Enthusiasm, Fact-Checking, and Persistence

Mary Roach is the author of seven nonfiction books, including Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.

"In these realms of the taboo, there's a tremendous amount of material that is really interesting, but that people have stayed away from. ... I'm kind of a bottom feeder. It's down there on the bottom where people don't want to go. But if that's what it takes to find interesting, new material, I'm fine with it. I don't care. I'm not easily grossed out. I don't feel that there's any reason why we shouldn't look at this. And over time, I started to feel that ... the taboo was preventing people from having conversations that it would be healthy to have."

Show notes:

• @mary_roach
• maryroach.net
• Roach on Longform
• 00:00 Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (W.W. Norton • 2021)
• 01:00 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (W.W. Norton • 2003)
• 01:00 Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (W.W. Norton • 2008)
• 01:00 Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (W.W. Norton • 2010)
• 01:00 Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (W.W. Norton • 2014)
• 02:00 "Cute Inc." (Wired • Dec 1999)
• 12:00 Roach's Salon archive
• 46:00 "Hot Seat" (Discover • Mar 1998)

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