The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters

With irreverence and pungent detail, Rose George breaks the embarrassed silence over the economic, political, social and environmental problems of human waste disposal. Full of fascinating facts about the evolution of material culture as influenced by changing mores of disgust and decency (the popularity of high-heeled shoes dates back to the time when chamber pots were emptied into the streets)—the book shows how even advanced technology doesn’t always meet basic needs: using toilet paper is shockingly unhygienic and millions of government-built latrines in developing countries have been turned into goat sheds and spare rooms due to poor design, a lack of regular water supply or simply because the subsidized (and expensive) cement and stone structures are often more appealing than the village huts. From the depths of the world’s oldest surviving urban sewers in to Japan’s robo-toilet revolution, George leads an intrepid, erudite and entertaining journey through the public consequences of this most private behavior.