with a twinkle in her eye. Sexology, like sex, can be a lot of fun. It’s hard to imagine a more skillful way to re-introduce jaded, well-read adults to science—for the first time since our teens, in so many cases.

Consider, for example, some of Roach’s chapter titles:

  • “Remember Me Transplants, Implants, and Other Penises of Last Resort”
  • “The Prescription-Strength Vibrator: Masturbating for Health”
  • “Sexual Intercourse as a Potential Treatment for Intractable Hiccups”

I defy any reader to point to three chapter-headings in any other book that are more provocative than those.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach (2009) 321 pages ★★★★☆

Photo of two people kissing, not drawn from this book about Sexology from A to Z
Don’t expect anything racier than this from Mary Roach’s book. It’s about science. Image: eHarmony

About that case of hiccups

Wondering about that case of hiccups? Here’s Roach explaining the matter. “Followers of sixteenth-century naturalist Li Shih-Chen [used] sun-dried, powdered wolf epiglottis. Li’s hiccup remedy, found in the Chinese Materia Medica, is probably quite effective, for in the time it takes to track and kill a wolf and sun-dry its epiglottis, even the most stubborn case of hiccups will invariably have passed.”

And here’s Roach on the difference between males and females: “I give you a sentence, my favorite sentence in the entire oeuvre of Alfred Kinsey, from Sexual Behavior in the Human Female: ‘Cheese crumbs spread in front of a copulating pair of rats may distract the female, but not the male.'”

Is there anything more to be said?

About the author

Photo of Mary Roach, author of this book about Sexology from A to Z
Mary Roach. Image: Franklin Avery – East Bay Magazine

Mary Roach is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers that explore the often hidden dimensions of science. Published from 2003 to 2021, she manages to inject humor into areas that other authors would consider far out of bounds. Cadavers. The Afterlife. Digestion. Sex. They’re all hilarious.

Roach was born in 1959 in Hanover, New Hampshire, but landed in Oakland, California years later. She now lives there. She holds a BS in psychology from Wesleyan University.

I’ve read and reviewed three of Mary Roach’s other books:

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