Mary Roach

Mary Roach was born in Hanover, New Hampshire{{cite web|url=http://www.maryroach.net/maryroach.html|title=Mary Roach, Author of Packing for Mars, Stiff, Spook and Bonk|work=maryroach.net}} Her family moved to Etna, a village within the town of Hanover, and Roach attended Hanover High School and received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University in 1981.

File:MaryRoach head.jpg

After college, Roach moved to San Francisco, California, and spent a few years working as a freelance copy editor. Her writing career began in the public affairs office of the San Francisco Zoological Society, producing press releases on topics such as wart surgery on elephants. On her days off from the SFZS, she wrote freelance articles for San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday magazine, Image.{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=About Mary|url=http://maryroach.net/maryroach.html|access-date=21 July 2012}}

She has written essays and feature articles for such publications as Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Discover Magazine, National Geographic, Outside Magazine, and Wired{{cite episode |series=The Writers' Block |date=2006-01-18 |url=http://www.kqed.org/arts/profile/index.jsp?essid=5104 |first=Mary |last=Roach |title=Spook |network=NPR |station=KQED-FM |access-date=2012-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112150302/http://www.kqed.org/arts/profile/index.jsp?essid=5104 |archive-date=2013-11-12 |url-status=dead }} as well as columns for Salon.com, In Health ("Stitches"), Reader's Digest ("My Planet"), and Sports Illustrated for Women ("The Slightly Wider World of Sports"),{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=Mary Roach|url=http://www.kqed.org/arts/profile/index.jsp?essid=5104|publisher=KQED|access-date=21 July 2012|page=KQED Arts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112150302/http://www.kqed.org/arts/profile/index.jsp?essid=5104|archive-date=12 November 2013|url-status=dead}} and Inc.com.

From 1996 to 2005, Roach was part of "the Grotto", a San Francisco-based project and community of working writers and filmmakers. It was in this community that Roach got the push she needed to break into book writing.{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016080053/http://www.sfgrotto.org/people/past-members/ |date=2015-10-16 }} Archived from [https://www.sfgrotto.org/people/past-members/ the original] on 12 August 2016. While being interviewed by Alex C. Telander of BookBanter, Roach answered the question of how she got started on her first book:

A few of us every year [from the Grotto] would make predictions for other people, where they'll be in a year. So someone made the prediction that, 'Mary will have a book contract.' I forgot about it and when October came around I thought, I have three months to pull together a book proposal and have a book contract. This is what literally lit the fire under my butt.{{cite AV media|first= Alex C.|last= Telander|title=Audio Interviews|chapter=Episode 7: Mary Roach|date=1 May 2009|publisher=BookBanter|time=4:45|url=https://archive.org/download/BookBanterEpisode007-AnInterviewWithMaryRoach/episode07withmaryroach.mp3|access-date=12 August 2016|format=MP3}}

Although Roach writes primarily about science, she never intended to make it her career. Roach stated in an interview with TheVerge.com, when asked what exactly got her hooked on writing about science, "To be honest, it turned out that science stories were always, consistently, the most interesting stories I was assigned to cover. I didn't plan it like this, and I don't have a formal background in science, or any education in science journalism."{{cite news |first=Katie |last=Drummond |date=2013-04-17 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/17/4230242/science-writer-mary-roach-everything-i-learn-is-pretty-shocking-and-weird |title=Science writer Mary Roach: 'everything I learn is pretty shocking and weird' |work=The Verge}}

Roach has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including The Daily Show,{{cite episode |series=The Daily Show |title=Mary Roach on Gulp |url=http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-1-2013/mary-roach |date=2013-04-01}}The Colbert Report,{{cite episode |title=Mary Roach |series=The Colbert Report |series-link=The Colbert Report |season=1 |number=15 |date=November 9, 2005 |url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/181165/november-09-2005/mary-roach}} Coast to Coast AM,{{cite web |url=http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/roach-mary/6602 |title=Mary Roach |work=Coast to Coast AM}} NPR's "Fresh Air",{{cite web |title=In Digestion: Mary Roach Explains What Happens To The Food We Eat |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/04/01/175381702/in-digestion-mary-roach-explains-what-happens-to-the-food-we-eat |website=npr.org |publisher=npr |access-date=4 May 2021}} and C-SPAN2 BookTV "In Depth."{{cite web |title=Mary Roach on the C-SPAN Networks |url=https://www.c-span.org/person/?maryroach |website=c-span.org |publisher=c-span |access-date=4 May 2021}} Her 2009 TED talk{{Cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=Mary Roach {{!}} Speaker {{!}} TED|url=https://www.ted.com/speakers/mary_roach|access-date=2020-08-15|website=www.ted.com|language=en}} "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Orgasm",{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jx0dTYUO5E | title=Mary Roach: 10 things you didn't know about orgasm | TED | website=YouTube | date=20 May 2009 }} made the organization's list of its most popular talks of all time.{{cite web |title=The most popular talks of all time |url=https://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all |website=ted.com |access-date=4 May 2021}}

File:Mary Roach in Zero Gravity.jpg while researching Packing For Mars]]

Roach reviews books for The New York Times and was the guest editor of the Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 edition. She also serves as a member of the Mars Institute's Advisory Board, as an ambassador for Mars One{{cite web|url=http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one/ambassadors/mary-roach|title=Mary Roach|work=Mars One}} and an advisor for Orion magazine.{{cite web |title=Advisor List for Orion Magazine |url=https://orionmagazine.org/advisors/ |website=orionmagazine.org |publisher=Orion Magazine |access-date=4 May 2021}} She has been an Osher Fellow {{cite web |title=Mary Roach Osher Fellow |url=https://www.exploratorium.edu/collaborations/oshers/mary-roach |website=exploratorium.edu |date=16 August 2017 |access-date=4 May 2021}} at the San Francisco Exploratorium and has served on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=Mary Roach|url=https://twitter.com/mary_roach/status/218423308587237376|publisher=Twitter|access-date=5 July 2012|date=28 June 2012}}

Roach currently resides in Oakland, California, where she continues to write.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-28 |title=Mary Roach |url=https://www.eastbaymag.com/mary-roach/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=East Bay Magazine |language=en-US}}

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers was a New York Times Bestseller, a 2003 Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" pick, and one of Entertainment Weekly{{'s}} "Best Books of 2003." The book has been translated into at least 17 languages, including Hungarian (Hullamerev) and Lithuanian (Negyvėliai). Stiff was also selected for the Washington State University Common Reading Program in 2008–2009.{{cite web|last=Pullman|title=Common Reading Program welcomes author Mary Roach |url=https://news.wsu.edu/2008/09/12/common-reading-program-welcomes-author-mary-roach/#.U1fcQ_ldU5o |work=WSU News |access-date=22 July 2012|date=12 September 2008}}

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, a New York Times Bestseller, was listed as a New York Times Notable Books pick in 2005. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, was chosen as the New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, was among The Boston Globe{{'s}} Top 5 Science Books, and was listed as a bestseller in several other publications.{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=Spook:Science Tackles the Afterlife|url=http://maryroach.net/spook.html|access-date=21 July 2012}} In 2011, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, was chosen as the book of the year for the seventh annual "One City One Book: San Francisco Reads" literary event program.{{cite web|title=One City One Book 2011|url=http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000255701|access-date=5 July 2012|location=San Francisco Public Library|year=2011}} Packing for Mars was also sixth on the New York Times Bestseller list.{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=Packing for Mars|url=http://maryroach.net/packing-for-mars.html|access-date=21 July 2012}} Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal was also a New York Times Bestseller and on the shortlist for the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29987159 | title=Materials book wins Royal Society Winton Prize | publisher=BBC | date=10 November 2014 | access-date=11 November 2014 | first=Melissa| last=Hogenboom}}

Roach was the recipient of the Harvard Secular Society's Rushdie Award{{cite web|last=Chandonnet|first=Sarah|title=Author Mary Roach to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award|url=http://harvardhumanist.org/2012/03/29/mary-roach/|work=Humanist Community Project At Harvard|publisher=Harvardhumanist.org|access-date=29 July 2012|date=29 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628074200/http://harvardhumanist.org/2012/03/29/mary-roach/|archive-date=28 June 2012|url-status=dead}} in 2012 for her outstanding lifetime achievement in cultural humanism. The same year, she received a Special Citation in scientific inquiry from Maximum Fun. Her article on earthquake-proof bamboo houses, "The Bamboo Solution",{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=The Bamboo Solution |url=http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/thebamboosolutio784/?searchterm=mary%20roach |work=Discover Magazine|access-date=22 July 2012|date=June 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407085806/http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/thebamboosolutio784/?searchterm=mary%20roach |archive-date=2014-04-07}} took the American Engineering Societies Engineering Journalism Award in the general interest magazine category in 1996. In 1995, Roach's article "How to Win at Germ Warfare"{{cite web|last=Roach|first=Mary|title=How to Win at Germ Warfare|url=http://slhspapbio.pbworks.com/w/file/50059298/How%20to%20Win%20at%20Germ%20Warfare.pdf|publisher=slhspapbio|access-date=22 July 2012}} was a National Magazine Award finalist.{{cite web |url=http://www.magazine.org/health-2 |title=Health |publisher=MPA – the Association of Magazine Media |access-date=2014-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917135420/http://www.magazine.org/health-2 |archive-date=2016-09-17 |url-status=dead }}

File:Mary Roach at TED in 2009.jpg in 2009]]

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|0-393-32482-6}} {{OCLC

|55230887}})

• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|0-393-32912-7}} {{OCLC|76884889}})

• Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|978-0-393-06464-3}} {{OCLC|930702693}})

• Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|978-0-393-06847-4}} {{OCLC|1291915151}})

• The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 (editor, 2010, Mariner Books)

• Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (2013, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|978-0393081572}} {{OCLC|811599508}})

• My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places (2013, Penguin Publishing; {{ISBN|978-1621450719}} {{OCLC|822892403}})

• Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (2016, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|978-0-393-24544-8}} {{OCLC|953133374}}){{cite journal|last1= Gussman |first1=Neil |title=Military Solution |journal=Distillations |date=2017|volume=3|issue=1 |pages=38–41 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/military-solution|access-date=April 13, 2018}}

• Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (2021, W. W. Norton & Company; {{ISBN|978-1-324-00193-5}} {{OCLC|1233265880}})

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{{commons category|Mary Roach}}

{{Library resources box|by=yes|about=no}}

• {{official website|http://www.maryroach.net/}}
• {{C-SPAN|1005672}}
• [http://www.tested.com/science/537932-talking-room-adam-savage-interviews-author-mary-roach/ Interview by Adam Savage]

{{Mary Roach}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from Hanover, New Hampshire

Category:American science writers

Category:American medical writers

Category:American women medical writers

Category:American magazine writers

Category:American humorists

Category:Wesleyan University alumni

Category:American skeptics

Category:Mars One

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American women science writers

Category:American women humorists

Category:Writers from New Hampshire