Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

My Rating: ★★★★★

I’ve been fascinated with space since I was a kid. Space travel has always been a fantasy of mine even though I knew it’s not something I’d ever do even when I was a kid. When I picked up this book, I expected to learn about space travel and some of the expectations, plans, and problems with a potential future mission to Mars. What I got was so much more. Mary Roach had me laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes. Her book not only covers the history of space travel and the logistics, but all the hilarious things that is rarely talked about, like pooping at zero gravity.

I learned so much from Roach. Everything from space flight testing to zero gravity training is there, but also the psychological worries, experiments, taboos, and the testing that goes on in and out of space. There’s so much history here that was never even hinted at when the first Moon landing was covered in high school history.

This book is a treasure. It’s honestly one of the most fascinating books that I’ve ever read. There are seemingly obvious topics thoroughly covered, like the difficultly behind showering at zero gravity and how something as simple as a fuse doesn’t work the same in space thanks to, you guessed it: gravity. Mary also has a wonderful writing style and I like her personality. She took what could’ve been some very dry topics and made them interesting to read about. I highly recommend this book and I’ll be checking out her other works.