skygiants | (no subject)

I read Mary Roach's Packing for Mars, about NASA and Weird Space Science, because:

a.) I'd never read a Mary Roach book and I'd been vaguely meaning to for years
b.) I'd made a pact with

jothra that we would both read it, the origins of which are lost to the mists of time (unless Jo remembers them which it's entirely possible she might)
c.) I needed to know about weird astronaut food one can eat in zero-G, for reasons

I did learn some things about weird astronaut food one can eat in zero-G! I also now know a GREAT DEAL about what happens to the food ... one eats ... in zero-G .... at the other end of the digestive system ....

I did sort of find myself regretting the fact that a solid percentage of my reading is generally done on my lunch break.

Another thing I have learned is that going to space sounds terrible, and no one should do it -- at least not until they figure out how to create better artificial gravity, so that trips to space can include showers. But to be honest the idea of dying alone in a failing spacecraft has always viscerally terrified me even before I read Mary Roach's graphic description of Painful Ways To Die In And Around Outer Space (as a ten-year-old I went to go see Apollo 13 and hated it -- boring and scary! world's dullest horror movie! WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS) so it wasn't like I was headed for astronautical heroism anyway.

Anyway. The book is interesting, informative, and certainly useful if one wants to know about the weird logistics of space travel; it's also very funny, although Mary Roach's sense of humor is not always my sense of humor and sometimes when reading I wished she'd step back a little and let the weird and hilarious facts tell themselves. (Also, my hackles went up a little in the first chapter when she introduces a Japanese scientist and explains that he's adorable and she just wants to pinch his cheek. Maybe don't lead with that, Mary! I don't know you well enough yet to trust that you're not being racist when you condescend to grown men!)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sovay

The book is interesting, informative, and certainly useful if one wants to know about the weird logistics of space travel; it's also very funny, although Mary Roach's sense of humor is not always my sense of humor and sometimes when reading I wished she'd step back a little and let the weird and hilarious facts tell themselves.

Which way is her sense of humor not always your sense of humor?

I wanted very much as a child to go to space. I had the list of astronaut requirements clipped and taped to the wall beside my bed. I always stuck on the first part, which was "join the military."

From:

flamebyrd

Thanks for the review, I'll check the book out!

We listened to Chris Hadfield's book on a long roadtrip a couple of years ago, and after several long minutes listening to him describe how to, er, expel waste in space, we made a mutual decision to skip ahead...

From:

glitteryv

Mary Roach is one my fave non-fiction authors. That said, I deffo agree that her sense of humor and writing style might not be for everyone.

From:

skygiants

Mary Roach loves bathroom jokes a lot more than I love bathroom jokes, basically.

As a kid I always wanted the experience of being on another planet ... but I was scared of the idea of being in space. It did not occur to me that these two facts were potentially mutually exclusive until much later.

From:

skygiants

ahahahaha man I cannot imagine listening to that experience lovingly described, out loud, in company

From:

kore

She's not....crude exactly. It's more....broad, I guess you could say. She really does dwell a lot on execratory (sp) functions.

From:

kore

Nearly everyone I know loves Roach so I feel really out of step. I've read three or four of her books, and it's not just that they don't grab me, I find her perspective really shallow. And her sense of humour grates on me after about fifty pages. She's one of those authors who works much better for me as an essayist, in smaller doses.

From:

skygiants

The content is super interesting! I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about her writing style.

From:

skygiants

Yeah, I can see that -- I enjoyed this overall, but a full book's worth of her is definitely A Lot.

From:

glitteryv

I can tell you it doesn't change.

FTR, the first book I read by her was her actual!first book (Stiff)--which dealt with corpses + donating them for science.

OTOH, it did changed my mind w/r/t having a funeral (or, in my case, to not have one). OTOH, a lot of details fell in the gross side of things (due to the subject matter).

Deffo not an easy reading.

The only one of her books I wasn't as enthused was the one dealing with the soul. It's the one book where her humor really got on my nerves.

From:

sovay

execratory (sp) functions.

"Excretory," in context. "Execratory functions" are more like cursing people out.

From:

kore

Ah, ty! So much depends on that one little letter e.

From:

kore

The one on the soul (Spook) and the one on war (Grunt) really really got on my nerves in that way, especially the latter one.

From:

sapote

I keep trying to read her stuff because she's interested in a lot of the topics that I'm interested in, and I love pop science books - except that, I don't know, as you say she doesn't love to let the facts speak for themselves. I feel like she writes books that are primarily about Mary Roach having a wacky time researching - it's like instead of reading her research I'm at a dinner party listening to her tell a funny story about her process. Or like I'm reading a longform article about her process of writing a book, which I like at first, but then it goes on forever and I realize that it's JUST the metabook about writing a book.

Also, yes, I wanted Packing for Mars to contain more Oregon-Trail-like preparation, and less... unpacking on the way to Mars, so to speak.

From:

skygiants

Yeah, I'm a bit like, Mary, I'm glad you had fun and cracked jokes at confused scientists but that's not why I'm here? If you're writing a science memoir than write a science memoir. JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM.

(Though this is pretty hypocritical of me to say, as I am very often not a just-the-facts writer myself when explaining things!)

From:

killing_rose

I distinctly remember my aunt getting Stiff at the Bodies exhibit in Seattle...gods, nearly 13 years ago. I got three chapters in, decided I did not enjoy the format (or the humor) and handed it back.

My aunt, having been entertained by Roach's humor, kept trying to pass me the rest of her books.

From:

genarti

Mmmph. I haven't read any Mary Roach books, but I keep meaning to, because I'm interested in a lot of the topics she's written about, and I love good pop science! But I also get frustrated pretty quickly at pop science or history books in which the author's experience of researching and writing the book keeps taking over from the subject matter, and it sounds like that's definitely a thing that comes with the Mary Roach package. If so, that takes away a good bit of my enthusiasm for the prospect. (Not saying I'll never give her a try! Just, it's good to have my expectations tempered in advance, if so.)

From:

jothra

Neither of us had read one of her books before! And this is the one the bookstore had, when I went.

I could deal with the toilet talk, because I always kind of wondered. The motion sickness section, on the other hand...

From:

obopolsk

Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies OF ALL TIME. Though I agree with you that going to space sounds terrible and no one should do it.

Also, I keep meaning to tell you that I finished Kate Atkinson's Transcription and can now safely recommend it to you. I'm now reading and very much enjoying the Alyssa Cole book you recommended I buy at the Strand the other week, so thanks for the rec!

From:

skygiants

My roommate has a whole collection of Roach books floating around the house -- now that I'm paying attention I keep seeing them in bookshelves. I may try and pick up another one at some point and see if the info is enough to keep me going.

From:

skygiants

I WAS ALSO EATING WHILE READING THAT, AND THAT, TOO, WAS A MISTAKE.

From:

skygiants

Ooh, excellent, I shall look it up library-wise! I'm glad you enjoyed the Cole. :D My actual favorite book by hers (I may have told you this already) is a Civil Rights-era novella called Let It Shine, but the royal books are a lot of fun.