My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places

Introduction

To describe iconic American author Mary Roach is to understand the most genius of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complexes. Take science and imbue it with sarcasm. Create a social commentary and add sentimentality. Detail death and layer on wit. Are you chuckling while reading a story about a funeral? Then you’re doing exactly what Roach intended. She lifted the gauze on mortality with Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, questioned life after death in Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, experimented with love and the lab for the sake of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, and dove into disturbing aspects of space travel in Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

While her books focus on science and the supernatural, Roach’s column in Reader’s Digest zeroed in on the wonders of the everyday. When “My Planet” first appeared in our July 2002 issue, we knew that we had something special. As an institution that prides itself in handpicking moving stories that will make you smile and see the world a little bit differently, we were thrilled to add a writer with both abilities to our treasure trove of authors. Editors eagerly flipped to Roach’s column after receiving their first-bound copies of the issue and readers, too, took notice. Three years after it’s debut, Roach’s column was runner-up in the humor category of the National Press Club awards. Here, you can read her entire collection in one laugh-out-loud volume.

What you can expect from Roach is a curious curation and condensation of life’s little mishaps—all of which are filigreed with her humor. She details first dates, rants about marital differences, and dissects (as she is wont to do) the stellar process that is getting older (or, as Roach puts it, entering “the Age of Skirted Swimwear”). She breaks down her hypochondriac tendencies and divulges her uncanny desire to make lists for absolutely everything. In lieu of the latter, here are a few more things she’ll tell you about: Accompanying spouses to container outlets (“These stores cast a spell on people”), theories on compromising (“Like any normal couple, we refused to accept each other’s differences and did whatever we could to annoy the other person”), and the trials and tribulations of real estate (“The other day—true story—we saw a listing that said ‘yard, complete with outhouse’”). Serving as the nucleus to these funny anecdotes is her husband, Ed, who makes appearances as both a funny adversary and a worthy teammate.

In a piece called “Best Cheap Fun!” Roach details free ways to get the most out of life. The list (of course it’s a list) includes rooting for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium and trying to sneak a bottle of water onto a plane, proving once again that humor is worth a potential black eye. Beyond that, Roach prompts us to find wonder in the smaller, simpler moments, leading us to a reader’s paradise of which we’ll never tire.