Rick B. (bup) -
Helpful Score: 3
A better title for this book might have been "Gross Stuff in Zero Gravity."
I love Mary Roach's approach to friendly science subjects - it's blunt, humorous, and in-your-face while somehow avoiding prurient appeal. Learning about corpses and sex with Ms. Roach was just great.
But this book was all about the scatological. What did I learn about going to Mars? People throw up in zero gravity. Going to the bathroom is problematic in zero gravity. Then a chapter ostensibly on food became a chapter on what sort of fecal matter that food produces. Then the possibility of recycling urine into drinking water.
Sure, these are real issues that will have to be understood and addressed, but so is, you know, having enough oxygen on the spacecraft, or growing crops on Mars or whether engineers will want to get astronauts to the moon first, collect supplies and stuff there, and then launch that to Mars, or just launch straight from earth, or send humanless rockets first that have robots to set up some sort of chamber that collects oxygen, or...
Anyway, the point is, besides talking about the space programs in the 60's and the continuing problems of human waste in space, there's a lot more that could be talked about. And wasn't.
Still, 4 stars. How can you go lower with Mary Roach?
I love Mary Roach's approach to friendly science subjects - it's blunt, humorous, and in-your-face while somehow avoiding prurient appeal. Learning about corpses and sex with Ms. Roach was just great.
But this book was all about the scatological. What did I learn about going to Mars? People throw up in zero gravity. Going to the bathroom is problematic in zero gravity. Then a chapter ostensibly on food became a chapter on what sort of fecal matter that food produces. Then the possibility of recycling urine into drinking water.
Sure, these are real issues that will have to be understood and addressed, but so is, you know, having enough oxygen on the spacecraft, or growing crops on Mars or whether engineers will want to get astronauts to the moon first, collect supplies and stuff there, and then launch that to Mars, or just launch straight from earth, or send humanless rockets first that have robots to set up some sort of chamber that collects oxygen, or...
Anyway, the point is, besides talking about the space programs in the 60's and the continuing problems of human waste in space, there's a lot more that could be talked about. And wasn't.
Still, 4 stars. How can you go lower with Mary Roach?
Nancy A. (Chocoholic) reviewed Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is another great book from Mary Roach, author of "Stiff". In this outing, Mary takes on NASA and the space industry and explores all of the issues involved in getting people into space. No issue is too minor to tackle; from eating, drinking, urinating, defecating, having sex, and the problems encountered with all of them. She addresses each issue in depth and takes the time to explain the scientific problems of all of them to us laypeople who may have no idea of the complexities involved in a witty manner. I heartily recommend!
