Read More: Bonk

I just finished Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. Ms. Roach did not disappoint. The first book I read by her was Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which I loved. It's a book that someone fascinated with skeletons and decaying bodies cannot resist! And what made it even better was that I could hear my dad gagging in the kitchen as he tried to eat and read this book at the same time. (He gets grossed out pretty easy). Then I read Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, which was a little bit of a let down. It was still very interesting, but a little drier. In Bonk Mary Roach's excellent wit was back and had me laughing out loud.

This book was an informative look back through the ages of sex research, with a number of shouts out to Masters and Johnson - the sex gurus from St. Louis. (Tidbit! They've even got their own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame!) Do polyester pants lead to less sex? Ever wonder what types of masturbatory items have gotten lost up a man's uretha? Toothbrush bristle end first, rat's tail, three sets of forceps... nothing too outlandish. You can find it all and much, much more in this book of sexual wonder.

I unwisely decided to choose this as my public transportation book. Knowing full well what this book was about, I didn't realize how embarrassing it would be to read beside a nine year old girl. If she decided to glance at what I was reading (which I do to everyone, so it's a definite possibility) she would see 'clitoris' every other word. I found myself worrying that people were staring at the book cover, which unlike the one on this post, clearly states the book's full title and has a picture of two ladybugs doing it. And worse yet, I had the challenge of trying to hide a picture of a man romancing a sow, without looking like I'm trying too hard to hide something.

- Megan Leigh