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How should we write about the body?
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The write stuff Breezy or serious: how would you like to read about your body, wonders Shaoni Bhattacharya many animals eat their faeces? organ deserves more attention. In its bid to be fun, Gulp falters Taking us on a tour of evolution in proving the importance of and the body, Loke reminds us your gut. At times, the levity and the placenta is much more than constant digressions in lengthy hospital waste. It is the gateway and frequent footnotes, are and the gatekeeper between plain irritating. And rather than mother and child, important not providing colour, Roach’s detail just in the fetus’s survival and can border on the baffling: “The assassin [from the game Assassin’s “Roach has a researcher dab hydrochloric acid Creed] bisects another citizen onto her arm to get a feel while René and his wife discuss for being eaten alive” the thermostat…” In stark contrast is immunologist Y. W. (Charlie) growth but also in promoting Loke’s first foray into popular nurturing behaviour in the science. Life’s Vital Link is mother by, for example, subtly charged with Loke’s dedication affecting the mother’s brain to to the placenta through years prepare her for the baby’s arrival. of research. His powerful Loke tackles the serious conviction and authority business of the immunology of persuades us that this neglected the placenta and the orchestra
THE human heart is inspiration for both medicine and romance. The brain commands tomes dedicated to its mysteries, while the eye is held to be a masterpiece of evolutionary ingenuity. But no such adulation is given to two other, vital parts of the human anatomy: the placenta and the alimentary canal. To judge by two new books, it should be. Almost opposite in style, the books commend, applaud and probe these parts – sometimes literally, sometimes disgustingly. The first, by bestselling science writer Mary Roach, is aptly named Gulp: Adventures on the alimentary canal. It’s not the first time Roach has put herself in the frame, for Bonk she had sex with her husband under lab conditions. True to form, she features in ways that pique your interest though it might make you gulp with apprehension, and perhaps a little disgust. For example, our author chews on “tampons” to extract saliva in a saliva lab, puts her hand into a cow’s rumen to experience its grinding action, and eats raw narwhal skin. Roach even has a researcher dab her arm with hydrochloric acid to get a feel for being eaten alive. Nice. The book is in parts funny and entertaining, and answers such offbeat questions as, can you eat yourself to death? Can we set fire to burps and farts, and why do so Inside story: the placenta is the gateway between mother and child
GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty
Gulp: Adventures on the alimentary canal by Mary Roach, Oneworld/W. W. Norton, £11.99/$24.95 Life’s Vital Link: The astonishing role of the placenta by Y. W. Loke, Oxford University Press, £16.99/$29.95
of hormones it conducts. How the placenta is involved in pregnancy is hugely complex, given the fetus is essentially a foreign body growing in a woman whose immune system must not reject it. Writing about all this is not an easy task, and at times his prose loses momentum, reverting to an academic language which makes the content hard to digest. But where we can follow, it is fascinating. For example, Loke tantalises us with ideas about the importance of the placenta to women seeking fertility treatment. For instance, the development of the placenta is a constant tug of war between maternal and paternal genes, which can have knock-on effects for the fetus. Given that importance, Loke raises questions about how the placenta’s growth may be altered by the lab environments of fertility clinics. It feels like the answers to some of the most pressing fertility questions are somewhere in this book for Loke to tease out. I really hope he does tease them out – perhaps time with the support of editors who help him hone his promising writing skills. With his rich knowledge and experience, what Loke offers is tough-minded and valuable in understanding and unlocking many puzzles. While Loke may learn to appeal to scientist and non-scientist, Roach’s accessibility is, oddly, a problem. Despite hanging out with scientists and becoming a lab rat herself, there is a danger she may alienate more scientific readers. While she is a master of popular science writing, she does make you wonder if there is a middle ground between the two kinds of books about the body. n 15 June 2013 | NewScientist | 49
The write stuff Breezy or serious: how would you like to read about your body, wonders Shaoni Bhattacharya many animals eat their faeces? organ deserves more attention. In its bid to be fun, Gulp falters Taking us on a tour of evolution in proving the importance of and the body, Loke reminds us your gut. At times, the levity and the placenta is much more than constant digressions in lengthy hospital waste. It is the gateway and frequent footnotes, are and the gatekeeper between plain irritating. And rather than mother and child, important not providing colour, Roach’s detail just in the fetus’s survival and can border on the baffling: “The assassin [from the game Assassin’s “Roach has a researcher dab hydrochloric acid Creed] bisects another citizen onto her arm to get a feel while René and his wife discuss for being eaten alive” the thermostat…” In stark contrast is immunologist Y. W. (Charlie) growth but also in promoting Loke’s first foray into popular nurturing behaviour in the science. Life’s Vital Link is mother by, for example, subtly charged with Loke’s dedication affecting the mother’s brain to to the placenta through years prepare her for the baby’s arrival. of research. His powerful Loke tackles the serious conviction and authority business of the immunology of persuades us that this neglected the placenta and the orchestra
THE human heart is inspiration for both medicine and romance. The brain commands tomes dedicated to its mysteries, while the eye is held to be a masterpiece of evolutionary ingenuity. But no such adulation is given to two other, vital parts of the human anatomy: the placenta and the alimentary canal. To judge by two new books, it should be. Almost opposite in style, the books commend, applaud and probe these parts – sometimes literally, sometimes disgustingly. The first, by bestselling science writer Mary Roach, is aptly named Gulp: Adventures on the alimentary canal. It’s not the first time Roach has put herself in the frame, for Bonk she had sex with her husband under lab conditions. True to form, she features in ways that pique your interest though it might make you gulp with apprehension, and perhaps a little disgust. For example, our author chews on “tampons” to extract saliva in a saliva lab, puts her hand into a cow’s rumen to experience its grinding action, and eats raw narwhal skin. Roach even has a researcher dab her arm with hydrochloric acid to get a feel for being eaten alive. Nice. The book is in parts funny and entertaining, and answers such offbeat questions as, can you eat yourself to death? Can we set fire to burps and farts, and why do so Inside story: the placenta is the gateway between mother and child
GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty
Gulp: Adventures on the alimentary canal by Mary Roach, Oneworld/W. W. Norton, £11.99/$24.95 Life’s Vital Link: The astonishing role of the placenta by Y. W. Loke, Oxford University Press, £16.99/$29.95
of hormones it conducts. How the placenta is involved in pregnancy is hugely complex, given the fetus is essentially a foreign body growing in a woman whose immune system must not reject it. Writing about all this is not an easy task, and at times his prose loses momentum, reverting to an academic language which makes the content hard to digest. But where we can follow, it is fascinating. For example, Loke tantalises us with ideas about the importance of the placenta to women seeking fertility treatment. For instance, the development of the placenta is a constant tug of war between maternal and paternal genes, which can have knock-on effects for the fetus. Given that importance, Loke raises questions about how the placenta’s growth may be altered by the lab environments of fertility clinics. It feels like the answers to some of the most pressing fertility questions are somewhere in this book for Loke to tease out. I really hope he does tease them out – perhaps time with the support of editors who help him hone his promising writing skills. With his rich knowledge and experience, what Loke offers is tough-minded and valuable in understanding and unlocking many puzzles. While Loke may learn to appeal to scientist and non-scientist, Roach’s accessibility is, oddly, a problem. Despite hanging out with scientists and becoming a lab rat herself, there is a danger she may alienate more scientific readers. While she is a master of popular science writing, she does make you wonder if there is a middle ground between the two kinds of books about the body. n 15 June 2013 | NewScientist | 49