Author Profile: The curious writing of Mary Roach

In the course of her career, author Mary Roach has done some pretty wild things.

Things like drinking recycled urine and, at one point, persuading her husband to get intimate with her inside an MRI machine. All in the name of science, of course.

Sampling urine was research for her 2010 book, 'Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.” The MRI exploits were for 2008's 'Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.”

Roach, who also is author of 'Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife,” 'Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” and most recently, 'Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal,” will speak Monday at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City as part of the University of Iowa's Visiting Writers Series.

With topics ranging from space travel to the digestive system, Roach says she finds potential book topics everywhere. The genesis of 'Bonk” came when she stumbled on a mention of films related to the cervix.

'I thought, ‘Wow, that is some kind of bizarre, awkward science,' ” she says. 'I'm always looking for something that has a little bit of science, a little bit of humor, a little bit of history.”

Not every idea ends up in a book.

'I would love to be a writer-in-residence at the Vatican. That would be the best book ever,” she says. 'I was raised Catholic and find the Catholic church utterly fascinating. But I don't want to poke around in that world in the way I poke around. Religion is sacred to people. I'm afraid it would come across as flippant and disrespectful.”

Other topics she won't tackle: particle physics, genetics and neuroscience. The Oakland, Calif., resident doesn't have a science background despite building her career exploring scientific topics.

'I treat my sources as unpaid tutors. I don't hesitate to say, ‘Can you just go over some basics with me.' I'm always skating on thin ice a little bit,” she says. 'It very much limits what I can and can't cover.”

Though her books mix science, history and sociology with a heavy dose of humor, not everything she tackles is funny.

'Sometimes it's tough. In ‘Stiff' there is a chapter about TWA Flight 800 and the forensics that were done on the bodies of the crash victims,” she says. 'I wrote that chapter with those people's families kind of looking over my shoulder.”

Sometimes one idea won't work, but leads to something better. One project started with someone she knows who works at a bed rest facility, where scientists study bone loss and muscle atrophy to try to figure out the long-term effects of space travel on astronauts. 'People lie in bed for three or four months. I thought that was an interesting scene, and the people who did it sounded interesting,” she says. 'I thought maybe I'd write something on guinea pigs, on people who are part of science experiments.”

That idea fell through but turned into the starting point of 'Packing for Mars.”

'I'm always tripping over these wonderful little nuggets of evidence of an alien universe,” she says.

AUTHOR LECTURE

What: Mary Roach Visiting Writers Series lecture

When: 8 p.m. Monday

Where: The Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

Cost: Free