Explore the Fascinating Science Behind Life in Space with Mary Roach's Packing for Mars

Brenda: I haven't read the book yet, partly because of the condition of the book cover.

Canada on Sep 25, 2023

Philip Norton: I am loving this book! It is my first Mary Roach book, but now I want to read all of her work. Not only does it present a unique view of the challenges of space travel, but it also provides insight into Mary's investigations and encounters.

Japan on Jan 23, 2022

steve michaelides: fun

Canada on May 28, 2018

marsha l. reid: Thoroughly enjoyed this book on the history of space travel - from the first test rockets, to the Appollo landing, to planning for a manned expedition to Mars. What's unique about Mary is humor and her ability to ask the questions no one asks in conventional histories. She covers everything from eating, to pooping, to sex in space. And while that might sound like tabloid journalism, dealing with the basic human functions raises truly profound scientific questions and problems of men and women in space.

I remember as a little kid trying to stay to watch the Moon Landing with my Dad (fell asleep despite my best efforts). Mary has managed in her book to capture the imagination and that initial excitement of sending Man to the Moon as well as reminding of us the dangers involved and shines on a spotlight on the dedicated scientists who have made this happen and continue to work toward further human exploration in space.

Canada on May 14, 2017

cellomerl: Maybe it's a bit too glib, or perhaps I was just disappointed at how little this resembled the heroic images that I still carry from Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. At least at first. Everything related to space exploration nowadays seems very cumbersome and overwrought: top-heavy with procedure, safety rules (ironically), highly focused on the acutely mundane (unfortunately with good reason), heavily bureaucratic, and largely uninspiring.
Then we got into motion sickness, pooping in space, and drinking one's own urine. And the book turned quirky and entertaining enough to hold my interest. Roach has a bit of a specialty: the gleeful gross-out. I suppose it is interesting to wonder how a person might unmessily defecate in space or deal with body odours when encapsulated with like-stinking colleagues, and difficult to imagine it a lifelong professional pursuit for a Lab Coat. The logistics required to take a dump in space during an Apollo mission without coating one's colleagues in your excrement makes extended fasting seem like a great idea. So does the prospect of weeks spent eating dried birdseed and glue without barfing.
It was not quite the riveting read that I expected....

Canada on Dec 09, 2016

Rev. Dr. Jude Arnold: Dear Mary Roach,
I'm a huge fan and have read all your books!
In every one, I am so surprised by your discoveries!
I'm enjoying Mars and am finding it very interesting and funny!
However, and respectfully I ask you to write another entire book on the stuff you did not address - Is there life in space?!? What about the Summarian Tablets? What about Planet X?
And I would love to read your take in a 6th book, on our current political situation! I worked tirelessly for the Public Option and feel I failed. What do you think of George Carlin on the American Dream (posted on my profile)? What do you think of 911 being an inside job? What do you think of Alex Jones work? The Bildebergers? Is Obama Skull and Bones like Hillary, Bill and the Bushes? Thanks! Big Hug!

I'm still reading this book. Given that I wish she'd written about the real outer space rather than the ridiculous experiments NASA's been conducting for the last 50 years; I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's so totally Mary Roach! My favorite part so far was about BO. As a natural health doctor, I found it very interesting to learn, about the bacteria count of sweat in various parts of the body. Our feet,...

United States on Oct 09, 2010

Bruce Irving: When I was ten years old (in 1963), I had a plan for my life. After high school, I would go to the US Air Force Academy, followed by flight training (jets, of course). Later I would go to test pilot school with the ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut. I was too young for Apollo (and for Vietnam as an officer and pilot), but if it had worked out, I would have been an Air Force pilot in the late 70's and astronaut-ready by the mid-80's. The plan fell apart when I was 12 and started to develop severe myopia. The Air Force Academy and flight training wouldn't allow corrective lenses (of course even if I had 20/10 "Yeagervision" there are any number of other things that could have killed my plan, but hey, it was a fun plan while it lasted).

At that time, the idea of space flight represented nothing but sheer excitement, but now that I've read the new book Packing for Mars (by Mary Roach, subtitled "The Curious Science of Life in the Void"), I understand better than ever that the astronaut's life is much more complicated and less enjoyable than you might imagine. Maybe this wasn't the life for me. Of course I knew this at some level from a lot of previous reading about space...

United States on Aug 30, 2010