The name of this nonfiction book is 'The Scoop About Poop'. It's 17,800 words long. The book cover image is off to the right on this blog. A brief description is as follows:
The author uses serious facts and a sense of humor to tell the story of poop. The subject is crude, profane and vulgar. But it's also what all of us do mostly every day. The various chapters include everything you did and didn't want to know about fecal matters, including: the composition of poop; derivation of sh*t words; the history of poop; its uses; coprophagy; why it has various colors; types of stool; diarrhea and constipation; colonoscopy prep; poop as an embarrassment; semantics, idioms and sh*t as an expression; animal feces; the curious; personal hygiene and toilet paper; fake poop; synonyms; statistics and jokes. No photos. Not a medical reference manual. Just a lot to read about your favorite subject.
I have mixed feelings about my new book. Those around me wonder why I wrote a book about poop. "What would your mother think about it?" I was asked. A good question. She might wonder a little about the subject matter, but she always seemed proud of everything I did. I know my father would have enjoyed it.
I will admit. The subject matter is profane, but no matter what we do, poop is here to stay with us as a part of our lives. It's in our language. It's part of our health, personal hygiene and environmental discussions. So, why not write about it?
On the other hand, my other books have required more intellectual effort. Despite the science fiction and zombie topics, I researched the background information thoroughly, delving pretty deeply into viruses, super intelligence, space travel and the moons of Saturn among other topics. The research into poop just didn't reach the same level of intellectual effort, as I'll refer to it.
I guess I chose something that would be entertaining, have some shock value and maybe create more sales. Did I sell myself out for shit? Some might say so. I'd argue no. There is an informational aspect to learning about poop. It is somewhat of a unique subject about which to publish. I'm guessing I haven't seen more (or any?) books about the topic because it's so profane or other authors believe it won't sell. I'm willing to take the chance...with whatever reputation I may have (as an author). If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. I took a chance.
The Bowl Vandal - You rush in to the bathroom and just make it to the toilet. What comes out is a wet, gassy, nasty-looking mess of shit shards going in every direction. It leaves the bowl looking like a gang spray-painted it brown with whatever else you ate or drank.
(describing the derivation of the word shit)
The acronym theory for the derivation of the word S.H.I.T. has been put forth on the internet but it's full of crap.
The theory of the origin of shit was that manure was valuable as early fertilizer, and as such, was shipped all around the world. Of course, it was important to keep the manure dry. If it became wet, it was much heavier, creating navigational issues for the wooden ships. But much more important than that, wet manure produces an inflammable gas, methane to be precise. The gas could generate pockets of highly inflammable, even explosive gas, resulting in a dangerous situation aboard an ocean-going vessel. So, manure was transported with the directions to 'Ship High In Transit' to keep it from getting wet in the interior of the ship, with the acronym SHIT.
