Marvin es un escarabajo que vive en Nueva York debajo del fregadero de la cocina de la familia de James Pompaday, un chico solitario de once años.Por su cumpleaños, James recibe un juego de pluma y tintero, y se lleva una gran sorpresa al descubrir que Marvin ha hecho un pequeño dibujo tan… tan bueno que recuerda los trabajos del gran Alberto Durero. Todos piensan que el dibujante ha sido James, quien se ve en un aprieto cuando le piden más dibujos y no puede revelar que el verdadero artista es su nuevo amigo, ¡un escarabajo!Cuando Marvin y James visitan el Metropolitan de Nueva York, se ven envueltos en una emocionante aventura; los dos amigos harán uso de todo su ingenio para desvelar el misterio del cuadro robado.

A Lucy Martínez, una adolescente de 14 años, le cambió la vida en un instante durante un largo viaje con su hermano mayor Jamie y el amigo de éste. Iban a pasar las vacaciones con su padre. Mientras atraviesan el desierto de Nuevo México, en medio de una gran tormenta golpean algo con el coche. Creen que es un animal, pero al dar marcha atrás encuentran el cadáver de una chica al borde de la carretera. En esta situación extrema, Lucy decide emprender la búsqueda del responsable de esta muerte y los tres protagonistas deberán enfrentarse a situaciones inesperadas. Con una perspicacia asombrosa y un cautivador estilo, Elise Broach traza un viaje lleno de suspense y peligro, marcado por la amistad y el amor.

“America’s funniest science writer” () takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in . Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.

Like all of Roach’s books, is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.

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Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

Does the light just go out and that’s that — the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness, persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my laptop?” Mary Roach trains her considerable humour and curiosity on the human soul, seeking answers from a varied and fascinating crew of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die. Along the way she encounters electromagnetic hauntings, out-of-body experiences, ghosts and lawsuits: Mary Roach sifts and weighs the evidence in her hilarious, inimitable style.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors’ conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

Best-selling author Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war.

From acclaimed, best-selling author Mary Roach comes the complete collection of her “My Planet” articles published in . The quirky, brilliant author takes a magnifying glass to everyday life, exposing moments of hilarity in the mundane.

Best-selling author Mary Roach was a hit columnist in the Reader’s Digest magazine, and this book features the articles she wrote in that time. Insightful and hilarious, Mary explores the ins and outs of the modern world: marriage, friends, family, food, technology, customer service, dental floss, and ants—she leaves no element of the American experience unchecked for its inherent paradoxes, pleasures, and foibles.

Ed has crud vision, and I don’t. I don’t notice filth. Ed sees it everywhere. I am reasonably convinced that Ed can actually see bacteria…. He confessed he didn’t like me using his bathrobe because I’d wear it while sitting on the toilet.

“It’s not like it goes in the water,” I protested, though if you counted the sash as part of the robe, this wasn’t strictly true.

The Internet is a boon for hypochondriacs like me. Right now, for instance, I’m feeling a shooting pain on the side of my neck. A Web search produces five matches, the first three for a condition called Arnold-Chiari Malformation.

While my husband, Ed, reads over my shoulder, I recite symptoms from the list. “‘General clumsiness’ and ‘general imbalance,’” I say, as though announcing arrivals at the Marine Corps Ball. “‘Difficulty driving,’ ‘lack of taste,’ ‘difficulty feeling feet on ground.’”

“Those aren’t symptoms,” says Ed. “Those are your character flaws.”

My husband recently made me try on a bikini. A bikini is not so much a garment as a cloth-based reminder that your parts have been migrating all these years. My waist, I realized that day in the dressing room, has completely disappeared beneath my rib cage, which now rests directly on my hips. I’m exhibiting continental drift in reverse.

So Ed and I were eating a lot of vegetables. Vegetables on pasta, vegetables on rice. This was extremely healthy, until you got to the part where Ed and I are found in the kitchen at 10 p.m., feeding on Froot Loops and tubes of cookie dough.

Mary Roach nos lleva a un viaje inolvidable a través del tubo digestivo, esa parte fundamental de nuestro cuerpo que a veces se convierte en un tabú. ¿Por qué la comida crujiente nos resulta tan atractiva? ¿Por qué es tan difícil encontrar palabras para definir sabores y olores? ¿Por qué el estómago no se digiere a sí mismo? ¿Cuánto se puede comer antes de explotar? ¿Puede matar el estreñimiento? ¿Mató a Elvis? Lleno de curiosidades y anécdotas, pasearemos entre laboratorios de pruebas de sabor de alimentos para mascotas, trasplantes fecales, o viajaremos a un estómago en vivo para observar qué ocurre allí con la comida. De la mano de Roach viajamos por el mundo para conocer asesinos, científicos locos, exorcistas (que han llegado a administrar agua bendita rectal) o terroristas. Al igual que todos los libros de Roach,Glup trata no sólo de cuerpos humanos, sino de seres humanos.