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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Wishlist: Packing for Mars

I watched The Daily Show from Monday last night and loved Jon Stewart's interview with Mary Roach, regarding her newest book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.
Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. 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? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 4,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations -- making it 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), Packing for Mars takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.
While I wasn't blown away by the previous book by her I've read (Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife), the conversation with JS about this one was so hysterical, I am going to have to read it.

2 comments:

  1. I loved her talk at BEA and look forward to reading it too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny, I liked Spook. Really liked Stiff. And then I thought the sex book was pretty entertaining but got a little tired of her writing style. This one sounds like its up my alley.

    ReplyDelete

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