This Is What You Just Put in Your Mouth?: From Eggnog to Beef Jerky, the Surprising Secrets of What’s Inside Everyday Products

Based on his popular Wired magazine column What's Inside, Patrick Di Justo takes a hard and incredibly funny look at the shocking, disgusting, and often dumbfounding ingredients found in everyday products, from Cool Whip and Tide Pods to Spam and Play-Doh.

What do a cup of coffee and cockroach pheromone have in common? How is Fix-A-Flat like sugarless gum? Is a Slim Jim meat stick really alive? If I Can't Believe It's Not Butter isn't butter, what is it? All of these pressing questions and more are answered in This Is What You Just Put In Your Mouth? Patrick shares the madcap stories of his extensive research, including tracking down a reclusive condiment heir, partnering with a cop to get his hands on heroin, and getting tight-lipped snack-food execs to talk. Along the way, he schools us on product histories, label decoding, and the highfalutin chemistry concepts behind everything from Midol to Hostess fruit pies.
Packed with facts you're going to want to share immediately, this is infotainment at its best--and most fun --it will leave you giving your shampoo the side-eye and Doritos a double take, and make you the know-it-all in line at the grocery store.

PATRICK DI JUSTO wrote the popular Wired magazine column What’s Inside and is an editor at Make: magazine. A contributor to The New Yorker’s science blog, Elements, he also writes for The Atlantic, Popular Science, and Dwell, among others.