Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Why not distract yourself from the workings of the world with the workings of your own insides?

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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…or more frequently, the misfiring insides of others. Fistulated fellows? Check. Elvis and his mega-colon? Check. Taste-testing pet food, pus, rancid oil, and/or the saliva of others? All yours and more to spare! I like to, for the most-part, enjoy nonfiction via audio books. Frequently, I wander around the house doing whatever needs doing while playing books through a speaker. While I whole-heartedly recommend Gulp, I do NOT recommend subjecting innocent bystanders (sorry, husband!) to the dirty work within. Not everything here is gross. And really, […]

Your Gut is a Wonderland

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Most Underated Organ by Giulia Enders

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Gut  was originally published in  Germany  and then translated a few  years   later.  It does lose a little in translation (the humor works better in German). Overall this is a good introduction to what’s going on from the spoon all the way to the bowl, so to speak. At the time Ender’s wrote this book she was a medical student. As a teenager she’d had health issues that were difficult to diagnose, which spurred her interest in the gut. Since this book was published there […]

You can die from constipation. Just ask Elvis Presley’s doctor.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

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CBR11bingo: Science If you do a Google search for “how did Elvis Presley die,” most answers will mention prescription drugs and cardiac arrest. Until I read Gulp, I hadn’t heard that the King had what’s known as a megacolon, which is exactly what it sounds like: a big-ass large intestine. According to his personal physician George Nichopoulos, the condition gave Elvis such terrible constipation that Nichopoulous had to administer laxatives and enemas on an almost daily basis. Whether the condition was the result of genetics […]

That’s More Like It, Mary!

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I have no idea why the author & book information was left out; it is there in the draft. Anyway, the book is Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach. This is the purchase link: http://www.amazon.com/Gulp-Adventures-Alimentary-Mary-Roach/dp/0393081575. Ah, this is what a Mary Roach book should be.



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