W.W. Norton & Company, April 2008
In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Mary Roach pulls back the covers on the men and women who over the years have exhibited the greatest interest in an already arousing subject - doctors, scientists, and researchers who have risked reputation, career, and in fact their very freedom probing the topic of sex in every way imaginable. As Roach tells it, "Their lives are not easy. But their cocktail parties are the best!"
Roach begins with Alfred Kinsey, best known for his surveys in the 1940's and 50's of thousands of Americans concerning their sex lives, the results of which are published in two bestselling volumes. Less known are Kinsey's "attic tapes," secret recordings of thirty sexual encounters that took place on a mattress in Kinsey's own attic. Kinsey and his compatriots were hardly the first scientists to take the study of sex into their own hands, but they did lay the foundation for the myriad sexual studies that would follow during the latter half of the 20th century, studies which would become the subject of Mary Roach's fascinating and highly entertaining book.
In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Mary Roach pulls back the covers on the men and women who over the years have exhibited the greatest interest in an already arousing subject - doctors, scientists, and researchers who have risked reputation, career, and in fact their very freedom probing the topic of sex in every way imaginable. As Roach tells it, "Their lives are not easy. But their cocktail parties are the best!"
Roach begins with Alfred Kinsey, best known for his surveys in the 1940's and 50's of thousands of Americans concerning their sex lives, the results of which are published in two bestselling volumes. Less known are Kinsey's "attic tapes," secret recordings of thirty sexual encounters that took place on a mattress in Kinsey's own attic. Kinsey and his compatriots were hardly the first scientists to take the study of sex into their own hands, but they did lay the foundation for the myriad sexual studies that would follow during the latter half of the 20th century, studies which would become the subject of Mary Roach's fascinating and highly entertaining book.
The subject matter of Bonk ranges widely for how seemingly focused it is. Subtopics include plastic mechanical penis cameras, the "hands free" breath and energy orgasm, how "neuticals" can restore your neutered pet's self-esteem, and a comforting word on crooked penises from renown (and enthusiastic) Taiwanese urological surgeon, Dr. Geng-Long Hsu:
"Most men are communists! Lean to the left! Second most common: bow down, like Japanese gentleman! Number three, to the right. Four up! Like elephant!"
Roach delivers on all fronts - from the demonstration of a sex machine (no, not James Brown) at San Francisco's Center for Sex and Culture to a recent ultrasound study explaining the correlation between the clitoris and the G-spot; from the "postage stamp method" of diagnosing erectile dysfunction (ED) to the ancient Greek notion of conception being the result of the commingling of male semen with female semen.
"Most men are communists! Lean to the left! Second most common: bow down, like Japanese gentleman! Number three, to the right. Four up! Like elephant!"
Roach delivers on all fronts - from the demonstration of a sex machine (no, not James Brown) at San Francisco's Center for Sex and Culture to a recent ultrasound study explaining the correlation between the clitoris and the G-spot; from the "postage stamp method" of diagnosing erectile dysfunction (ED) to the ancient Greek notion of conception being the result of the commingling of male semen with female semen.
Yes, it is actually way more than you ever wanted to know about sex. There is an entire chapter on Danish pig insemination and a section describing a study in which Middle Eastern scientists fitted rats with polyester pants to uncover the fabric's negative effects upon sexual arousal. Roach, however, is always engaging and frequently hilarious in her presentation of these arcane studies. As an added bonus, the author throws herself vigorously into her work, voluntarily submitting to a vaginal photoplethysmograph (a device that measures the amount that the vagina is engorged with blood and indirectly, sexual arousal), test-driving the Eros "clitoral therapy device," and dragging her husband, Ed, to London where a doctor films the couple in delicato flagrante with an ultrasound device:
Dr. Deng starts by taking some still images. He reaches across Ed to hold the ultrasound wand to my belly. His arm rests on Ed's hip, a curiously intimate touch in an encounter otherwise strangely devoid of intimacy. For the still images, we must hold still for several seconds, like Victorians posing for a tintype, only not like Victorians posing for a tintype.
"Now please make some sort of movement," says Dr. Deng. And then, in case it's not clear, in case Ed might be contemplating flapping an elbow or saluting the flag, he adds, "in and out."
In Bonk, Mary Roach showcases the trademark sense of humor and fully-engaged approach to her research that popularized her previous books, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. The result is the most fascinating and hilarious romp through the scientific study of sex you will ever read.
"Now please make some sort of movement," says Dr. Deng. And then, in case it's not clear, in case Ed might be contemplating flapping an elbow or saluting the flag, he adds, "in and out."
In Bonk, Mary Roach showcases the trademark sense of humor and fully-engaged approach to her research that popularized her previous books, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. The result is the most fascinating and hilarious romp through the scientific study of sex you will ever read.
