Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt

Author: Erika Engelhaupt

Title: Gory Details 

Publisher: National Geographic 

Published: 2021

Pages: 304

Genre: Non-Fiction / Scince 

 

     Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wacky, funny, and informative narrative takes us on a fascinating journey through the astonishing world of science. With Erika Engelhaupt, founding editor of National Geographic's Gory Details blog, as your guide, all your weirdest and wildest fascinations will be illuminated. From the biologist who endured countless honeybee stings to test which spot was the most painful to the dollhouse-sized replicas of crime scenes built to analyze blood splatter to NASA's enduring dilemma--do women need to have their periods in space?--this entertaining book explores oft-ignored but alluring facets of biology, anatomy, space exploration, nature, and more. 

     When I was a kid I liked to do what I called experiments out in the garden. Now If I'm honest best as I can remember this seems to involve adding a lot of things I found to mud soup. Who knows at this point what I was hoping to achieve by all this but I'm sure I had a great explanation at the time. Now whilst I did not end up going into any sort of scientific field as an adult I have always enjoyed reading about how our world works for the life of animals and the solar system right down to the very building blocks of what we call life. So in coming across Gory Details it simply gave me another excuse to delve back into this world. And to be perfectly frank about the whole thing the child in me still loves to read all about the disgusting things that are floating about in the world out there. So how could I really let my inner child down by not grabbing a copy and diving right in? 

     So through the course of the book Engelhaupt manges to cover a great many fields in the world of strange and gross science. From the dining habits of flies to would your dog eat you if given half a chance, these are just but a couple of the topics touched on. Now obviously these are not subject matters that are going to bring you great happiness but for me, it feels like rubbernecking on the freeway. You know you shouldn't look but you can't but help yourself.   So with each new gorry and grosses fact that is thrown at you deeper don't the rabbit hole you fall. I do believe however that as you travel along this strange little journey Engelhaupt goes a long way in demystifying all this weirdness. After all, it is not like she has made anything up throughout the course of this book. She is merely taking the natural world apart and showing us its inner workings. Maybe this has all become gross to us the further away from the natural world we find ourselves. Although I would point out here that at least a couple of the topics tackled here no matter how in touch with nature you are still are downright disgusting. 

     For me, I think this book hits at a little catered too market. Yes, there are a great many books for kids that deal with disgusting things in the world. But I can only think of a handful that are actually aimed at a more adult audience which I feel is a great shame. I too want to know about the gross and disgusting things that go on in the world. And whilst yes I could obviously just read those ones for kids some subject matters you would rather keep away from them at all costs. So for me, this author has hit on a great thing to give us the readers.  And whilst such a book could end up feeling like a great many dry facts being thrown at you Engelhaupt has managed to also bring a great deal of humor to her work so you can simultaneously find yourself grossed out, laughing, and learning which is a great feat if ever I saw one.  She is like those teachers we had back in school, the ones that really made a difference to your time there and you still think about to this day. And for me, this is one of the greatest attributes I can attach to someone who has gone out of their way to teach us a little about something they are clearly passionate about.

     Gory Details was a great book for me to have picked up at the moment. It not only gave me a break from my usual genres of reading but managed to teach me something new on every page. The author has made a book that as an adult I could enjoy learning from with the feeling that things were being dumbed down for a much younger audience. And whilst I will still try and expand my knowledge with nonfiction reading it is also nice just sometimes to be able to have a good laugh whilst you do so.  If any of you are looking gross, cringy, or laughable learning this is definitely going to tick a great many boxes for you.