Mary Roach
Author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
About the Author
Mary Roach was born and raised in Etna, New Hampshire. She has a BA degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. She spent a few years as a free-lance copy editor before she landed a job at the San Francisco Zoological Society turning out press releases. She then moved on to write humor pieces show more for such periodicals as The New York Times Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle and Sports Illustrated. Her article "How to Win at Germ Warfare" was a National Magazine Award Finalist, in 1995. In 1996, her article on earthquake-proof bamboo houses took the Engineering Journalism Award. She published several books such as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003) and Packing for Mars (2010). Mary's title Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, made the New York Times Bestseller list in 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: At TED conference 2009-02-06. Photo by Bill Holsinger-Robinson.
Works by Mary Roach
Grunt and Gulp Mary Roach Collection 2 Books Bundle - The Curious Science of Humans at War, Travels Around the Gut (2016) 3 copies
Two-Minute Revelation 1 copy
Hollywood Hills 1 copy
Cleaning Up Their Act 1 copy
Science Books Mary Roach Collection 3 Books Bundle (Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, Stiff: The Curious… (2016) 1 copy
Secrets of the Shamans 1 copy
The Prince and the Pauper 1 copy
Bamboo Solution 1 copy
1996 Sex: No Shortage Yet 1 copy
New World Pompeii 1 copy
Meteorite Hunters 1 copy
Associated Works
There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure (1998) — Contributor — 209 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Roach, Mary
- Birthdate
- 1959-03-20
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Places of residence
- Etna, New Hampshire, USA
San Francisco, California, USA
Alameda, California, USA
Oakland, California, USA - Education
- Wesleyan University (BA ∙ psychology ∙ 1981)
Hanover High School - Occupations
- columnist
copywriter
non-fiction writer - Relationships
- Rachles, Ed (husband)
- Organizations
- Salon.com
Reader's Digest - Agent
- Erin Lovett (publicist)
Jay Mandel (agent) - Short biography
- Mary Roach grew up in a small house in Etna, New Hampshire. She graduated from Wesleyan in 1981, and then moved out to San Francisco s. She spent a few years working as a freelance copy editor before landing a half-time PR job at the SF Zoo. During that time she wrote freelance articles for the local newspaper's Sunday magazine.
Though she mostly focuses on writing books, she writes the occasional magazine piece. These have run in Outside, National Geographic, New Scientist, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine, as well as many others. A 1995 article of herse called "How to Win at Germ Warfare" was a National Magazine Award Finalist, and in 1996, her article on earthquake-proof bamboo houses took the Engineering Journalism Award in the general interest magazine category. Mary Roach also reviews books for The New York Times.
Her first book, Stiff, was an offshoot of a column she wrote for Salon.com. Her other books include Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.
http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies...
Members
Reviews
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
Amusing and sad by turns. Accounts of efforts to control human/animal interactions as when bears raid garbage, protect crops and endangered species.
This book is fascinating, and also pretty gross. I can only imagine some of the faces that I made while listening to the more disgusting portions. Stiff covers a wide range of topics involving the human body and it does a great job of fitting a lot of information into a 300 page book without it feeling bogged down.
I really enjoyed a lot of Packing for Mars. There's so much information that I've never seen in any other book that I've read about space or NASA. Astronaut selection processes, space toilets, product testing, food selection, hygiene in space, etc.
But it took me a month to finish this book. Some of the chapters seemed padded out, and I didn't feel the need to pick this book up as often as would've liked. And, although I generally really like Mary Roach's books, this isn't the first time I've thought that about her writing.… (more)
But it took me a month to finish this book. Some of the chapters seemed padded out, and I didn't feel the need to pick this book up as often as would've liked. And, although I generally really like Mary Roach's books, this isn't the first time I've thought that about her writing.… (more)
Interesting book. I like the information and humor that Mary Roach brings to her books, even if some of it is gross. Who would have thought that a book about the digestive system could be disgusting?
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Statistics
- Works
- 23
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 29,028
- Popularity
- #687
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 1,423
- ISBNs
- 191
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 114
