Mary Roach is the author of several books of science journalism that cover the spectrum of sex, space travel, and cadavers. In Gulp we follow our food from mastication to, well here is an excerpt from the book, “Yes, men and women eat meals. But they also ingest nutrients. They grind and sculpt them into a moistened bolus that is delivered into a self-kneading sack of hydrochloric acid and then dumped into a tubular leach field, where it is converted into the most powerful taboo in history.”
On the way through the digestive system Roach takes detours like how dog food is "tested" and how the term "hoopers" was coined, while also sharing tidbits, like why some people are troubled by beans and others are spared, how much saliva the average person produces and more. Roach is endlessly fun to read while giving the reader some rather graphic insight into our complex digestive system.