To celebrate tomorrow’s release of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, I’m giving away an ARC copy of the book, signed by Mary Roach! Details of the giveaway are below the review.
I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Roach speak at an author breakfast at Book Expo this spring. She is a gifted speaker and tremendously funny. She comes across as very personable and intimate, even when speaking to a room full of hundreds of people. That style comes through in her writing as well, making an essentially scientific book come alive with warmth, humor, and personality.
The focus of Packing for Mars is not on the science of how we space travel, but the science of what happens to humans when we space travel. Topics covered include: selecting astronauts who will thrive in space, motion sickness, hygiene, eating & nutrition, bone loss, surviving malfunctions and re-entry, and (perhaps most humorously) the complications of going to the bathroom in space.
This book is a great read regardless of your level of interest in NASA, space travel, or astronauts. (Although didn’t most of us want to be astronauts at some point?) It’s fascinating to read about the effects being in zero gravity for extended periods of time have on our body and mind. Learning more about how NASA tests these effects on their equipment and astronauts is equally as interesting. And the key selling point to all this is that Mary Roach makes it extremely fun to read.
To read a Teaser Tuesday passage I posted from Packing for Mars, click here.
PACKING FOR MARS GIVEAWAY
To enter to win an review copy signed by Mary Roach, please leave a comment and share what comfort from Earth you would miss most during space travel.
For up to 2 extra chances to win, tweet and/or blog post a link to this giveaway, and leave another comment here with the link(s).
This giveaway will be open through August 18, 2010, and is open worldwide.
This sounds really interesting! I won’t enter your giveaway though, so many books to read already!
You are so much more on top of this than I am. I haven’t even started it.
I would miss yarn shops! But I would do my best to bring as much of my stash as possible along with me on the flight.
I’d love to read this! I think I would miss my electric blanket most, nights in space must be cold!
I think I would miss hot showers!
This book sounds really interesting, would love to read it.
Just tweeted about it:
http://twitter.com/justabookworm/status/20716477685
This one is so intriguing! I’d most miss snuggling with my dogs although I would definitely miss gravity too, although that’s not really a comfort, is it? ;-)
I would mis my family and friends and my own personal toilet…
http://twitter.com/Lora1967