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I'm going to talk a bit about how I ended up becoming an author on top of being a scientist.
It's a bit of an unorthodox route to becoming an author but bear with me.
Back in January 2011 my brother turned to me and asked 'Do snakes fart?'
I realised I didn't know the answer, but, as I was already fairly active on Twitter I knew someone who would - @AlongsideWild - snake fart expert.
I realised I didn't know the answer, but, as I was already fairly active on Twitter I knew someone who would - @AlongsideWild - snake fart expert.
So of course I reached out - turns out @AlongsideWild gets that question quite a lot and he was exasperated with my shenanigans.
Enter @PlethodoNick - salamander expert and all round hero. He suggested we make a hashtag.
And of course, in the true nature of science, I suggested we turn it into a spreadsheet, where people could contribute their study animals.
So this evolved into a resource where zoologists and pet owners contributed facts about different animal farts - which is a pretty useful resource if you are a zoologist because it turns out we get asked about animals farting all the time.
You can still access that spreadsheet here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19gMMn4Wmw3BNLWMojEy7kgrjnjVB2JlMSwd1s-nYyUc/edit#gid=0
This ended up being covered by journalists, including the wonderful @RyanFMandelbaum and @bittelmethis
https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/01/scientists-are-compiling-a-database-of-farting-animals/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/11/scientists-are-building-an-animal-fart-database/
https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/01/scientists-are-compiling-a-database-of-farting-animals/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/11/scientists-are-building-an-animal-fart-database/
Form there it blew up (pun 100% intended).
Here is me on Canadian TV talking about farts in front of the houses of parliament
Here is me on Canadian TV talking about farts in front of the houses of parliament
In the midst of all this @QuercusBooks wrote to me and @PlethodoNick and were like 'Hey! Fancy turning this into a book?'.
Of course we leapt at the chance to do it!
Of course we leapt at the chance to do it!
So we went away and wrote it, with guidance from the spreadsheet + our own independent research.
In October 2016 'Does It Fart? The definitive field guide to animal flatulance' hit UK shelves.
In October 2016 'Does It Fart? The definitive field guide to animal flatulance' hit UK shelves.
It did so well that it was released in the US the following April 
In May 2018 we hit the New York Times bestseller list
https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2018/05/12/science/
https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2018/05/12/science/
