Newsletter – February 2015
Contents
Request for input for National Board of Directors meeting
Upcoming Happy Hour
Tell your colleagues about the membership award
Check out the events calendar on our website
Review of Gulp by Mary Roach
Got questions?
Every year, representatives of each chapter join the national AMWA Executive Committee to discuss current and future AMWA activities and policies. You are invited to submit any ideas or suggestions to be discussed at this spring’s AMWA national Board of Directors meeting. Click here to read about last year’s spring meeting. AMWA belongs to all of its members—this is your chance to weigh in with any thoughts or concerns. Send your comments to Naomi Ruff (secretary@amwanorthcentral.org) no later than March 10.
Happy hour on Thursday
When: Thursday Feb. 26 from 5:00 to 7:00
Where: Grumpy’s in Roseville.
Join local AMWA members for lively, informal conversation at the quarterly happy hour networking event. All members are welcome, regardless of your job title.
You’re also encouraged to invite non-member colleagues who may be interested in learning more about our North Central AMWA chapter.
Light appetizers are on the chapter!
RSVP to Jenny Michlitsch (membership@amwanorthcentral.org)
Encourage new (or aspiring) medical writers to join AMWA!
Do you know a new medical writer–or someone who should be a medical writer–who could benefit from being part of the AMWA community? Tell them about the 2015 AMWA North Central membership award!
Awards of a 1-year membership in AMWA will be made to
- A student interested in the field of medical communications
- A non-AMWA member who has been working in the field for fewer than 3 years.
You can find more the application and flyer on the chapter website.
The March 1, 2015 deadline is approaching, so don’t delay!
Calendar of events
Did you know that we keep a calendar of events on the chapter website? We list chapter events, webinars hosted by AMWA National and other chapters, and other happenings that might be of interest to chapter members. Check it out on the Calendar page!
Book Club Notes
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
Review by Paul W. Mamula, PhD
The book club met on January 26, 2015 to discuss Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach. The book details the trip down the digestive tract, from first bite to final passage. Roach explores the science behind the organs and processes involved, using her distinctive, breezy style. Readers may remember other of her quirky books, notably Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.
For the second consecutive meeting, we had a larger than usual turnout (5) and new members attending. And we again met in a restaurant to discuss a book about food and digestion. Our home base meeting place, The Egg and I, usually seats us at the back of the restaurant, allowing us to engage in a lively conversation without disturbing other patrons.
The Book
Gulp is 357 pages, including acknowledgments and bibliography. The introduction sets the tone, and the text is packed into 17 chapters. Although the book explains complicated physiology, it targets a general audience. Roach does a masterful job of explaining digestive processes along with introducing dedicated researchers. It’s all done without trivializing the work or getting too involved in the “ick” factor. Some chapters were originally written as magazine articles, so length and depth vary. Gulp has a little bit of something for everyone.
One curious aspect of the book is that it begins with the sense of smell, which on the surface might seem odd for a book about digestive processes. One could view this chapter as a preview of what’s to come. Roach uses a cover photo for each chapter that sets up the topic in an eccentric, yet thought-provoking way.
Reader Reactions
Attendees were impressed with the respect given the topics, research, and investigators described. A book like Gulp could have just as easily been written for the shock value (“ick” factor) or for bathroom humor, presenting researchers in a different light. However, Roach uses a merry, not mocking style to present a detailed picture of how food goes from plate to bathroom.
George Kline was struck with the overall journey the book takes. He said, “I found it overall an enjoyable read. It did take me to new places. And yes, in the author’s words, some of those places were, ‘Okay, maybe a little gross.’”
Kline also noted that the book presented many interesting curiosities involving the digestive processes, including these questions:
- How did Elvis Presley really die?
- Could Jonah have survived being swallowed by a whale?
- Prisoners hide their cell phones and other contraband where?
- “Why do we eat what we eat and despise the rest?
Kline added, “Gulp answers those questions and many more by using facts, Roach’s understanding of culture and history, and a sense of humor. She shares her travels, research, and experience in a way that says, ‘You can trust what I say.’”
Mary Knatterud admired Roach’s “irreverent yet respectful, loopy yet intelligent, and pointed yet empathetic writing style, especially her wry use of metaphor ad humor.” One particularly vivid example that she read aloud to the group had Inuit women “digging marrow from caribou bones with the tilt-headed focus nowadays reserved for texting” (p 63). Knatterud also appreciated the almost giddy focus on vocabulary displayed throughout Gulp, as when Roach lauds the many geographic terms for parts of the body such as the “isthmus of the thyroid, the islets of the pancreas, the straights and inlets of the pelvis.”
Other attendees found different chapters interesting. New AMWA member Kendra Hyland found the chapter on Elvis Presley’s death and possible colon deformity an interesting speculative postmortem medical mystery. She thought it an unusual way to discuss the final stages of the digestive process.
Roach’s description of saliva, its secretion, and its purpose constitutes a well-written and fascinating summary. Gulp does a nice job of describing some of the procedures used to study saliva. I studied human salivary proteins for my PhD thesis and had to provide saliva samples using the Lashley cup collector she describes. (It’s a button-shaped device that fits just above the second upper molar and funnels the saliva out through a small collecting tube.) Parotid saliva is a clear fluid, much like water. Gulp also describes various other aspects of saliva, such as why some cultures spit or value spittle and why saliva has antibacterial properties.
Reviewer Reactions
Not all book reviewers liked Gulp. Jon Ronson, a reviewer for the New York Times, found himself “not enjoying Gulp more” because of “the frequent, and really quite juvenile, medical student gallows humor.”1 In contrast, however, Kate Tuttle, a correspondent for the Boston Globe, liked the book. She wrote, “Some of what Roach writes about breaches the boundaries of polite conversation—though she insists, ‘my aim is not to disgust’—but also it’s endlessly entertaining.“2 Perhaps one’s like or dislike of the book depends on how squeamish one is about bodily processes.
Whatever one’s opinion, our AMWA book club attendees felt that it was a fun, yet respectful look at the topic and a worthy read. Those interested in Gulp or other books by Mary Roach3-6 can decide for themselves.
References
1. Ronson J. …And Down the Gullet. New York Times, April 26, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/books/review/gulp-by-mary-roach.html?_r=0
2. Tuttle K. ‘Gulp’ by Mary Roach: Humorously pursuing digestion from top to bottom. Boston Globe, April 1, 2013.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/03/31/book-review-gulp-mary-roach/9OX1nXzXBEUo55J9HjAbVJ/story.html
Other books by Mary Roach:
3. Roach M. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, New York City: Norton, 2010
4. Roach M. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. New York City: Norton, 2005
5. Roach M. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. New York City: Norton, 2003
6. Roach M. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. New York City: Norton, 2008
