My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places

My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places

From acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach comes the complete collection of her â€œMy Planetâ€ articles published in Readerâ€™s Digest.Â The quirky, brilliant author takes a magnifying glass to everyday life, exposing moments of hilarity in the mundane.

Best-selling author Mary Roach was a hit columnist in the Reader's Digest magazine, and this book features the articles she wrote in that time. Insightful and hilarious, Mary explores the ins and outs of the modern world: marriage, friends, family, food, technology, customer service, dental floss, and antsâ€”she leaves no element of the American experience unchecked for its inherent paradoxes, pleasures, and foibles.

On Cleanliness:
Ed has crud vision, and I donâ€™t. I donâ€™t notice filth. Ed sees it everywhere. I am reasonably convinced that Ed can actually see bacteria. . . . He confessed he didnâ€™t like me using his bathrobe because Iâ€™d wear it while sitting on the toilet.
â€œItâ€™s not like it goes in the water,â€ I protested, though if you counted the sash as part of the robe, this wasnâ€™t strictly true.

On the Internet:
The Internet is a boon for hypochondriacs like me. Right now, for instance, Iâ€™m feeling a shooting pain on the side of my neck. A Web search produces five matches, the first three for a condition called Arnold-Chiari Malformation.
While my husband, Ed, reads over my shoulder, I recite symptoms from the list. â€œâ€˜General clumsinessâ€™ and â€˜general imbalance,â€™â€ I say, as though announcing arrivals at the Marine Corps Ball. â€œâ€˜Difficulty driving,â€™ â€˜lack of taste,â€™ â€˜difficulty feeling feet on ground.â€™â€
â€œThose arenâ€™t symptoms,â€ says Ed. â€œThose are your character flaws.â€
On Fashion:
My husband recently made me try on a bikini. A bikini is not so much a garment as a cloth-based reminder that your parts have been migrating all these years. My waist, I realized that day in the dressing room, has completely disappeared beneath my rib cage, which now rests directly on my hips. Iâ€™m exhibiting continental drift in reverse.

On Eating Healthy:
So Ed and I were eating a lot of vegetables. Vegetables on pasta, vegetables on rice. This was extremely healthy, until you got to the part where Ed and I are found in the kitchen at 10 p.m., feeding on Froot Loops and tubes of cookie dough.
Country USA
Brand Reader's Digest
Manufacturer Trusted Media Brands
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2013-04-04
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781621450719

Country	USA
Brand	Reader's Digest
Manufacturer	Trusted Media Brands
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2013-04-04
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781621450719

My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places

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