Mary Roach
American authorWikipedia
54
MENTIONS
20
EPISODES
20
PODCASTS
Search complete. 54 mentions across 20 episodes found for "Mary Roach".
Nov 3, 2026
Chuck NiceHOST
because
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
I don't have any you don't get to see the questions that's true but though I be a scientist I have no particular expertise in this topic right okay so I figured okay then they plunked a book down in front of me called Grunt the curious science of humans at war so I said damn I gotta read this book like in the next hour but then they told me no Mary Roach the author of the book is here with us yes from Oakland California Mary Roach yes thank you Mary this is not your first time on StarTalk No, no. It's like your fourth time or something.
Mary RoachGUEST
I think we, yeah, the fourth, yeah.
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
Yeah, you've got like the coolest StarTalkian books we could ever find.
16 MINS LATER
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
We have to kill you in order to save you.
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
Let's go to commercial, and we'll cogitate on that question.
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
When we come back, Stark Talk continues with our Cosmic Queries edition with Mary Roach, author of Grunt, The Curious Science of Humans at War.
Neil deGrasse TysonHOST
We're back, StarTalk.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
Wait.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
I just want to, on the topic of space, I just want to let you know, I've just started Packing for Mars by Mary Roach.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
So I'm trying to engage with space in a meaningful way.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
Okay.
Jeff O'NealHOST
So if you've got a better idea out there, let me know.
Jeff O'NealHOST
The real dark version is like a Mary Roach type, like how to kill a body or something like this of over time.
Jeff O'NealHOST
But that's not her.
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
That's not her.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
Do you want to read the original 1818 edition or do you want to read the revised 1831 edition? I do think they are substantially the same story, so I'm not too mad that I ended up reading the 1831 edition, but I do think it's always better to be able to make a conscious, informed choice.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
Spooky season read number two is Spook! Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
Okay, So, two facts about me.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
One, I was raised in a non-religious household.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
Two, both of my parents have STEM backgrounds, and so do I.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
However, despite this very grounded, so to speak, upbringing, I have always found the idea of ghosts and the paranormal... to be extremely fun, if, you know, not entirely believable.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
So when I discovered that one of my favorite popular science writers, Mary Roach, had written a book about whether there is any scientific basis for the afterlife, I was obviously intrigued.
Kathryn NicolaiHOST
In Spook, Mary Roach explores reincarnation, ghosts, seances, near-death experiences, and also there's this really great chapter where she even goes to medium school.
QuinnGUEST
Yes.
QuinnGUEST
Because the engineer does, there's a great quote from Mary Roach, who we've talked to, a very good author, and it was something along the lines, I'm paraphrasing here, but like, to the engineer, the human is the problem.
QuinnGUEST
uh because the human comes in all kinds of different shapes and sizes it's un it is non-standard it needs sleep it needs to be fed um it it shits everywhere it gets she's
Zach LibrandHOST
not wrong on a macro
Greg BergHOST
I'm Gregory Berg, host of The Morning Show, which airs every weekday morning between 8 and 9 o'clock on WGTD FM 91.1. We are an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio and National Public Radio, broadcasting from the Kenosha campus of Gateway Technical College.
Greg BergHOST
Well, Mary Roach has done it again.
Greg BergHOST
The author of that fascinating book about human cadavers called Stiff has come out with a new book called Spook, Science Tackles the Afterlife.
Greg BergHOST
And in it, Mary Roach, much as she did in the book Stiff, crisscrosses the country and examines some very interesting people and some very interesting phenomenon as well.
Greg BergHOST
and really steps back into history as well, trying to help us understand the various ways in which human beings have tried to unlock what is among the most profound of mysteries, what exactly happens when we die.
Greg BergHOST
what and where is the soul? And if there is such a thing, what happens to it when we die? Where does it go? And it's fascinating and sometimes hilariously entertaining to look at some of the ways, especially in terms of pseudoscience, in which these really difficult questions have been explored through history.
Greg BergHOST
And Mary Roach has done a good deal of research, but this is a book with...
Greg BergHOST
Once again, a very light touch as well.
Adam HermanGUEST
Okay.
Adam HermanGUEST
By Mary Roach.
Adam HermanGUEST
Mary Roach.
Adam HermanGUEST
I've heard of Mary Roach.
Brittany LindHOST
She's fantastic.
Brittany LindHOST
But the, the book stiff is about, is the curious like story of cadavers and they talk, she talks about cadavers throughout all of history.
Anna SingerHOST
La Woman and the Haitian Creole translation of Olympic Hero, the Lennox Kilgore story and co-founding editor of ID13.
Anna SingerHOST
You have had an amazing fall and starting with George Saunders and Mary Roach as part of the first two evenings of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures.
Anna SingerHOST
Yes.
Anna SingerHOST
Great crowd here in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Music Hall and wonderful evenings by both authors.
Anna SingerHOST
I strongly suggest you go out and get these amazing books.
Anna SingerHOST
Vigil, which was a mind blower.
Anna SingerHOST
But Mary Roach, someone I wasn't familiar with, who sort of talks scientifically about the strangest things, the body and the corpse and all of this stuff.
Anna SingerHOST
She was great.
Davey BerrisHOST
Okay.
Davey BerrisHOST
And Mary Roach was on with you, too.
Davey BerrisHOST
She was.
Davey BerrisHOST
I
Elizabeth SmartADVERTISER
Stephen texted me today, actually.
Karen KilgariffHOST
Did he? Yeah, he said, I met Mary Roach today, who's like one of the coolest authors.
Karen KilgariffHOST
That's right.
Karen KilgariffHOST
So I didn't ask him about it because I was
10 more episodes mention Mary Roach.
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