Margins
My Planet book cover
My Planet
Finding Humor in the Oddest Places
2013
First Published
3.66
Average Rating
83
Number of Pages

A Hilarious Collection of Essays from one of America's Most Gifted Humorists! Follow New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach—but be careful not to trip—as she weaves through personal anecdotes and everyday musings riddled with her uncanny wit and amazingly analytical eye. These essays, which found a well-deserved home within the pages of Reader's Digest as the column "My Planet," detail the inner workings of hypochondriacs, hoarders, and compulsive cheapskates. (Did we mention neurotic interior designers and professional list-makers?) For Roach, humor is hidden in the most unlikely places, which means that nothing is off limits. Whether she is dwelling on her age or talking about the pros and cons of a bedroom night light — "A married couple can best be defined as a unit of people whose sleep habits are carefully engineered to keep each other awake" — Roach finds a lesson, a slice of sarcasm, or a dash of something special that makes each day comical and absolutely priceless. In keeping with our mission—curating the best reads in the land—Reader's Digest editors neatly packaged these timeless (and hilarious) Roach essays together for the first time. Whether you read this cover-to-cover or during spare moments over morning coffee, flip to a page in this volume and try not to smile.

Avg Rating
3.66
Number of Ratings
3,934
5 STARS
22%
4 STARS
35%
3 STARS
32%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads

Author

Mary Roach
Mary Roach
Author · 11 books

Mary Roach is a science author who specializes in the bizarre and offbeat; with a body of work ranging from deep-dives on the history of human cadavers to the science of the human anatomy during warfare. Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times bestsellers STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; GULP: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, PACKING FOR MARS: The Curious Science of Life in the Void; BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex; and GRUNT: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, Discover, New Scientist, the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, and Outside, among others. She serves as a member of the Mars Institute's Advisory Board and the Usage Panel of American Heritage Dictionary. Her 2009 TED talk made the organization's 2011 Twenty Most-Watched To Date list. She was the guest editor of the 2011 Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize, and a winner of the American Engineering Societies' Engineering Journalism Award, in a category for which, let's be honest, she was the sole entrant.

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