Illinois Science Council is thrilled to welcome brilliant and hilarious science author Mary Roach to Chicago.  In collaboration with the Chicago Public Library, ISC invites you to see Mary Roach in conversation with Rebecca Skloot, author of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”  These two highly acclaimed and bestselling science writers will provide a fascinating discussion about Roach’s new book, “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal” and the writing process associated with science-based literature.

From the Washington Post:

The irresistible, ever-curious, and always best-selling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside.

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.

Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.

Books are available for purchase and the authors will autograph books at the program’s conclusion.  Click on the book jacket below to learn more about Gulp from Amazon.