Editors Reads Verdict
Roach's funniest book and her most technically challenging subject — she handles both the science and the social awkwardness of sex research with her characteristic intelligence and wit.
What We Loved
- The historical sections on early sex research are fascinating and largely unknown
- Roach's willingness to attend research sessions and report from inside the laboratory gives the book authenticity
- The footnotes are, as always, their own comedy
Minor Drawbacks
- Some readers find the subject matter uncomfortable despite Roach's non-prurient approach
- The episodic structure means the book doesn't build toward a single argument
Key Takeaways
- → Sex research has been systematically underfunded and stigmatised throughout scientific history, to the detriment of human health
- → Most of what we think we know about sexual anatomy and physiology was unknown or wrong until surprisingly recently
- → Scientists who study sex deal with the same discomfort from colleagues and institutions as anyone else — perhaps more so
| Author | Mary Roach |
|---|---|
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
| Pages | 320 |
| Published | April 1, 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Popular Science, Non-Fiction, Humor |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Readers who enjoyed Stiff or Packing for Mars and want Roach's method applied to a subject that is simultaneously taboo and universal. |
Science in a Difficult Room
Mary Roach begins Bonk with a confession: she is attending a study at a research hospital in which couples are measured during sex, and she has brought her husband because the study requires participants to arrive in pairs. The scene is simultaneously mortifying and illuminating, and it establishes Roach’s method: she goes to the primary sources, attends the actual research, and reports what she finds without squeamishness or prurience.
The historical sections are revelatory. Victorian physiologist John Hunter conducted the first systematic observations of sexual anatomy. Masters and Johnson’s laboratory work in the 1960s was both groundbreaking and deeply strange. The various researchers who have spent careers studying topics their colleagues consider at best marginal and at worst embarrassing are treated by Roach with the same respect she gives to everyone who does serious science in difficult conditions.
Why It Matters
Sex research is, as Roach documents in detail, underfunded, poorly understood by the public, and regularly attacked by politicians and religious groups. The consequences are medical: conditions like dyspareunia (painful sex) affect a significant portion of the population and receive almost no research attention. Female sexual dysfunction in particular has been systematically ignored.
Bonk makes the case for taking sex research seriously by making readers laugh at the researchers who do it — and then making clear that the laughter is affectionate rather than dismissive.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Bonk" about?
Mary Roach investigates the science of sex — from the Victorian researchers who conducted the first systematic studies to modern laboratory work on arousal, anatomy, and dysfunction. She attends research sessions, interviews scientists, and reads the primary literature with the same deadpan curiosity she applies to corpses and astronauts.
Who should read "Bonk"?
Readers who enjoyed Stiff or Packing for Mars and want Roach's method applied to a subject that is simultaneously taboo and universal.
What are the key takeaways from "Bonk"?
Sex research has been systematically underfunded and stigmatised throughout scientific history, to the detriment of human health Most of what we think we know about sexual anatomy and physiology was unknown or wrong until surprisingly recently Scientists who study sex deal with the same discomfort from colleagues and institutions as anyone else — perhaps more so
Is "Bonk" worth reading?
Roach's funniest book and her most technically challenging subject — she handles both the science and the social awkwardness of sex research with her characteristic intelligence and wit.
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