Mary Roach: Grunt: The Science of Humans at War

Literati is delighted to be the bookseller for one of our favorite authors, Mary Roach, who’ll discuss her latest book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, at the downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library.

Much of military science is necessarily preoccupied with the study of violence, the development of strategy, of weapons and armaments, of warfare. But not all the battles of war involve drone technology and Bradley Personnel Vehicle. On a daily basis, soldiers also fight more esoteric battles against less considered adversaries—for example, exhaustion, shock, panic, disease, extreme heat, cataclysmic noise, gastrointestinal distress, and assorted waterfowl. In Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, America’s favorite science writer Mary Roach explores those aspects of war that no one makes movies about–not the killing but the keeping alive.

Grunt salutes the scientists and surgeons running along in the wake of combat, lab coats flapping and celebrates the courage of people like Navy flight surgeon Angus Rupert, who flew blindfolded and upside down to test a vibrating suit designed to help pilots fly by feel should they become blinded or disoriented, and Captain Herschel Flowers of the Army Medical Research Laboratory, who injected himself with cobra venom to test the possibility of building immunity. With her characteristic sense of humor, her indefatigable enthusiasm, and her sharp eye for telling detail, Roach, as always, proves to be the ideal tour guide. When it comes to military history, not all heroes carry guns, and not all heroism happens in a burst of cinematic glory. In Grunt, the heroes engage in dizzying flights of unorthodox thinking. They experiment with flame-resistant textiles, zippers, earplugs, shark repellent, and erectile tissue. If necessary, they lob chickens at airplanes.

Mary Roach is the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Packing For Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, and Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. She lives in Oakland, California.