Author: Mary Roach
Title: Bonk : the curious coupling of science and sex
Publication Info: New York : W.W. Norton, c2008.
Previously Read by the Same Author:
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
- Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Summary/Review:
Mary Roach, the popular science writer who has the sense of humor of a 12-year-old, investigates medical research of human sexual intercourse. There are some guffaws, and Roach even volunteers for some experiments with her husband, but this book is surprisingly a straight-forward account of historical research and current studies of sex. Roach draws on the writings of famous sex experts such as Alfred Kinsey and Masters & Johnson, and interviewing and observing today’s researchers. Along the way she details with sex machines and penis cameras, erectile dysfunction treatments, artificial insemination, and the mysteries of the female orgasm. It’s an interesting account but it doesn’t feel like vital read.
Rating: ***