Bonk: The Curious Coupling Of Sex And Science - Softcover

Roach, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847672264 ISBN 13: 9781847672261

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2008

Synopsis

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, James Watson and Napoleon Bonaparte’s great grand-niece Marie. The research has taken place behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, MRI centres, pig farms, sex toy R&D labs and Alfred Kinsey’s attic. Mary Roach devoted the past two years to stepping behind those doors. The result is Bonk: everything you wanted to know but couldn’t imagine that someone in a white lab coat had studied. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Can Kegeling cure erectile dysfunction? Can Broadway musicals cause it? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? If you can transplant a face, then why not a penis? What happens if you surgically relocate your clitoris? Why doesn’t Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas? Does orgasm boost fertility? Cure hiccups? Do the earlobes swell during sex? Few things are as fundamental to human happiness than satisfying sex. Yet the funding for research, always elusive, has dwindled sharply. Bonk is both an ode to a fascinating and vital pursuit and a reminder that there is still much to learn. Sexual arousal and orgasm are two of the most complex, delightful, utterly amazing scientific phenomena on earth. Sexology, as Roach approaches it, is right up there too.

About this title

Review:

'Eye-opening...compelling stuff.' -- Independent on Sunday

'Mary Roach writes hilariously...the reader is vastly entertained.' -- The Good Book Guide

'Roach puts her quick wit to good service in this entertaining romp through sex research.' -- Independent

Bonk contains everything you ever wanted to know about the science of sex but were too afraid to ask. -- Guardian

Mary Roach's tome is different. She...has a light touch and a readably flippant tone. -- London Lite

Spry, sharp-witted and charmingly self-deprecating... Delightful. -- Sunday Times on Six Feet Over

Witty and original... Packed with more arresting details elegantly and humorously expressed than one could hope for. -- Sunday Telegraph Sunday Telegraph on Six Feet Over

terrifically witty, hugely engaging study of the way we love -- Telegraph

Book Description:

The bestselling author of Stiff and Six Feet Over sets her outrageous and insightful gaze on the most alluring scientific subject of them all: sex.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1847672264
• ISBN 13: 9781847672261
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 333