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Aug
13
Book Review: PACKING FOR MARS by Mary Roach
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Published August 2010 by W. W. Norton
Try as I might, I just can’t force my thoughts about Mary Roach into the traditional review format. I think it’s because there’s something about her books (she writes the perfect mix of of immersion journalism and stunt memoir) that you have to experience for yourself. And that makes sense, as they’re all about her experiences researching topics that no one else is bold enough to approach.
(Stiff is about the various ways that cadavers donated to science are used; Spook investigates the “science” of the afterlife; Bonk is a hilarious—and informative!—look at sex research.)
For her latest project, Roach couldn’t convince NASA to fly her to Mars (hell, it was hard enough just getting the PR people to answer her emails), so she did the next best thing and spent two years researching space research and learning about how real-life rocket scientists plan for missions and train astronauts. As it turns out, “it’s possible, in a way, to visit space without leaving Earth. Or anyway, a sort of slapstick-surreal make-believe edition.”
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void is the resulting collection of endlessly amusing and unforgettable bits of trivia, the type that make you feel simultaneously smarter, sillier, and more interesting at dinner parties. (Seriously. I’m still getting mileage from the gross-out facts I learned in Stiff, and it’s been at least six years since I read it.)
Each chapter of Packing for Mars is about a different aspect of space science or the space travel experience, and A LOT of them are about how space agencies and astronauts handle bodily functions (so if you think talk of such subjects is uncivilized or inappropriate, Mary Roach is NOT for you), but there’s more to it than that. Space is fascinating (just ask Christina, who is about to go to space camp!).
To take an organism whose every feature has evolved to keep it alive and thriving in a world with oxygen, gravity, and water, to suspend that organism in the wasteland of space for a month or a year, is a preposterous but captivating undertaking.
Roach begins by exploring astronaut recruitment and selection in a chapter titled “He’s Smart But His Birds Are Sloppy.” She gives a quick history of how the characteristics and personality traits space agencies look for in astronauts have evolved over time, and then she concludes (after observing wannabe Japanese astronauts fold origami cranes for hours on end) that “going into space is like attending a very small, very elite military boarding school.” And if you think about it, she’s right. Most astronauts spend decades training to spend just a few days or weeks in space, and now, they don’t even get to be all flashy-Hollywood like they were back in the day.
Today’s space agency doesn’t want guts and swagger. They want Richard Gere in Nights in Rodanthe.
(Roach claims she only knows this because “It was a ten-hour flight to Tokyo,” but I know she really #heartsthespark.)
Here are just a few more of the innumerable interesting things I learned in Packing for Mars:
- Space agencies pay volunteers to spend months on end doing nothing but lying on their backs (literally—you can get kicked out of the program for sitting up) so they can estimate the effects of weightlessness on the body
- The experience of being in space and seeing Earth from a distance inspires such awe that conversations between the manliest of men start sounding like “the transcript of a 1970s encounter group.” As in:
WHITE: That was the most natural feeling, Jim.
MCDIVITT: …You looked like you were in your mother’s womb.
- The sheer number of test flights space agencies undertake is unbelievable. (Parabolic flights are used to approximate zero gravity conditions.) This happens because “Every time NASA develops a new piece of hardware—be it a pump or a heating element or a toilet—someone has to haul it up on a plane…to see what sort of problems might develop in zero gravity.” Think about that. You can’t just solve a problem. You have to solve the problem, and then make sure that the solution is space-friendly.
- Scientists use dogs to study motion sickness because their susceptibility is similar to humans’; guinea pigs and rabbits are among the only mammals known to be immune to motion sickness.
- Scientists first made the connection between motion sickness and the vestibular system in 1896, when a group of five “deaf-mutes” failed to fall ill on a “harrowing sea voyage.”
- Despite rumors to the contrary, there is no evidence that anyone has actually had sex in space.
- If you don’t use the toilet or seal the poop bags properly, pieces will escape and float through the cabin. This happens often enough that it’s not unusual to find references to “floaters” in mission transcripts.
- In 1965, two men spent two weeks in space wearing pressurizes suits without changing their underwear or bathing in order to study the build-up of dirt and oils on the skin and clothing. (I told you this space stuff was gross!)
- Researchers fantasize about finding a way to make humans hibernate on long space flights because it would save millions of dollars if astronauts didn’t have to eat for six months of a two year mission.
And that’s all I’ll tell you, except that Roach also manages to use the phrase “sea urchin splooge” and make it sound academic and important, and that if you’re at all interested in space travel—or if you just really enjoy an informative, fun read that will make you nudge your partner every few minutes going, “Hey, did you know???”—you should read this book.
Norton sent along this fun video reenactment of the no-bathing experiment, for your viewing pleasure:
Learn more about Packing for Mars and Mary Roach’s other books at her website.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Rebecca Schinsky
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I’m looking forward to this book! I bet my whole family will enjoy it.
OMG SPACE CAMP!!!!
Looking forward to reading this – there are some imazing stories and facts in the world of space explorations – some, as Roach has apparently found, are hilarious.
I’d like to share two quick things – one regarding the quote you shared from White and McDivitt, a little factoid for your readers – that quote comes from the first American Space Walk during the Gemini 4 mission. Ed White was the lucky SOB who got to leave the capsule. One of the key factors in my decision to go to Space Camp is actually a quote from that same moment.
The capsule was coming up on night and ground control wanted White to get back in. It is questionable as to whether or not he ignored the comands and stayed out longer, but there do seem to have been some communication problems going on, so it’s possible he and McDivitt just couldn’t hear.
Anyway, he finally goes to get back in the capsule and says “This is the saddest moment of my life.”
Mind. Blown. I just can’t imagine being out there, walking in space and the feelings that must evoke floating above this blue orb and realizing just how small we really are.
And I leave you with my favorite space photo from Apollo 8:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/.a/6a00d8341c4df253ef0133ece047cc970b-350wi
Christina´s last [type] ..DANGEROUS STUFF!!!
I got a galley of this at BEA and am very much looking forward to it – I loved her last books. Glad to hear #4 is up to par!
Kerry´s last [type] ..Great Photo Friday!
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I love Mary Roach!! Stiff was so great and Bonk and Spook are on my TBR list and I’m dying to get my grubby little hands on them. I didn’t even know she had a new one out! Great review!
You know, I’ve seen her books around but have never had sufficient motivation to pick one up….until I read your post. I must have this book!
Michele@ A Reader’s Respite´s last [type] ..Top Ten Reasons for NOT Finishing The Brothers Karamazov
See this is the personality I like in an author. Give me enough of that crazy trivia that will make me spew out facts every 5.3 minutes and drive my husband nuts. I wonder how this translates to an audio book? I’m going to have to look into that…
Sandy´s last [type] ..Labelling- Are We Doing a Disservice To Our Cross-Genre Authors
thanks for the review. sounds like it needs to be added to my TBR list. I loved Stiff, didn’t like Bonk that much (thought it wasn’t that informative) and still need to read Spook but I definitely like Roach’s style.
Amy S.´s last [type] ..MUSIC- Following The Charlatans–Part I
I read my first (but definitely not my last) Roach book earlier this year (Spook) and I agree with you .. she has her own little thing going on. I love her approach to stuff and can’t wait to read this one.
Jenners´s last [type] ..Dear Mr James Patterson- A Review Of Sorts of 1st To Die
I’ve never listened to one of her books on audio, but I imagine they’d be great fun (especially if she reads them).
Her books look like so much fun! I can’t believe I haven’t read one yet – I’ll have to remedy that soon.
I loved this book. She is such a funny writer.
Lorin´s last [type] ..Review- Melting Stones
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