#4 - "Bonk" by Mary Roach

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this out of my nook library.  I had actually picked up a copy of this and the other two Mary Roach books (Stiff and Spook)  for a friend of mine who is much older and more conservative than I am.  My science geek background and natural curiosity about the topic (and the fact that it was next in order in my nook queue) had me opening the file.

OK, its not a bad book.  Some parts were downright interesting, talking about how sex has been studied over the years and some of the idiotic theories that have arisen over the centuries about how and why things happen during the most intimate act.  That was the interesting part...

Problem one was the overall structure of the book itself.  We would be in the middle of a story and I was really getting into the science of the study and theory and all of a sudden, Ms Roach would take us back to some side story that was parallel to the topic but not in stream to what we were talking about before.  Sometimes we would get back to the original scenario, sometimes not.

Problem two was the "footnotes" scattered throughout the book.  This book is listed at 329 pages, however, only 197 of them are actual in line text.  The rest took the form of footnotes and a few pages devoted to the bibliography (very necessary for citations).  Back to the footnotes.  Some of these did provide valid information regarding the subject matter at hand, in which case, I would have liked to seen these as part of the text.  Some of them were catty, snickering, immature comments that I did not find applicable to the topic.

If you are interested in sexology research and its history this is a nice overview.  If you are looking for a humorous piece about sex and science its just OK.

Goodreads rating: 2 stars
On Deck: The End of Life Book Club by Will Schwabe