American - Author | March 20, 1959 -
You won't see me writing about particle physics, or even planetary geology, or chemistry. I practically failed chemistry, and if I had to write a book in any of those areas, I don't think it would go well.
Mary Roach
MeWritingBookThinkYouPhysics
Every crazy fad from the 1800s comes back or they never go away. It's like fashion, like everything's already been invented, and somebody stumbles onto it and people will always, always be looking for an answer for some vague illness they can't get a diagnosis for.
PeopleCrazyFashionLookingBack
Bodily fluids and solids are universally the most disgusting things we as human beings can come upon, but as long as they are inside us, it's part of you.
LongYouHumanInsideThingsUs
For the scientists, they're kind of puzzled and pleased that somebody finds their work interesting. It makes it fun for me. I feel like I've sort of turned over a stone that hasn't been turned over.
WorkFunMeFeelInterestingStone
I've read plenty of amazing science pieces where the writers don't hang out in labs. I just have fun doing it. And I get rewarded for it; I get gushy, especially when kids tell me they expected to be bored by my books, but weren't.
ScienceFunAmazingMeHave FunOut
If you could really guarantee that the money would be spent on something more worthwhile, I'd say, absolutely, scrap the space program, but it never works that way.
MoneySpaceYouSayWayNever
All the clothes in my closet are Oakland, California, clothes. You can't wear those anywhere else. The barometric pressure drops and then where are you?
PressureClothesYouCaliforniaWear
When I'm done with a book, I always give it to someone with expertise in the topic and tell them to flag all of my stupid mistakes.
MistakesStupidBookSomeoneDone
I spend a lot of my time on the phone, pestering people. 'What's new in your lab? Can I come visit your lab? When can I come visit your lab?' I'm basically a professional pesterer.
TimePeoplePhoneProfessionalNew
I get really excited about specific therapies, personalized therapies. Like, let's say, taking a piece of someone's tumor and testing a bunch of treatments in a lab and being able to come up with the right therapy for that specific patient.
SomeoneSayTherapyRightPatient
People are surprisingly off put just by saliva, the substance that you carry around in your mouth. You swallow it. You have no objection to it. But then it leaves your body, and you're just revolted. So it - that - just that right there to me is a fascinating thing.
PeopleMeYouMouthBodyYour Body
Editors are more concerned with the first chapters of a book; that's what everyone reads first in the bookstore or in the online sample.
BookMoreFirstEveryoneOnline
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