What I’m reading

FROM the humble beginnings of living in a trailer park, today Mark Pilgrim is one of South Africa’s best known and most recognisable personalities, having deejayed on South Africa’s biggest radio stations and hosted some of the most memorable television shows like and His voice is used in countless radio and television commercials. As a motivational speaker, Mark spends a lot of his time engaging with delegates at conferences, chatting about his experience with cancer as well as the sudden heart attack he had at the age of 38.

MARK has recently written his autobiography, Beyond the Baldness, an inspirational story of beating the odds… twice, a personal account of his journey of determination, following every opportunity to audition for radio and television. I usually enjoy fiction a lot more than non-fiction, as I want to read a book and escape into a world of espionage and detectives (where I know it’s not a real-life story happening on my doorstep).

Every once in a while though, a non-fiction book lands on my lap and I can’t put it down. I’m currently reading Why Do Men Have Nipples by Mark Leyner (Satirist) and Billy Goldberg (an Emergency Physician).

It was a #1 New York Times Bestseller just over 10 years ago and answers some burning questions we’ve always had, such as why men have nipples; why guys’ ears become bigger when they are really old; and what causes us to get ice headaches when drinking something cold too fast?

The questions and answers are humorous yet medically sound. One of my favourites is why our pee smells after eating asparagus, and there are two schools of thought.

One is that some people don’t produce an odour in their urine. And a more recent hypothesis is that we all produce the smell, but not all of us can actually smell it! Fascinating biology! Ultimately I love the book because it creates great afterdinner trivia with friends. Granted, there is usually a glass or two of wine involved, which makes the interest in the topics and the answers even funnier.