Packing for Reviews
Mar. 28th, 2011 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
So tonight I clipped through to the end of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. It's a pretty popular pop-sci book and I'm probably late to the party in reading it but here I am.
The book basically talks about all the different things you have to take into account when you shoot someone into space. It covers the big things like protection, food, and weightlessness and the little things like sex and pooping. It's breezy. Maybe a little too breezy. A lot of the jokes seem pretty forced and nothing is ever really covered in depth. It's more like a series of magazine articles with some clever cliffhanging to move from one topic to the next.
Like a lot of books covering a big subject, Ms. Roach gets to hang out with a lot of people involved in space research and there's a dizzying array of people she wheels on and off to talk about different subjects. It gets to be a bit tiresome.
So...certainly not the worst science writing I've ever read, but not as meaty as I was hoping for. You may evaluate my harsh judgement in light of the fact that she's been in a vomit comet and I haven't.
later
Tom
So tonight I clipped through to the end of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. It's a pretty popular pop-sci book and I'm probably late to the party in reading it but here I am.
The book basically talks about all the different things you have to take into account when you shoot someone into space. It covers the big things like protection, food, and weightlessness and the little things like sex and pooping. It's breezy. Maybe a little too breezy. A lot of the jokes seem pretty forced and nothing is ever really covered in depth. It's more like a series of magazine articles with some clever cliffhanging to move from one topic to the next.
Like a lot of books covering a big subject, Ms. Roach gets to hang out with a lot of people involved in space research and there's a dizzying array of people she wheels on and off to talk about different subjects. It gets to be a bit tiresome.
So...certainly not the worst science writing I've ever read, but not as meaty as I was hoping for. You may evaluate my harsh judgement in light of the fact that she's been in a vomit comet and I haven't.
later
Tom
