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Smiling Shelves

Packing for Mars [Review]

11/7/2015

8 Comments

 
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Mary Roach is surely a writer with no fear. If she investigates a topic, she goes all the way, even experiencing weightlessness during a parabolic jet flight (something which would have certainly made me sick). If she writes about it, then she wants to experience it as best as she can.

Although, experiences are not the only way she shows no fear. She asks questions. Questions that would make the answerer uncomfortable. Questions that certainly cannot be described as tactful. Questions that would never even have crossed the mind of most people. 

It is this quality of fearlessness that makes Mary Roach’s books the wonders that they are. Packing for Mars investigates all sorts of aspects of space travel, everything from donning a space suit to why you may want to avoid going to the bathroom for the duration of your stay in space. I learned things about life in space that I never wanted to know (but found strangely fascinating, nevertheless).

Reading one of Mary Roach’s books is like having a cup of coffee with that girl in school who was never afraid to say what she was thinking. Packing for Mars was informative (perhaps a little too much so) and hilarious. Anyone interested in astronauts or life in space should read this book. Actually, anyone who is interested in laughing out loud at completely random facts should read this book. And isn’t that all of us?

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Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books
8 Comments
Debbie link
11/7/2015 09:04:54 am

I've read her book "Stiff" for book club and enjoyed it. This sounds really interesting also. Maybe for Nonfiction November I could squeeze it in.

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
11/7/2015 10:24:43 am

It was a pretty quick read. I'm curious (and a little afraid) to read her other books. :)

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Kate @ Mom's Radius link
11/7/2015 10:51:24 am

Great review, Julie. Not my kind of book though. :)

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
11/7/2015 02:52:06 pm

Thanks, Kate. I wasn't entirely sure it would be my kind of book, either, but I ended up loving it!

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fiddlrts
11/7/2015 02:29:44 pm

Gulp (about the alimentary canal) is also not for the faint of stomach, but is also hilarious. Also, if you haven't already found them, there are TED talk videos featuring her, and she is as deadpan in person as she is on the printed page.

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
11/7/2015 02:52:37 pm

I have not discovered her TED talks yet. I will definitely check those out!

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Andi link
11/8/2015 12:23:02 pm

Stiff is one of my all time favorite books, but admittedly, I had a much harder time with Spook. I need to try out some of her other books...this one very high on the list...to find more gems. :)

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
11/9/2015 08:44:20 pm

I'm a little scared to try Stiff, but that's a pretty high recommendation. I'll have to give it a try one of these days! :)

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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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