Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex | 
| Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.05
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Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 424
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0393064646
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.6
EAN: 9780393064643
ASIN: 0393064646
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex.
The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been a paying career or a diverting sideline for scientists as far-ranging as Leonardo da Vinci and James Watson. The research has taken place behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, MRI centers, pig farms, sex-toy R&D labs, and Alfred Kinsey's attic.
Mary Roach, "the funniest science writer in the country" (Burkhard Bilger of The New Yorker), devoted the past two years to stepping behind those doors. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Why doesn't Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas? In Bonk, Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm, two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth, can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to slowly make the bedroom a more satisfying place. 16 illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...
An Interesting Read July 20, 2008
Delzuki (Methuen, MA)
Bonk is about all of the past research that has been conducted on sexual intercourse from the late 1800s to the present. It is interesting to see how science, as a collective, seem to shun the topic at first then embrace it once the pharmaceuticals realized they could turn a profit on products like Viagra. This book is full of interesting tidbits of information and the author can be funny at times. The book does tend to bog down in places, but it is still interesting enough to want to keep reading.
Amusing July 17, 2008
reenum (Kansas)
I couldn't get into Roach's two previous books, but this one was excellent. She explores the fringes of the intersection between science and sex. The book includes a chapter on a Taiwanese doctor specializing in penile implants, as well a chapter on research with sex toys. The whole time, Roach maintains humor that never descends into snarkiness. Reading some of the descriptions of the experiments she conducts alone are laugh out loud funny (especially the device that turns her into a masturbatory layabout). At the same time, there is a lot of information in here about scientific research and sex that the average person will never find out unless they read Roach's book. For example, she goes in-depth into Kinsey's research and his unorthodox methods (orgies, etc.) It's fascinating and fun. By the end, I felt entertained and smarter, which is all I ask a book to do.
 Just as funny as 'Stiff' July 13, 2008
Mark R. Lewandowski (Lafayette, LA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Bonk" is just as funny as Roach's first book, "Stiff." In many ways, it's even more engaging, perhaps because the characters the author runs into aren't all dead...
Shopkeep, how much for that vaginal photoplethysmograph in the window? July 12, 2008
Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Not everyone gets their (masturbation study) funding from research grants. Some masturbation professionals get their funding from the sales of Vibrating Port-A-Pussies and Mr. Fred Jelly Dongs." - Mary Roach in BONK
"To get inside a lubricated vagina, a penis needs to be hard enough to push against the opening with one to two pounds of force. That is approximately the amount of force required to open a swinging kitchen door." - Mary Roach in BONK
Mary Roach is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, the enormously instructive and entertaining book on the uses to which human cadavers are put. As far as I'm concerned, instructive AND entertaining is about as good as it gets. With BONK, Roach has outdone herself with a read that I couldn't put down.
Science pursues sex because, after all, it's what makes the world turn. Roach first establishes the history of the science, which pretty much reached mainstream acceptance with researchers Alfred Kinsey and then William Masters and Virginia Johnson. (An excellent film about the former, starring Liam Neeson, is 2004's Kinsey.)
The meat of the book, so to speak, is the wide array of sexual behavior and physiologic functions which scientists have investigated, and which include: the sure sign of female orgasm, the location of the fabled G Spot, female orgasm as a function of clitoral-urethral separation distance, the link between female sexual pleasure and fertility, the validity of the vaginal "upsuck" concept, the validity of the penis-cervix interlock theory, cures for erectile dysfunction, the historical legal implications of male "potency", societal perspectives on masturbation, testicular transplants, penile implants, penis restoration post amputation, the physiology and structure of the clitoris, the internal mechanics of penile erection, orgasm's effect on overall physical health, the value of orgasm as exercise, the role of electroejaculation in people with spinal cord injuries, vaginal lubrication as an indicator of female sexual arousal, the nature of arousal in men vs. women, the physiologic trigger of male ejaculation, the role of hormones on the female libido, the existence of human sex-pheromones, and the qualitative measurement of sex. Juicy stuff, this.
The author's special talent, whether it be in STIFF or BONK, is her serious - but not too serious - approach to the subject matter. At any time, the reader may expect Mary to look up from her notes, cock an eyebrow, and deliver some wryly humorous aside. This is perhaps best seen in the footnotes to the text, as in the one connected to the above quote concerning the amount of penile force required for vaginal entry:
"We have three Houston researchers to thank for this statistic. In 1985, the trio attached a pressure gauge to the tip of a penis-shaped Plexiglas rod and penetrated a small group of female volunteers. It seems to me that if they wanted to approximate the surface friction that exists in real intercourse, slippery-smooth Plexiglas was a poor stand-in for penis skin. Though I suppose that when you're doing an experiment that involves penetrating coeds in your lab, surface friction is less of a concern than, say, human subjects review board friction."
As windows on otherwise esoteric or eccentric subject matter, Mary's books are without peer as reading experiences.
Finally, in case you're wondering, a photoplethysmograph is a device used to measure the amount of lubricant vaginal walls exude during sexual stimulation. As a matter of fact, I have one right here for inclusion in Mom's Christmas basket.
Another Winner July 7, 2008
otterwoman (Wappingers Falls, NY USA)
I've read her other two books as well. I'll read anything she writes.
She gets more witty as her career progresses! I liked this book very much. Writing-wise, I think it's her best. Subject-wise, you'll learn things you'll never learn anywhere else!!
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