Gross Anatomy
A Field Guide to Loving Your Body, Warts and All
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3.3 • 25 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An honest, funny, neurotic, and totally gross love child of Mindy Kaling and Mary Roach.
Mara Altman's volatile and apprehensive relationship with her body has led her to wonder about a lot of stuff over the years. Like, who decided that women shouldn't have body hair? And how sweaty is too sweaty? Also, why is breast cleavage sexy but camel toe revolting? Isn't it all just cleavage? These questions and others like them have led to the comforting and sometimes smelly revelations that constitute Gross Anatomy, an essay collection about what it's like to operate the bags of meat we call our bodies.
Divided into two sections, "The Top Half" and "The Bottom Half," with cartoons scattered throughout, Altman's book takes the reader on a wild and relatable journey from head to toe--as she attempts to strike up a peace accord with our grody bits.
With a combination of personal anecdotes and fascinating research, Gross Anatomy holds up a magnifying glass to our beliefs, practices, biases, and body parts and shows us the naked truth: that there is greatness in our grossness.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
From stubborn chin hairs to boob sweat and body odor in general, the dangerously funny Mara Altman analyzes how icky it sometimes feels to be a woman. With razor-sharp wit and a fondness for goofy puns, Altman reveals deeply personal anecdotes that pinpoint the awkwardness of the human body, from scalp to toenail. But Gross Anatomy is also remarkably well-researched, with an unexpectedly exacting level of forensic detail. Blending the gleeful frankness of Lindy West and the journalistic curiosity of Mary Roach, Altman thoughtfully encourages us to embrace our physical bodies.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Altman (Thanks for Coming) boldly explores parts of her body that are both a source of shame and wonder in this delightfully crass collection of essays. From nipple hair to hemorrhoids, from the evolution of mammalian sex noises to why dogs are frequently drawn to "vag scent," nothing is off-limits in Altman's line of interrogation. She manages to keep readers engaged by polishing her bodily exposition with journalistic details, pausing her narrative for interviews with experts on every subject at hand. In one essay, on "copulatory vocalizations," she consults an evolutionary biologist, two psychologists, a neuroscientist, and an anthropologist. "Maybe if you aren't busy hollering during sex, you have the space in your brain to develop advanced sensory sensitivity in your vagina," she posits after a conversation with the neuroscientist. It is this level of research coupled with her unique shade of humor that sets her series of essays apart.
Customer Reviews
“ The people tended to pick the more attractive them “
( me ) *Looks at the photos, looks at the real me *. NAH. * looks at the pretty me * LOL NO WAY * looks at the ugliest version of me *
THERE I AM