A pleasure as always. I was a bit worried, how do you inject humor into war, combat, injured veterans? Mary roaches can actually achieve the impossible ( )

Grunt is Mary Roach's foray into the world of the armed forces and war-like things and how they relate to the body: sweat, diarrhea, noise, cadavers, flies & maggots, shark attacks, material for uniforms, amputations of limbs & genitals, stink bombs, and the like. Kind of a hodge-podge of items, but that's sort of Mary Roach's m.o. As always, subtle and not-so-subtle humor is thrown in to keep things even more interesting.

This was not particularly my favorite of Roach's books, possibly because the subject matter wasn't as interesting to me. I also think I need to stop reading her books on audio and go for reading in print. I tend to find my mind wandering with non-fiction on audio in general, even though Roach is one of my go-to non-fiction authors. She's one of the best if you like science and like to see how the body responds to certain circumstances and situations, and her research methods are indeed fascinating. But while Grunt is enjoyable, it's not her best. ( )

The country's greatest popular science writer, Mary Roach, tackles the curious science of humans of war. Topics include: genital transplants, shark repellent, and diarrhea. Witty and informative as usual. If you're interested in exploring keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected in the extreme circumstances of war, and can handle some gruesome details, this is your book! ( )

A Roachian romp through military science, maybe not quite as good as several of her others, but still reasonably enjoyable. ( )

Mary Roach writes with journalistic flair about offbeat scientific topics. In this case, she investigates issues related to modern warfare: how are fighter jet canopies tested? why don't snipers want zippers on their uniforms? what do special ops people do when the local goat menu gives them gastrointestinal distress? how are medics trained to handle the stress of operating under fire? She interviews people and, when possible, goes on location: she spent several days on a Trident submarine, sat in on a penis transplant on cadavers at Johns Hopkins, and participated in a heat survivability experiment. The result is a compulsively readable and fun blend of science, trivia, and expository journalism. ( )