Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

Ever since Stiff, I have not hesitated to pick up every new book by Mary Roach and have never been disappointed. There's something about her curiosity and style that is so compelling...I think it's the footnotes:

“Here the soft palate - home turf of the uvula,* that queer little oral stalactite...

Its full medical name, and my pen name should I ever branch out and write romance novels, is palatine uvula.”“While a seaman might survive the suction and swallow, his arrival in a sperm whale's stomach would seem to present a new set of problems.

*I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words sperm, suction, swallow, and any homophone of seaman. And then call me up on the homophone and read it to me.”

Unfortunately for me, I tend to read while eating. I don't think I'm necessarily a squeamish person, but somehow reading about the preparation and performance of a fecal transplant (there's a blender involved) made my oatmeal much less palatable.