Replaceable You by turns surprises and delights, revealing information that even I didn’t know…These curious facts, with attendant and laugh-inducing footnotes, keep us turning the pages, but the real power of the book lies in its humanity.
—Brandy Schillace, Wall Street Journal
Readers will feel awe at all the body can do and how it is made, as well as admiration for humanity’s persistence in exploring its limits—whether when confronted with a malfunctioning organ or the desire for a more plump derriere. Replaceable You will delight Roach’s fans and surely garner some more.—Kelly Blewett, Bookpage
Since she burst onto the scene with 2003’s Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, the science writer Mary Roach has been grossing readers out with curiosity, humanity — and alarming gusto. And we can’t look away.
—The New York Times
Mary Roach offers a fascinating tour of the wonderful world of regenerative medicine.—Time
The humanity that [Roach] brings is such a wonderful base for how our bodies fail us sometimes and what we are trying to do to bring them back.—LA Times, The 5 Best Science Books of 2025
A veteran science writer returns with a whirlwind tour of body modification and repair . . . what Roach does best sounds simple but isn’t: She meets people and gets them to talk about complex subjects in a way that is approachable, understandable, and graspable.—Christopher Kemp, Science Magazine
The subject matter can be grimly fascinating and isn’t for the squeamish, but Roach tackles it with the same energy and sense of humor she brought to previous books on cadavers, space travel and sex. She follows her curiosity wherever it leads — whether that’s a pig farm in the Chinese province of Sichuan; a Tblisi, Georgia-based surgery practice that specializes in penis transplants; or the inside of a 1950s-style iron lung.—Alice Robb, Bloomberg
In her latest book, author Mary Roach does what she does best: she selects a squirm-worthy subject (past examples have included cadavers, digestion and
copulation) and transforms it into a lively tale of science and the human endeavor. . . . Some organs may be replaceable, but the endlessly endearing and fascinating Mary Roach is not.
—Brianne Kane, Scientific American
This book is so good and it’s on my list because it’s right on topic with Gone Before Goodbye. Replaceable You by Mary Roach is all about how in the future, we will be able to replace every organ in our body that fails.
—Reese Witherspoon
We are all replaceable to some degree or another . . . with the exception of Mary Roach. There is no one and nothing like her—singular, bizarre, dedicated, passionate, fascinating. Her writing traffics at the unusual intersection of science, storytelling, and humor. That is a very tricky intersection to navigate, and no one does it as masterfully or consistently as she. I devour everything she writes.—Jason Alexander, actor/director
Mary Roach has had a more direct impact on my career than any other writer. She is her own genre of book—gonzo, hilarious, wildly educational. This is Roach at her finest.—Daniel Kraus, author of Whale Fall
In her brilliant (and brilliantly funny book) Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the puzzle of the human body, the way we can assemble and reassemble the very human pieces into different versions of who we are and how we work. The result is intriguing, compassionate, wise and—as with all her books—addictively readable. Or to put this another way: Don’t miss it.
—Deborah Blum, best-selling author of The Poisoner’s Handbook
Science writer Roach engagingly explores the past, present, and future of fabricated replacement body parts and regenerative medicine. She has previously penned books about the body, including Gulp (2013), and brings her distinctive nonfiction writing style, headlined by curiosity, enthusiasm, and lots of humor, to this subject, too. . . . Highly recommended reading for those curious about ‘fixes’ for the body and the world of biotechnology.
—Tony Miksanek, Booklist (starred review)
An amiably entertaining, endlessly intriguing stroll through the stuff of which we’re made.—Kirkus (starred review)
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