Sexology 101

The scientists you write about are really quirky characters. Is that common to sex researchers?
The book is about how the science was done as much as it is about the science itself. I did try to find interesting people, but there was no one I thought was too dull to be in my book. Sometimes, they're a little wary about how they appear in print, and whether they're going to get criticized for getting funding for this kind of research.

You're kind of like the Bill Bryson of sex and death. He also manages to be hilarious while weaving tons of information into his books.
Oh, he's my hero. He gets the perfect ratio of information to humor. It is a challenge to keep it amusing without interrupting the flow of an explanation. It was really tough in my last book, "Spook." I was talking about quantum mechanics and trying to keep it funny—it's not easy. I put a lot in the footnotes.

Like the guy in "Bonk" who was the "chief visioneer" of a company that makes videos of sex machines? You say in the footnote that he also has a waste management company…
Their motto was, "No. 1 in the No. 2 business." I just couldn't leave that out. I've been called to task for putting too much in footnotes, but I do try to keep it entertaining.

"Bonk" is already climbing the charts. That must be gratifying.
My books have done well. "Stiff" is the book that won't die. It's on a lot of high-school and college curriculums. If you put severed heads in a book, boys will read it.

Do you think "Bonk" will go into classrooms?
That will be more of challenge, but it's already in some human-sexuality college classes. Possibly the sex-machine chapter will throw some people off.

You mean the part about the sixtysomething-year-old woman testing the "Thrillhammer" machine?
Yeah, that part might be a bit much.

So you've written about sex, death and the afterlife. What's left?
Space. I'm going to write about traveling to Mars and vacuums and all the weird early exploration.

© 2008