Grunt

The Curious Science of Humans at War

By: Mary Roach

Narrated by: Abby Elvidge

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Bestselling author Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war.

Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries - panic, exhaustion, heat, noise - and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds. At Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security. Roach samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks? Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you'll never see our nation's defenders in the same way again.

©2016 Mary Roach (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Very good, as usual ...

...for a Mary Roach book. Much more serious towards the end, however, than was "Stiff" or "Bonk". Worth listening to.

Interesting material, terrible performance

Voice and reading style was really annoying and very mismatched for the topic and material

Another Stellar Book by Mary Roach!

Informative and well researched with Mary's usual wit and humor. She expertly handles sensitive topics and makes them approachable. Highly recommend!

science found its sexy

I love science. I love research. I really loved the way Mary explained the work that wemt into all the little improvements that made and makes military life more bearable.

glad I stuck it out

I initially downloaded this book as an "adventure" - reading something that sounded interesting with no idea how it would go. When the story started, I thought, "this was a mistake...", but I continued reading it, thinking I would at least see what the first two chapters were like. I'm glad I did. Each chapter taught me so many new things that, while some times sad and some times unpleasant, I found enlightening. I'd recommend this book to people who like learning new things and have a fairly open mind to the not-so-pleasant side of science and medicine.

A very good and interesting read.

Would you consider the audio edition of Grunt to be better than the print version?

Not necessarily, but it was perfect for a road trip. My wife and I listened to it on a trip that happened to be just about the same drive time as the book and it was great.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

It's both funny and informative, like all Mary Roach books.

Have you listened to any of Abby Elvidge’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but my wife and I really enjoyed her. I am not sure why some of the other reviewers didn't. She did a really great job and does really good voices including male voices which is interesting since she has such a high pitched voice.

Any additional comments?

If you like any of Mary Roach's other books, you will probably like this one. It goes into some weird aspects of the military that you wouldn't normally think of, like how does diarrhea effect combat missions? and how they train combat medics to deal with the shock of gore. It's really interesting and has that great Mary Roach sense of humor.

I never see the miltary the same way again

Narration was a little nasal. and ending was abrupt but otherwise fascinating book. the end

Narrator voice a problem

The topic was good but the narrator’s voice was annoying. Writing too folksy for my taste.

Give it time

Not as gripping as her previous works. Sick with it... The are some gems in there.

A fun ramble through the mess this is modern combat

Mary digs into some of the weirder and horrific parts of modern warfare with clear honest and humor