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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 80 reviews)

Another Hit!

As a fan of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers(less so of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. I received this book as a Christmas gift and read it over the course of a single day. Mary Roach has certainly scratched my itch for strange and unusual topics.

I found this to be a very brave book on her part. The willingness to lift the corner of the curtain and to even at times participate herself revealed the passion for her work as an author. In addition, as with Stiff and Spook, her writing style has just the right touch.

I don't know the subject of her current research but I will be standing in line to buy it.

Michael L. Gooch, Author of Wingtips with Spurs

December 30, 2008

Bonk

Funny look at sex. sex toys and sexual situations. Fun read. Like her other book too
December 22, 2008

Outstanding book

Bonk is very entertaining and educational. Mary Roach has the unique ability of presenting science in a very entertaining way with a bit of subtle humor inserted along the way. It is evident that much research was undertaken to arrive at this masterpiece. Guaranteed to entertain and teach you something you didn't know.
December 20, 2008

GREAT INTERVIEW WITH MARY ROACH

I heard Mary being interviewed on a podcast that I listen to on a regular basis so I went out and picked up Bonk. [...]

This book is incredible. It's witty, informative, and thorough. I just appreciate the fact that Mary can explain complex scientific research in a humourous fashion that laymen can understand. Bonk is a worthwhile successor to Stiff and Spook.
December 18, 2008

fun and informative

I loved both Bonk and Stiff. This book was entertaining and knowledgable, and MR certainly does not hold back, which I can appreciate.
The best way to approach this book is reading the chapter by itself. It is more of a motley collection of stories. The information is plently, with lots of jokes and humor in between. The 'fun' may have been a bit much, but I wasn't taking the book seriously in that way. This isn't a paper for a medical publication and it's not intended to be. The information is 'useless' sure, but somehow I don't think I could have learned this information, and infused with such excitement, through anyone else but Mary Roach.

December 12, 2008

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