Mary Roach - Style

Style

While some people might assume from the subject matter of Roach's books that she may be obsessed with death – dead bodies in Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and life after death in Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife – the common theme throughout all 4 of her books is actually the human body. Roach tells us, “My books are all, Spook is a little bit of departure because it’s more about the soul rather than the flesh and blood body, but most of my books are about human bodies in unusual circumstances.” When asked by Peter Sagal, of NPR, specifically how she picks her topics, she said, "Well, its got to have a little science, it's got to have a little history, a little humor - and something gross."

It has been said, that while Roach does not possess a science degree, she is able to take complex ideas and turn them into something that the average reader can understand; while at the same time, taking the reader with her every step of the way, from learning about the material to getting to know the interesting people who study it. According to Roach, “Make no mistake, good science writing is medicine. It is a cure for ignorance and fallacy. Good science writing peels away the blindness, generates wonder, and brings the open palm to the forehead: ‘Oh! Now I get it!’” The following quote from the introduction in her book Spook, shows us a bit of Roach's skepticism about the world around her, “Flawed as it is, science remains the most solid god I’ve got. And so I’ve decided to turn to it, to see what it had to say on the topic of life after death. Because I know what religion says, and it perplexes me. It doesn’t deliver a single, coherent, scientifically sensible or provable scenario… Science seemed the better bet.”