Quotes from Mary Roach

Follow your instincts. Do the kind of writing you love to do and do best. 'Stiff' was an oddball book - I mean, a funny book about cadavers? - and I worried that it would be too unconventional. In the end, that's what has made it a success, I think.

When someone tells me, 'Oh, we have so many problems on Earth; space exploration costs too much money,' I say, 'I absolutely agree with you. But I still hope we do it.'

Spacewalking is a little like rock climbing in that everything, including and especially oneself, must be tethered or docked at all times. If you forget to tether a tool, it's gone. Ditto yourself.

The broader the topic, the easier it is, not only to fill a book, but to set the bar pretty high for really great stuff.

When I'm done with a book, I always give it to someone with expertise in the topic and tell them to flag all of my stupid mistakes.

Footnote: In 1998, a woman in Saline, Michigan received a patent for a Decorative Penile Wrap...The patent included three pages of drawings, including a penis wearing a ghost outfit, another in the robes of the Grim Reaper, and one dressed up to look like a snowman.

People are messy, unpredictable things.

He has a minor in explosives and the slightly bitter, misanthropic personality of someone who shouldn't.

Instead, I quietly excused myself and went to the bar, to commune with spirits I know how to relate to.

the act of vomiting deserves your respect. It's an orchestral event of the gut.

In the words of the late Francis Crick...You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. (13)

I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words sperm, suction, swallow, and any homophone of seaman. And then call me up on the homophone and read it to me.

A bright light at the end of a tunnel can seem warm and inviting, or it can seem mysterious and terrifying. People of the world all working on their arts and crafts can seem like heaven or, if you're me, hell.

Religion says that your soul goes to heaven or possibly to a seven-tiered garden, or that your soul is reincarnated into a new body, or that you lie around in your coffin clothes until the Second Coming. And, of course, only one of these can be true. Which means that for millions of people, religion will turn out to have been a bum steer as regards the hereafter. (13)

Meaning 'by way of the anus'. 'Per Annum', with two n's, means 'yearly'. The correct answer to the question, 'What is the birthrate per anum?' is zero (one hopes).

Science has the answer to every question that can be asked. However, science reserves the right to change that answer should additional data become available.

Where do you find a stomach on a Thursday afternoon in Reno? Chinatown? suggests someone. Costco? Butcher Boys. Tracy pulls his phone from a pocket. Hello, I'm from the university - the catchall preamble for unorthodox inquiries.

No one is excluded from the astronaut corps based on penis size.

Sometimes courage is nothing more than a willingness to think differently than those around you. In a culture of conformity, that's braver than it sounds.

The slang for the rectum is prison wallet.

How about suicide rate. And what a shame to lose them after they've made it back. We keep them alive, but we don't teach them how to live.

think of it.' said Robert Rosenbluth, a doctor whose acquaintance i made at the start of this book. 'no engineer could design something as multifunctional and fine tuned as an anus. to call someone an asshole is really bragging him up.

I guess I feel the same way about being a corpse. Why lie around on your back when you can do something interesting and new, something useful?

The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken.