67. Mary Roach on Curiosity, Storytelling, and Her Newest Bestseller / IWAW Author Series
In Walks a WomanShow Notes
Mary Roach has created a nonfiction writing lane all her own, and in her 8th book, she embarks on a world-wide tour of the scientific quest to replace pretty much every part of the human body.
Her book, REPLACEABLE YOU, came out this month--April 2026--and it's already a bestseller. While she was visiting Lawrence, Kansas, on a trip sponsored by the Lawrence Public Library, Mary sat down with Sonja and Vanessa for an interview about her new book, her writing journey, and Mary shares an exclusive scoop on her plans for her next project!
Mary recounts some of her research and travel adventures from writing Replaceable You. Important questions are answered: Should you spontaneously volunteer your body for scientific experimentation? How do you cold call someone about spending a night in their iron lung? Where should you take a urologist to dinner?
IWAW also explores how Mary Roach became, well, MARY ROACH. For example, if you assumed Mary was a STEM major, you’d be wrong. What did determine her academic course? How did she get into writing? What writers did she love? How does she know what’s funny enough to make it into a “Mary Roach” book?
Along the way, Sonja segues via a blind lemon, Vanessa auditions to be Mary's audiobook laugh track, and Mary finds out there are way fewer than 6 degrees of separation between herself and Sonja.
REFERENCES:
Here is a link to the 1992 Susan Orlean story in the New Yorker that Mary mentions.
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