Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

 
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
Publisher: Brilliance Audio (2 Aug 2010) | ISBN: 1441876634 ; 1441876650 ; 1441876626 ; 1441876642 ; 1441878963
Language English | Audio CD in MP3/128Kbps | 134 mb


With her wry humor and inextinguishable curiosity, Mary Roach has crafted her own quirky niche in the somewhat staid world of science writing, showing no fear (or shame) in the face of cadavers, ectoplasm, or sex. In Packing for Mars, Roach tackles the strange science of space travel, and the psychology, technology, and politics that go into sending a crew into orbit. Roach is unfailingly inquisitive (Why is it impolite for astronauts to float upside down during conversations? Just how smelly does a spacecraft get after a two week mission?), and she eagerly seeks out the stories that don't make it onto NASA's websitefrom SPCA-certified space suits for chimps, to the trial-and-error approach to crafting menus during the space program's early years (when the chefs are former livestock veterinarians, taste isn't high on the priority list). Packing for Mars is a book for grownups who still secretly dream of being astronauts, and Roach lives it up on their behalfweightless in a C-9 aircraft, she just can't resist the opportunity to go "Supermanning" around the cabin. Her zeal for discovery, combined with her love of the absurd, amazing, and stranger-than-fiction, make Packing for Mars an uproarious trip into the world of space travel. Lynette Mong

Review

Cool answers to questions about the void you didn't even know you had. (People )
An utterly fascinating account, made all the more entertaining by the author's ever-amused tone. (BookPage )
An impish and adventurous writer with a gleefully inquisitive mind and stand-up comic's timing. (Booklist )
A delightful, illuminating grab bag of space-flight curiosities. (Kirkus Reviews )
The author's writing comes across as reportorial, but with a clear sense of humor; even the footnotes are used to both informational and comedic effect. (Time Out New York )
[Her] style is at its most substantial-and most hilarious-in the zero-gravity realm that Packing for Mars explores.As startling as it is funny. (Janet Maslin - The New York Times )
Truly funny. Roach's writing is supremely accessible, but there's never a moment when you aren't aware of how much research she's done into unexplored reaches of space travel. (Entertainment Weekly )
This is the kind of smart, smirky stuff that Roach does so well. (Geoff Nicholson - San Francisco Chronicle )
Hilarious. (The New York Times Book Review )

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can't walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a spacewalk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout from space? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it's possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

About the AuthMary Roach is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. She lives in Oakland, California.

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