Mary Roach

Mary Roach
Mary Roach speaking at TED in 2009. Photograph by Bill Holsinger-Robinson.
Born	Etna, New Hampshire
Occupation	Author (non-fiction)
Nationality	American
Genres	Popular science
www.maryroach.net

Mary Roach is a columnist and popular science writer. Raised in Etna, New Hampshire, she holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University and currently resides in Oakland, California. To date, she has published four books: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005) (published in some markets as Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife), Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008) and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010).

Life and career

She began her writing career at the San Francisco Zoological Society, producing press releases on such topics as elephant wart surgery.^[1] In 1986, she sold a humor piece about the IRS to the San Francisco Chronicle. That led to a spate of humorous first-person essays for such publications as Sports Illustrated, Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Discover, Outside, Reader's Digest (for whom she wrote a monthly humor column) and GQ.

Roach's work has a serious edge, as well. Her book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, was selected for Washington State University's Common Reading Program in 2008-09.

Roach appeared on The Daily Show on August 2, 2010 to discuss her newest book Packing for Mars.^[2]

Bibliography

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Penguin. 2003. ISBN 978-0-393-32482-2. 
• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. W. W. Norton & Company. 2005. ISBN 978-0-393-32912-4. 
• Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. W. W. Norton & Company. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-06464-3. 
• Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. W. W. Norton & Company. 2010. ISBN 978-0-393-06847-4. 

References

External links

• Mary Roach's website
• 2011 Interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast
• Interview: Swoopy; Colanduno, Derek (August 24, 2010), "Ep. #137 - Packing for Mars", Skepticality (Skeptic Magazine), http://www.skepticality.com/packing-for-mars/, retrieved November 27, 2011 
• Video: Mary Roach discusses Bonk at BODIES...The Exhibition in New York City on 4/6/2009 (via fora.tv)
• Video: Mary Roach at the Los Angeles Public Library (Fora.tv)
• Video: Mary Roach on SlateV.com
• Video: Mary Roach's TED talk 10 things you didn't know about orgasm
• New York Times review of Spook by Janet Maslin
• New York Times review of Bonk by Pamela Paul
• HoboTrashcan's Getting to Know ... Mary Roach an in-depth feature article on Roach and Bonk
• Review of Spook; interview with author, 10-05
• BookBanter Episode 7 featuring recent interview with Mary Roach from April 23rd, 2009
• Interview with Mary Roach, mostly about Bonk on Little Atoms podcast, 27 June 2008
• Mary Roach articles for Outside magazine

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