Mary Roach (born March 20, 1959) is an American author specializing in popular science and humor. She has published six

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

bestsellers: '' Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'' (2003), '' Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife'' (2005), '' Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex'' (2008), '' Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void'' (2010), '' Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal'' (2013), and '' Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War'' (2016).

Early life and education

Mary Roach was born in

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...

Her family moved to Etna, a village within the town of Hanover, and Roach attended Hanover High School and received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in 1981.

Career

After college, Roach moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and spent a few years working as a freelance

copy editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual of ...

. Her writing career began in the public affairs office of the San Francisco Zoological Society, producing

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

s on topics such as

wart Warts are typically small, rough, hard growths that are similar in color to the rest of the skin. They typically do not result in other symptoms, except when on the bottom of the feet, where they may be painful. While they usually occur on the ...

surgery on elephants. On her days off from the SFZS, she wrote freelance articles for San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday magazine, ''Image''. She has written essays and feature articles for such publications as ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', ''

Discover Magazine ''Discover'' is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It has been owned by Kalmbach Publishing since 2010. History Founding ''Discover'' was created primarily through the efforts of ''Time'' m ...

'', '' National Geographic'', ''

Outside Magazine ''Outside'' is an American company and magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of ''Outside'' was published in September 1977. History Outside founders were Jann Wenner (the first editor in chief), William Randolph Hearst III (its first ...

'', and ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' as well as columns for ''

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

,'' In Health ("Stitches"), ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' ("My Planet"), and ''

Sports Illustrated for Women ''Sports Illustrated Women'' (previously called ''Sports Illustrated for Women'') and also known as ''SI Women'', was a bimonthly sports magazine covering (according to its statement of purpose) "the sports that women play and what they want to fo ...

'' ("The Slightly Wider World of Sports"), and Inc.com. From 1996 to 2005, Roach was part of " the Grotto", a San Francisco-based project and community of working writers and filmmakers. It was in this community that Roach got the push she needed to break into book writing. Archived fro
the original
on 12 August 2016. While being interviewed by Alex C. Telander of BookBanter, Roach answered the question of how she got started on her first book:

A few of us every year rom the Grottowould make predictions for other people, where they'll be in a year. So someone made the prediction that, 'Mary will have a book contract.' I forgot about it and when October came around I thought, I have three months to pull together a book proposal and have a book contract. This is what literally lit the fire under my butt.

Although Roach writes primarily about science, she never intended to make it her career. Roach stated in an interview with TheVerge.com, when asked what exactly got her hooked on writing about science, "To be honest, it turned out that science stories were always, consistently, the most interesting stories I was assigned to cover. I didn't plan it like this, and I don't have a formal background in science, or any education in science journalism." Roach has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'',''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

'', ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 1 ...

'', '' NPR's "Fresh Air"'', and C-SPAN2 BookTV ''"In Depth."'' Her 2009

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

"Ten Things You Didn't Know About Orgasm", made the organization's list of its most popular talks of all time. Mary Roach in Zero Gravity

Roach reviews books for ''The New York Times,'' and was the guest editor of the '' Best American Science and Nature Writing'' 2011 edition. She also serves as a member of the

Mars Institute The Mars Institute is an international non-governmental organization created with the goals of advancing the scientific study and exploration of Mars, conducting peer-reviewed research, and educating the public about Mars exploration. It was incor ...

's Advisory Board, as an ambassador for

Mars One Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...

and an advisor for

Orion magazine ''Orion'' is a quarterly, advertisement-free, nonprofit magazine focused on nature, culture, and place addressing environmental and societal issues. It has published such authors as Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Michael P ...

. She has been an Osher Fellow at the San Francisco Exploratorium and has served on the Usage Panel of the ''

American Heritage Dictionary American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

''.

Awards and recognition

'' Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'' was a

New York Times Bestseller ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

, a 2003 Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" pick, and one of

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

's "Best Books of 2003." The book has been translated into at least 17 languages, including Hungarian (Hullamerev) and Lithuanian (Negyvėliai). ''Stiff'' was also selected for the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

Common Reading Program in 2008–2009. '' Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife,''a New York Times Bestseller, was listed as a

Notable Books pick in 2005. '' Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex,'' was chosen as the ''New York Times Book Review'' Editor's Choice, it was in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' Top 5 Science Books, and it was listed as a bestseller in several other publications. In 2011, '' Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void,'' was chosen as the book of the year for the seventh annual " One City One Book: San Francisco Reads" literary event program. ''Packing for Mars'' was also sixth on the New York Times Bestseller list. '' Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal'' was also a New York Times Bestseller and on the shortlist for the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Roach was the recipient of the Harvard

Secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

Society's Rushdie Award in 2012 for her outstanding lifetime achievement in cultural

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...

. The same year, she received a Special Citation in

scientific inquiry Models of scientific inquiry have two functions: first, to provide a descriptive account of ''how'' scientific inquiry is carried out in practice, and second, to provide an explanatory account of ''why'' scientific inquiry succeeds as well as it ap ...

from

Maximum Fun Maximum Fun is an independent podcast and radio show production organization founded and run by Jesse Thorn. The organization originated with Thorn's college radio show '' The Sound of Young America'' which continued in an adapted format and wit ...

. Her article on

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

-proof

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

houses, "The Bamboo Solution", took the American Engineering Societies Engineering Journalism Award in the general interest magazine category in 1996. In 1995, Roach's article "How to Win at Germ Warfare" was a National Magazine Award finalist.

Works

*'' Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'' (2003, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife'' (2005, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex'' (2008, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void'' (2010, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011'' (editor, 2010,

Mariner Books Mariner Books, originally an imprint of HMH Books, was established in 1997 as a publisher of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in trade paperback. Mariner is also the publisher of the Harvest backlist, formerly published by Harcourt Brace/Harcou ...

) *'' Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal'' (2013, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places'' (2013,

Penguin Publishing Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially ...

; ) *'' Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War'' (2016, W. W. Norton & Company; ) *'' Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law'' (2021, W. W. Norton & Company; )

References

External links

* *
Interview by Adam Savage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Mary 1959 births Living people People from Hanover, New Hampshire American science writers American medical writers Women medical writers American magazine writers American humorists Wesleyan University alumni American skeptics Mars One 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Women science writers American women non-fiction writers Women humorists