Alchemists sought gold in it. David Bowie refrigerated it to ward off evil. In the trenches of Ypres soldiers used it as a gas mask, whereas modern-day terrorists add it to home-made explosives. All the Fullers, Tuckers and Walkers in the phonebook owe their names to it, and in 1969 four bags for storing it were left on the surface of the moon.
Bought and sold, traded and transported, even carried to work in jugs, urine has made bread rise, beer foam and given us gunpowder, stained glass, Robin Hood’s tights and Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring.
And we do produce an awful lot of it. Humans alone make almost enough to replace the entire contents of Loch Lomond every year. Add the incalculable volume contributed by the rest of the animal kingdom and it might soon displace a small ocean. No wonder it gets everywhere.
In Life of Pee Sally Magnusson unveils the secret history of civilisation’s most unsavoury and unsung hero, and discovers how our urine footprint is just as indelible as our carbon one.
The Life of Pee: The Story of How Urine Got Everywhere
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Review
'...strangely fascinating.'
(The Sunday Times )About the Author
Sally Magnusson is one of British broadcasting’s most familiar faces and voices. An award-winning journalist and writer, she presents Songs of Praise, anchors the Scottish news programme Reporting Scotland and reports occasionally for Panorama. She also hosts Radio 4’s Tracing Your Roots and Radio Scotland’s Sally on Saturday.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Glovebox
Format:Hardcover
Interesting, humorous, enjoyable and strongly recommended. The Life of Pee is a fun book, bursting with peculiar facts and witty anecdotes, all delivered simply and eloquently by the author. Who ever knew a book about pee could be so interesting!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Lutra
Format:Hardcover
I began by selecting an entry at random and ended up reading this in full. I suspect many other readers will become similarly hooked. It is fascinating: witty and erudite and thought-provoking. I have resurfaced with many anecdotes (Warhol, and Marilyn Monroe, and Churchill) that I am sure I will be retelling throughout the party season. The book is also quite right that we should be thinking more seriously about why we are sniffy about waste products, when we should be much more socially alarmed by the consequence of wasting them.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Some Bloke
Format:Hardcover
The subject is a taboo, and discussions of urine tend to be either scientific or juvenile. This is neither, and the result is a fascinating book.
Running A-Z style through a collection of anecdotes and historical revelations, the book brings together a spectrum of stories about urine. The value of this 'waste product' is undeniable as it has proved vital as a fertiliser, in the textile industry, making bricks for war refugees in water scarce areas and so many other ways. It makes a good case for being of medical value. Then there are the historical stories: often quirky, generally thought provoking.
This book IS funny, but it's also interesting. I also dare to believe that it makes a point: our whingy aversion to is as an unclean substance has unfairly made urine a taboo, and we could nd should be using this terrific stuff better. In years gone by, a cart would trundle down the street and we would empty our bed pans to enable industries to proceed. Should those days return?
Running A-Z style through a collection of anecdotes and historical revelations, the book brings together a spectrum of stories about urine. The value of this 'waste product' is undeniable as it has proved vital as a fertiliser, in the textile industry, making bricks for war refugees in water scarce areas and so many other ways. It makes a good case for being of medical value. Then there are the historical stories: often quirky, generally thought provoking.
This book IS funny, but it's also interesting. I also dare to believe that it makes a point: our whingy aversion to is as an unclean substance has unfairly made urine a taboo, and we could nd should be using this terrific stuff better. In years gone by, a cart would trundle down the street and we would empty our bed pans to enable industries to proceed. Should those days return?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An eye opener
What a glorious celebration of an aspect of being human we prefer to ignore unless or until something goes wrong. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tweedledum
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, funny and thought provoking
I am not a reader of non-fiction but this book is wonderful. I found myself fascinated by the history of pee usage, the role it has played in clothing, skin care, health care and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Firstclass Stamp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining as well as extremely informative
The book is small enough to carry in a coat pocket. It has a hard cover and a jacket; the quality of the print is 1st class but I did find the size of the font a little bit too... Read more
Published 6 months ago by T. S. Ward
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well researched for such an unusual topic.
I bought this book because was intrigued by the title and I must say that I'm glad I did as it is full of interesting information about the uses to which this substance has been... Read more
Published 22 months ago by T. P. Spowart
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pee book
Great book, bought two for Christmas for partner and daughter. Obviously very well thumbed by both of them because they keep quoting bits at me - funny, informative and a good... Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2011 by pat
4.0 out of 5 stars
I almost peed myself
Well, almost! It was a stocking filler for Christmas and filled the bill very well! I couldn't resist a quick breeze through it before parcelling it up and it did raise a few... Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2011 by Mr. Peter G. Colmer
5.0 out of 5 stars
It was apresent
I cannot comment about the book as it was a present for Xmas. All I know it the receiver was very pleased.
Published on 7 Jan 2011 by Mr. Frederick A. Mawson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Life of Pee
A fascinating book but unfortunately the print size is very small so I could only read it in a bright light and my husband couldn't read it at all. Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2010 by Dotty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book. So many did-you-knows...
An absorbing read. As tasteful as it is informative, Sally Magnusson delves into this much-neglected and unlikely topic with tremendous insight and just the slightest twinkle in... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2010 by Westie5
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