Waist-Deep in Dung: A Stomach-Churning Look at the Grossest Jobs Throughout History

Gr 4-7–Readers will learn about the most disgusting jobs in history in this title. The first part of this book focuses on jobs dealing with blood and medicine, such as resurrection men, Egyptian embalmers, leech collectors, and the jack-of-all-trades called a barber surgeon. Virnig’s tone is conversational and fun while delivering facts about each of these unusual and frequently repulsive job opportunities. The second part includes even grosser jobs dealing with feces, urine, and vomit. Kids will find they could have been a dining room attendant who frequently cleaned the vomit of the attendees off the floor or a gongfermor who jumped into cesspits to clean out human waste. Part two includes information on tanners, grooms of the stool, and saltpeter men, among others. While the information in this title is engaging and interesting, the layout often hinders the flow of the text. Side bars are used in every chapter and sometimes take up an entire page, forcing readers to either stop in the middle of the text or skip the section and return to it later. Virnig warns readers in the introduction that this book is not for everyone. A table of contents, glossary, index, and bibliography are included.