The Absurdity/Agony of War

Science writer Mary Roach is never one to shy away from parts of science that verge on the absurd, as anyone who has read any of her books surely knows. I'd read two of her previous books, and been enchanted enough by Roach's unique combination of endless curiosity and a wry sense of humor that I rushed to lay my hands on her newest book. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War will not fail in living up to the expectations that fans of her work will bring. Those who have never read her before will be hard-pressed to put down a book that I finished in a few short days.

The real joy of reading something by Mary Roach is her talent for seeking out strange areas of science that a reader might never have known about. As an investigator, she answers questions you never knew you had. Her newest work is no exception. We discover, for instance, how the military tests the ability of a fighter jet to survive a mid-air collision with a large bird--by firing a dead chicken at the plane at 400 miles per hour. Roach uncovers the strange history of the World War II quest for an effective shark repellent for downed airmen and the ongoing research on offensive smells that began as a way to resist German and Japanese occupation. We learn about the unexpected intersection of fashion designers and the armed forces, and the arms race between armored vehicles and insurgent explosives in both Iraq wars.

As a reader might expect, a book about the science of humans at war isn't all light-hearted whimsy. Roach learns the development of techniques to effect an underwater rescue of damaged submarines, and what happens when these efforts fail. Not for the faint of heart is a chapter on the reconstruction of male anatomy in the aftermath of an IED attack, nor will the squeamish take joy in the discussion of using maggots in treating wounds, however effective a remedy it proves. Our journey ends in a military morgue. When all the efforts to protect the lives of military personnel have failed, the casualties come here for a mandatory autopsy. Even Mary Roach's endless capacity for humor fails in such a setting. It seems out of place. These autopsies are research too, the results providing feedback to improve medical treatment in war. Too late to save those already in the morgue, like much of the research the military undertakes, what is learned may well prevent other casualties in the future. As difficult as it is to learn the workings of surgical centers and morgues, Mary Roach refuses to look away. We should refuse to look away too.

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