Mary Roach

Why you should listen

Freelance writer and humorist turned accidental science journalist Mary Roach likes to ask the questions we all wonder about but are usually too polite to mention. What happens after we die, anyway? How fast do cadavers rot? Can a corpse have an orgasm?

Writing the Health & Body column for Salon.com quickened her interest in the dead -- that, and looking at the hit count for her columns on cadavers. Her books Stiff and Spook sprung out of research done for a proposed Salon column called the Dead Beat (sadly, it was killed). Her most recent book, Bonk, is a romp through the current landscape of gynecology, sex research and the adult novelty industry.

In addition to her dry (and sometimes silly) wit, Roach has a penchant for funny voices, faking her way through interviews with expert scientists, and wheedling her way into strange locales, among them a dildo factory and under the business end of an ultrasound wand during coitus.

What others say

“... she takes an entertaining topic and showcases its creepier side. And then she makes the creepy funny.” — Pamela Paul, New York TImes