Must Read of the Week: Packing for Mars

Yes, decry us to be Mary Roach fanboys.  Guilty as charged, my fellow readers.  However, can any one of you argue that the fandom is not warranted?  Like her books or not (I quite enjoyed "Bonk", but I know many who found it tiring), there's no arguing that Mary researches like no other, injects more humour than most science writers today, and is talented enough to connect everything into one narrative.  In the nonfiction world, oftentimes congested with stodgy voices, this is grand.

Here it is: Packing for Mars.  As we talked back in April, this book is all about the space program, but not necessarily your sneak peek at the golden years of space exploration.  Well, it is a peek at that, but not the elements that you may think of.  How do I explain this without going off on too much of a tangent?  It's like a fart joke, really.

Or rather, not really.

What I mean to say is this: Mary Roach tackles the elements that all of us have thought about, but suppressed the urge to say.  In reference to his infamous "round the campfire farting scene" in "Blazing Saddles", Mel Brooks simply states: "In every Western you've seen you always seen cowboys eating beans around a campfire, but never once do you hear them break wind."  It's sort of the same thing here.  How do you use the bathroom in space?  Where does the methane go when you're trapped in a space vehicle with little oxygen?  How do you remain in the realm of sanity after spending two years in an aluminum tube?  How can you work with your fellow astronauts when they've not showered in days?  Are people genetically predisposed to be astronauts?  All of these and many more questions (questions you may have always wanted to ask, but never had the cojones to) are answered here in great detail.  And, like always, in some areas, after reading a section you realize that ignorance just may be bliss.

This is vintage Mary, to be sure.  The humor is more rapid-fire here than it was in "Bonk" or "Spook".  And, guess what?  We have a return to corpses - the original crash test dummy for NASA.

If any of this has still not intrigued you enough to, at the very least, visit the library, then I'll say two words: fecal popcorning.  That's another area that's discussed.

"Stiff" remains by absolute favorite Mary Roach book, perhaps even my favorite nonfiction book.  While I love both "Spook" and "Bonk", "Packing for Mars" has just crept into a neck-and-neck race with Stiff.  I've never had much of an interest in NASA.  Call me weird.  This book has just ignited the interest in revisiting "The Right Stuff", "Lost Moon", et al, and subjecting the knowledge I just gained into those narratives.  It would be hilarious (only lacking a laughtrack).

If you've read Mary Roach, I'm not going to sell you on this one.  If you've never read Mary Roach, by all means start with this book and work your way backwards (oh to read "Stiff" again for the first time).  And if you order now, you save $10!