Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

by Mary Roach

Overview

A New York Times / National Bestseller

"America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post) Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324036081
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Mary Roach is the author of seven best-selling works of nonfiction, including Grunt, Stiff, and, most recently, Fuzz. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. She lives in California.

Hometown:

San Francisco, California

Place of Birth:

New Hampshire

Education:

B.A., Wesleyan University, 1981

Website:

http://www.maryroach.net/

Table of Contents

By Way of Introduction 13

1 Second Skin 18

What to wear to war

2 Boom Box 40

Automotive safety for people who drive on bombs

3 Fighting by Ear 56

The conundrum of military noise

4 Below the Belt 72

The cruelest shot of all

5 It Could Get Weird 88

A salute to genital transplants

6 Carnage Under Fire 104

How do combat medics cope?

7 Sweating Bullets 124

The war on heat

8 Leaky Seals 142

Diarrhea as a threat to national security

9 The Maggot Paradox 164

Flies on the battlefield, for better and worse

10 What Doesn't Kill You Will Make You Reek 184

A brief history of stink bombs

11 Old Chum 202

How to make and test shark repellent

12 That Sinking Feeling 222

When things go wrong under the sea

13 Up and Under 242

A submarine tries to sleep

14 A Feedback from the Fallen 264

How the dead help the living stay that way

Acknowledgments 273

Bibliography 277

Editorial Reviews

"Mary Roach’s latest bit of brilliance….As meticulously researched, beautifully written, and disturbingly funny as her previous books…Grunt examines the science behind war, as well as the researchers who are leading the charge in these state-of- the-art developments. Roach’s prose is a triumph—an engaging blend of anecdote, research, and reflection."

Boston Globe

"[Roach] writes exquisitely about the excruciating….wildly informative and vividly written"

|Los Angeles Times

"[Roach] takes on the challenges the military faces to keep its fighters safe and healthy with her trademark flair (and zingy footnotes)."

Entertainment Weekly

"Extremely likable…and quick with a quip….[Roach’s] skill is to draw out the good humor and honesty of both the subjects and practitioners of these white arts among the dark arts of war."

San Francisco Chronicle

"From the ever-illuminating author of Bonk and Stiff comes an examination of the science behind war. Even the tiniest minutiae count on the battlefield, and Roach leads us through her discoveries in her inimitable style."

Elle

"Roach...applies her tenacious reporting and quirky point of view to efforts by scientists to conquer some of the soldier’s worst enemies."

Seattle Times

"Nobody does weird science quite like [Roach], and this time, she takes on war. Though all her books look at the human body in extreme situations (sex! space! death!), this isn’t simply a blood-drenched affair. Instead, Roach looks at the unexpected things that take place behind the scenes."

Wired

"Our most consistently entertaining science journalist…Roach goes where other writers wouldn’t dare….And her search produces images—a kind of technopoetry—that are hard to forget."

O Magazine

"Roach is a tenacious investigative journalist with an appetite for the unappetizing...Grunt ranks high in the Roach repertoire."

USA Today

"Covering these topics and more, Roach has done a fascinating job of portraying unexpected, creative sides of military science."

New York Post

"A mirthful, informative peek behind the curtain of military science."

Washington Post

"Nobody does weird science quite like [Roach], and this time, she takes on war. Though all her books look at the human body in extreme situations (sex! space! death!), this isn’t simply a blood-drenched affair. Instead, Roach looks at the unexpected things that take place behind the scenes."

Wired

Roach’s enjoyable audiobook applies her penchant for geeky technical detail and juvenile humor to the science of military training, supply, and medical care. Abby Elvidge’s narration, at least initially, distracts from, rather than supports, the audiobook. She tries too hard to inject feeling into the text—as if every word must bear an emotional weight, an unworkable tactic for listeners. The artificial emphases partially obscure the sense of the work and disrupt Roach’s comic timing. Eventually much of this smooths out, and Elvidge’s engaging natural energy and expressiveness surface. Her voice, though a bit scratchy, is clear and conveys Roach’s silly and snarky humor. If Elvidge could have started where she ended, GRUNT would be better served. W.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2016 - AudioFile

2016-03-28
A cannon fires grocery chickens at parked jets, testing ways to protect planes against bird strikes. Readers encountering this esoteric project on the first page will settle back to enjoy another patented scientific romp, this one on battlefield research, by journalist Roach (Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, 2013, etc.)."For every general and Medal of Honor winner," writes the author, "there are a hundred military scientists whose names you'll never hear. The work I write about represents a fraction of a percent of all that goes on. I have omitted whole disciplines of worthy endeavor." Roach reveals many of these names, however, along with the stories of their quests to shield soldiers from harm and, if this fails, repair the often gruesome results. Traveling from proving ground to lab to expensive, realistic fake battle settings, the author recounts and often participates as researchers search for better ways to protect soldiers from bullets, burns, explosions, noise, heat, sharks, insomnia, drowning, and disease. If all fails, the military wants to correct the consequences with better prostheses and surgical reconstructions of mutilated or missing body parts. Roach joins Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Levitt in making a career of turning serious research on oddball subjects into bestsellers. But while Gladwell and Levitt aim to stimulate readers with unusual connections among subjects, Roach, the author of Stiff and Bonk, is mostly seeking laughs. She restrains herself when it's inappropriate (an admirable chapter on repairing damaged penises) but never resists easy targets (blast-resistant underwear, the macho approach to diarrhea) and works hard to find humor wherever she turns. When material runs thin, the author inserts breezy anecdotes, descriptions of her surroundings, the scientists' physiognomy, and the sufferings of a journalist willing to try anything. Battlefield R&D is a topic too fascinating to ruin, so readers who can tolerate the author's relentless flippancy will not regret the experience.

Kirkus Reviews