Other editions of book Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

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? 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 a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. 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.