As a bit of a text purist and general fuddy-duddy I generally don’t link to videos but sometimes video really is worth a thousand words (or, if you’re talking about actual required bytes to download, more like a thousand novels) and this is one of those cases.

The author Mary Roach, previous author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which was fabulous, has a new book, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. I haven’t read the book mostly because I haven’t been to the bookstore — it may already be on bookshelves, but I did see this video interview at Slate.com and I was just totally impressed.

It’s not just that she and her partner were the first couple to be filmed on 4-D ultrasound while having sex (and yes you can see, and try to interpret, the ultrasound in the clip) but she’s just so incredibly practical and realistic about the enterprise. Her explanation of exactly how she and her partner came to be the first subjects is wonderfully (and characteristically) droll.

One important piece I got out of it is that, spiritualists notwithstanding, even — literally! — clinical and not terribly erotic sex can be interesting and even fun for the parties involved.

The video previews the book as well, which, like Stiff, appears to recount different medical approaches to sex through history and around the world. Anyway while I can’t exactly say “check it out” since, well, I haven’t actually read the book I can say I’m really looking forward to it.