A New York Times Bestseller and Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year —"America's funniest science writer" ( Washington Post ) explores "the nitty-gritty details of life in space that filmmakers and historians tend to gloss over." — Boston Globe
The bestselling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.
"[Roach's] style is at its most substantial—and most hilarious—in the zero-gravity realm that Packing for Mars explores." — New York Times
"Roach deftly guides her readers. . . . They never completely lose sight of the accomplishments of space travel, even as they take delight in the absurdities that in the end, make those successes all the more sublime." — Dallas Morning News
"A winner of a subject. . . . Roach's strange enthusiasm for all things oddball . . . makes Mars more than a worthy destination." — Time