Book Fourteen: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science

Author Mary Roach has a unique approach to exploring the unusual.  Whether it's human cadavers, ghosts, or sex, Mary's approach to popular science is both interesting and education.  In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, she explores the history of the physiology of sex science of sex and those who've attempted to study it.

From daVinci's erroneous drawings of human anatomy or modern-day Taiwanese organ implants, Roach establishes it's tough to legitimately study the science of pro-creation because of societal taboos.  We know of Kinsey and Masters and Johnson.  But do you know of Napoleon's great-grand niece, Princess Mario Bonaparte, who concerned about her own sexual frustrations, published several writings about frigidity and orgasm?

Each chapter is rife with innuendo--as to be expected, I suppose--but this reader quickly found it exhausting.  Roach overreaches in her attempts to make herself and the reader comfortable with the topic.  The author sacrifices herself and husband for the sake of sexual advancement.  Doing it in an MRI machine isn't on my bucket list.

Characteristically of all her books, Bonk contains footnotes galore and these entertaining all to themselves.  From patents to Viagra and all the sex toys in between, Roach leaves no sheet uncovered.  Dear reader, if you are looking to be titillated, you could be disappointed. As I see it, if you're looking for an entertaining read, Bonk doesn't disappoint despite being the driest of her books.  Pun not intended.