Replaceable You

Reviews / Votes

"Replaceable You by turns surprises and delights, revealing information that even I didn't know...These curious facts, with attendant and laugh-inducing footnotes, keep us turning the pages." -- Brandy Schillace - Wall Street Journal "Since she burst onto the scene with 2003's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, the science writer Mary Roach has been grossing readers out with curiosity, humanity-and alarming gusto. And we can't look away." -- Sadie Stein - New York Times "Readers will feel awed at all the body can do and how it is made, as well as admiration for humanity's per-sistence in exploring its limits-whether when confronted with a malfunctioning organ or the desire for a more plump derriere. Replaceable You will delight Roach's fans and surely garner some more." -- BookPage "Mary Roach offers a fascinating tour of the wonderful world of regenerative medicine." -- Time "The humanity that [Roach] brings is such a wonderful base for how our bodies fail us sometimes and what we are trying to do to bring them back." -- Los Angeles Times, The 5 Best Science Books of the Year "A veteran science writer returns with a whirlwind tour of body modification and repair...what Roach does best sounds simple but isn't: She meets people and gets them to talk about complex subjects in a way that is approachable, understandable, and graspable." -- Christopher Kemp, Science Magazine "The subject matter can be grimly fascinating and isn't for the squeamish, but Roach tackles it with the same energy and sense of humor she brought to previous books on cadavers, space travel and sex. She follows her curiosity wherever it leads-whether that's a pig farm in the Chinese province of Sichuan; a Tblisi, Georgia-based surgery practice that specializes in penis transplants; or the inside of a 1950s-style iron lung." -- Alice Robb - Bloomberg "This book is so good.... [It's] all about how in the future, we will be able to replace every organ in our body that fails." -- Reese Witherspoon "We are all replaceable to some degree or another...with the exception of Mary Roach. There is no one and nothing like her-singular, bizarre, dedicated, passionate, fascinating. Her writing traffics at the unusual intersection of science, storytelling, and humor. That is a very tricky intersection to navigate, and no one does it as masterfully or consistently as she. I devour everything she writes." -- Jason Alexander, actor/director "Mary Roach is her own genre of book-gonzo, hilarious, wildly educational. This is Roach at her finest." -- Daniel Kraus, best-selling author of Angel Down "In her brilliant (and brilliantly funny book) Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the puzzle of the human body, the way we can assemble and reassemble the very human pieces into different versions of who we are and how we work. The result is intriguing, compassionate, wise, and-as with all her books-addictively readable. Or to put this another way: Don't miss it." -- Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author of The Poisoner's Handbook "[Roach] uses her access, opportunity, and general lack of squeamishness or shame to ask questions with her characteristic empathy and clarity and shares her experiences in witty and engaging prose laden with amusing footnotes. A treat for Roach admirers, this book also serves as an excellent introduction to her body of work.... This approachable and humorous explainer will delight the scientifically curious." -- Library Journal, starred review "Science writer Roach engagingly explores the past, present, and future of fabricated replacement body parts and regenerative medicine. She has previously penned books about the body, including Gulp (2013), and brings her distinctive nonfiction writing style, headlined by curiosity, enthusiasm, and lots of humor, to this subject, too.... Highly recommended reading for those curious about 'fixes' for the body and the world of biotechnology." -- Booklist, starred review "An amiably entertaining, endlessly intriguing stroll through the stuff of which we're made." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review