Welcome to Litsy!

Roach explores lots of different theories of the afterlife- from reincarnation, mediums, and people who purposely “die“ so they can be brought back with tales of beyond. Like all that she writes, Roach is thorough and hilarious.

#24B4Monday #Readathon #LitsyPartyofOne #MrBook1inaMillion #NFNov
@mrbook @Andrew65 @TheReadingMermaid @Clwojick

💀My current listen (my phone with American Fire on it was charging in another room, so I downloaded this on the computer while I continued to do online work). So far, Roach has explored reincarnation, the weight of the soul, and now into ectoplasm. 💀
#Readathon #24B4Monday #litsypartyofone #mrbook1inamillion
@mrbook @TheReadingMermaid @andrew65

I‘ve read almost all of Mary Roach‘s books now. This one wasn‘t my fav. I continued reading it more for Mary‘s callbacks and one-liners than for the content. Do you believe in an afterlife? If so, do you believe it‘s something that science can prove or disprove? 💀👻

I spent a few hours today flagging my #tbr books on cloudLibrary, favoriting books on Hoopla, and tagging books on Litsy. Now it‘ll be faster to decide what to read next. #cloudlibrary #hoopla #litsy #ebooksforall #ebooks #audiobooks

Just got these babies. It‘s spooky season!!

I don't think this is Mary Roach's best book, but that's a high bar. This one, like all the others, is laugh-out-loud funny and full of great “hey didja know“ moments to annoy everyone around you with.

I'm appreciating that you can see the seeds of some of Mary Roach's later books on this one, as well as how this one evolved from Stiff. There's more discussion of digestion and the products thereof than I expected in a book about the afterlife, and that line of thinking clearly evolved into Gulp. I haven't read Bonk yet, but there's one passage in this one so far that would probably fit nicely there as well.

I may have to get hold of a physical copy of this book at some point, because the kindle edition has a bunch of pages that just say “Images in this book are not displayed owing to permissive issues.“ Weird phrasing and also a bummer.

I'm traveling this week, and I find Mary Roach's books are perfect for work travel. They're fun and engrossing (emphasis on the GROSS, although this one possibly less than some of her others), easy to read but not such page-turners that they keep me up too late reading and leave me groggy and sleep-deprived the next morning. I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I honestly mean it as a sincere compliment.

My favorite Mary Roach book thus far! Amongst other things, she explores mediums, reincarnation, near-death experiences, ghostly visits and ectoplasm, oh my! With an open mind, she visits people with first hand encounters along with university professors and scientists which tends to balance everything out with no one side proclaiming victory. An entertaining and insightful read!

Interesting observation!
#IAintAfraidOfNoGhosts

Final stack from CT. The Book Barn is the best.

Finished this one recently, too. As with all Mary Roach books, I adore her footnotes. Next to #terrypratchett, her footnotes are the best! Fascinating topic, told in a totally approachable and respectful (because we all know how quickly this topic of conversation can go sideways) manner. Love Mary Roach!

I‘m supposed to be reading this for my #byobook club but it just reminded me why I‘m not into memoirs.

#littlefreelibrary #riotgrams

So I can‘t actually take a picture, as it‘s the United States Postal Service, but we‘ve got a little library exchange set up where we all drop off audiobooks to pass around, cuz 8 to 12 hours is a lot of time to fill. 😂

I‘m really grateful for my library‘s overflow book sale, and I‘m looking forward to dropping these off in the next couple of days!

Spook examines the long history of the good intentions (& frequently disastrous results) of the scientific efforts to locate the soul & prove an afterlife. This is an unusual book for Roach, since the subject is so, well unscientific, this is the least conclusive. She still manages to infuse it with her trademark wit & it has quite possibly my favorite ending of her books that I've read.

😂😂😂

My current read is about the scientific proof (or lack thereof) of an afterlife. #Mysteriousways indeed
#MusicalNewYear
@Cinfhen

Mary Roach is the best.

Not even close to as good as stiff. I was hoping for more verity of ideas of the afterlife. And not just the western idea of ghosts. It started well but made body shaming jokes on the way that have not aged well. A skip.

I thought it might be fun to get see what spooks everyone in preparation for #Spooktober! Here are my answers:
1. The Shining
2. Nightmare on Elm Street
3. The sound of crunching leaves and the way my dog loves them (photo)
4. I did not care for The Great Gatsby 😵😲😮
5. @CoffeeNBooks

#SpookyAutumn @amb

I know tagging me doesn‘t work well, if at all, but I think you can copy/paste from above?

Flowers and sunshine on my #audiowalk today. The tagged book is much more lighthearted than you would think too. Definitely recommend this on audio.

Realizing I have 3 days to squeeze in another nonfiction book to make my goal of at least two a month. 😱 Gonna try and sneak some reading in today at work.

Can‘t wait to start this one! I love Mary Roach, if this is anything as good as Stiff then I‘m in for a treat! Anyone read this? Thoughts?! #TBR

Stiff is still my all-time favorite Mary Roach but Spook was perfectly enjoyable! It was an interesting look at the people who are scientifically studying the paranormal and at the history of some different ideas about life after death. It dragged in a few spots and I felt weird about her descriptions of people/events in the India chapter but overall I‘m a fan of her writing style and was kept enthralled by all the new fun facts I was learning 👻

Guess I should get going on this since the bookclub for it is in a week ;)

Continuing on my lazily-paced quest to read all the Mary Roach with this one 👻

5 am gym shifts are good for something at least... Hope everyone‘s 🐪 day is off to a good start!

For #Spooktober, I craved narrative nonfiction on all things spectral: ghosts, spiritualism, and the existence of life after death. Mary Roach‘s amiable investigations into the above cracked me up, took me down strange pathways, and left me with plenty to consider on those topics and more. Roach can write about ANYTHING in a compelling way, and the afterlife provides great scope for her talents. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ve always wanted to read this one! @emilyhaldi , everything on this box was perfect! #FallBookExchange #HalloweenGoesPostal

#spooky #uncannyoctober

A ghostly look at the afterlife, covering reincarnation, spiritualism, mediums, near death experiences, and communication with the dead. #uncannyoctober 👻

I didn‘t have a second of reading time yesterday so going to try and make up for some of it today! Starting with this #spooky read - my first book by Mary Roach 👻 Also, #pumpkins!

#spookyoctober
#hallowreads

Between #botmchallenge #ripxii #lonedove & #tbrbingo I think I'm covered for #fallreads #autumnreads 😂😅

#fallintobooks
#autumnreads

This was my first Mary Roach book. Once I got used to her snark, it was an informative and enjoyable read, mostly about the shortcomings of studying the paranormal. This was a #blameitonlitsy pick.

I now have a giant literary crush on Mary Roach (& on Vic Tandy, the guy who discovered the link between ghost sightings & infrasound).

I'd never read anything by her & I get it now. I get why everyone talks so highly of her, why she's called a non-fiction writer for the non-fic averse. She's so smart & SO witty. I'd have the same reaction to meeting her that others have upon seeing a ghost: I'd blather unintelligibly, & then promptly faint.

"Perhaps I should believe in a hereafter, in a consciousness that zips through the air like a "Simpsons" rerun, simply because it's more appealing - more fun and more hopeful - than not believing."

"When you're as brainy as Gerry Nahum is, you lose sight of just how ignorant the rest of us are. Earlier in our talk, he prefaced the line 'Quite a few people look at microtubules as what can be considered almost like an abacus for molecular calculation at a subcellar level' with the phrase, 'As I'm sure you're aware.'" ???

I'm finding this audiobook really interesting so far.

One of my favorite tidbits: There have been cases of Hindus using Near Death Experiences & the belief in reincarnation as a way to get out of unpleasant marriages (since divorce has such a negative social stigma). Women have said, "I'm literally a new person now! I died & was reborn! I can't be expected to stay with/sleep with my old husband!" ?

Sigh. I can't stay awake when reading this! I never fall asleep when reading books unless it's really late at night... but several broad daylight afternoon snoozes later, I just can't get through this one.

I really liked Packing for Mars and have been looking forward to more Mary Roach for awhile! #S #LitsyAtoZ

Was listening to this, but had to return it to Audible. The narrator either thinks the paranormal is a joke, and assumes the author and the audience agrees with her, or is a hopeful stand-up comedian/voice actor. Every new item is read in a can-you-believe-this voice, and she gives fake accents to every scientist--which borders on tasteless when it comes to the East Asian doctor that the author was able to visit. I will wait to read it in print.

The hardest part of putting the duvet into the cover has a pretty hilarious side effect. 😂

Fun evening with a highly curiosity driven author! It was a pleasure meeting her and hanging out with my fellow bookworms

Oh look! Somehow THREE packages from Thriftbooks showed up at my house today. I need to build a bigger book fort! #blameitonlitsy #bookhaul #happybibliophage

Received my first book from Bookmooch. I think I'm more excited than #Punki is #catsoflitsy

Why yes...I am one of those people who stayed up and opened their #cupidgoespostal #litsygoespostal packages in the wee hours of the morn! ❤️ lots of love to @Dolly for the lovely surprise all the way from gorgeous Massachusetts! I hear you've gotten your fair share of snow, so I'll try to send some sunshine your way! 🌞 thank you to @BookishMarginalia for hosting!

This was my first Mary Roach book, and it certainly won't be my last. She digs in with the lens of a skeptic looking for proof of the afterlife, and delivers with a humorous, objective and insightful journey searching for answers. Rating: 4 ghosts 👻👻👻👻

Christmas/birthday books. 😍 #bookstack #toread #spoiled