Shitting Pretty: how to stay clean and healthy while traveling [Paperback]

Dr Jane Wilson-Howarth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2000

International travel is growing in popularity but sometimes exacts a price. Activities we take for granted - eating, bathing, and going to the bathroom - can range from challenging to risky in unfamiliar territory. Dr. Jane Wilson-Howarth knows plenty about the third of these quandaries, having spent six months in the Himalayas fending off parasites and leeches while doing research. In Shitting Pretty, she takes a humorous, sympathetic approach to one of the most basic of human activities, interweaving anecdotes from fellow travelers with sensible tips and techniques for how to avoid diarrhea, parasites, malaria, and scarier diseases such as encephalitis and pulmonary edema. She covers the basics of how to eat and drink safely, explains symptoms and cures, and also tells why gastrointestinal diseases - the traveler's most common complaint - occur. More than just a how-to (though it is that), the book aims to inspire the traveler to be adventurous and not embarrassed in dealing with foreign toilets, and to pay heed to the fascinating cultural lessons to be learned from the simple act of going to the bathroom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 149 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales; 1st edition (May 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211473
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211477
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Tips

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, March 12, 2001

By 

Lloyd Grossman (London UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shitting Pretty: how to stay clean and healthy while traveling (Paperback)

I just wish someone had given me this book before my last trip to India where I caught jardia. I like to think that this book may have helped. I had to bribe a bus driver to stop the bus in open country near Jaipur, but couldn't perform under the bemused gaze of about 50 Indian travellers. When I got back on the bus my bowels exploded when the bus hit the next pot-hole in the road and I soiled myself. If that was not enough, half an hour later I vomitted on an elderly woman sitting next to me who had until that point been polite enough not to mention the horrendous smell. I'll remember to pack this book next time I travel in the hope of avoiding a repeat of this ghastly experience.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "go" in peace!, June 26, 2003

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shitting Pretty: how to stay clean and healthy while traveling (Paperback)

Dr. Wilson-Howarth, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, has a finely tuned sense of humor & courtesy of our Victorian ancestors, our language is thick with euphemisms for this most basic of deeds.

Don't dismiss her timely & important information just because she's funny, she has a lot to teach us. You will learn how to:
-- avoid minor & major intestinal disruptions & diseases, as well as symptoms & cures.
-- eat, drink & be safe in a foreign place.
-- tame your bodily functions on those long rides.
-- travel with children & keep them well.
-- make environmentally & hygienically sound deposits
-- cope without toilet paper.
-- identify the critters who thrive in dark & moist areas.
Then set about discovering the amazing variety of foreign toilets...& so much more!

A seriously informative & amusing book with a host of helpful hints from well-traveled world trekkers.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy companion to Bugs Bites & Bowels, April 15, 2004

By 

"redhamlet" (Natick, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shitting Pretty: how to stay clean and healthy while traveling (Paperback)

Even if you never venture forth to "go" into the wild, this is a great read. Dr. Wilson-Howarth's style is very, very entertaining.

The trouble is, you'll have all these fascinating titbits of conversation starters, but when to use them?