Book Review: What's My Pee Telling Me

November 19 2009, Launch Magazine

Even though we are adults, many of us have not outgrown toilet humour, myself included.

All immaturities aside, I often wonder if my body is functioning normally and I know I am not alone: this is one of the reasons why Dr. Oz is so popular.

I recently received Josh Richman and Anish Sheth’s What’s My Pee Telling Me? as a gift. And because apparently I go to the washroom frequently (said the person who gifted the book to me), I decided to give it a read (and I was [not-so-secretly] also hoping for some punny toilet humour).

The book is the “sequel” to the best-selling What’s Your Poo Telling You?, which came out in 2007. Like its predecessor, What’s My Pee Telling Me? is about your bodily functions. Although this book focuses primarily on urination, it also delves into a few others areas of your gastrointestinal tract.

Richman and Sheth were college roommates, and both shared a fascination with bodily functions and were amused with fart jokes. Sheth later went on to medical school where he became a gastroenterologist, so this subject matter is something he is very familiar with. Some years later, the two decided to write a book, which became What’s Your Poo Telling You?

What’s My Pee Telling Me? goes beyond silly and immature humour and actually provides reasons why your body functions they way it does.

It explains the different properties of urine, what can cause it to change, and does the same for poop and flatulence. The fourth section of the book debunks various myths that have developed about the human body, such as if you urinate on yourself it will remove the sting of a jellyfish. (It doesn’t. I feel that Joey, Chandler and Monica from Friends lied to me.)

The book is also filled with little tidbits, offering suggestions on how to stay healthy as well as bathroom habits throughout history. Additionally, it has amusing illustrations and lots of toilet humour. I found it hilarious, of course.

Perhaps most importantly, I learned that my body functions normally (more or less, in terms of bathroom habits anyway), and I know what signals when it is not.

If you’re the type who likes to read while doing your business, What’s My Pee Telling Me? a good book for you to occupy yourself with while you’re in the washroom. If you don’t read in the bathroom it a great book of reference that you can use well into the future.