Mary Roach: preference

Transcript context

…That’s getting, I think, at Freud’s point. As a writer, how would you think about — writer and researcher, interviewer — how would you describe what is your special talent? “My Special Talent” by Mary Roach. [laughter] I think that I don’t have any — it isn’t a talent, it may be a character flaw — I don’t have a lot of hesitation or self-censoring when it comes to asking questions. I’m just balls out with my curiosity. [laughter] It is never uncomfortable. People sometimes say, “The questions that you ask people, is it an awkward interview? When you went to Avenal State Prison for the rectum chapter of Gulp, and you, talking to this convicted murderer about using his rectum to smuggle cellphones and other things, was that not a very awkward conversation to have?” A little bit, but then you have to keep in mind, this is somebody for whom hooping, as it’s called, is . . . everybody does it. It’s just something that you do; it’s everyday to him. Like for a sex researcher, talking about orgasm is like talking about tire rotation for a car mechanic. [laughter] It’s not like, “Ooh, you just made me uncomfortable, asking me about orgasm.” It isn’t really a talent. Secretly, it’s nothing. I don’t know if that’s my special . . . Well, I don’t know. I guess that’s what I’m going to go with. [laughs] To do a whirlwind tour of some of your books, you have a book on corpses. If you could chat with the dead, what would you ask them?…

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