Mary Roach

Mary Roach is a popular science writer and the author of four celebrated books, Stiff (W.W. Norton, 2003), on human cadavers; Spook (W.W. Norton, 2005), on scientific efforts to verify the existence of an afterlife; Bonk (W.W. Norton, 2008), on the awkward marriage of science and sex; and Packing for Mars (W.W. Norton, 2010), on the human body in space. Her award-winning articles have run in National Geographic, Wired, New York Times Magazine, Salon, Vogue, GQ, and many other publications. She began her career in marketing at the San Francisco Zoological Society, writing press releases on topics such as elephant wart surgery. She’s been a guest on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, and lives in Oakland.