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. Roach 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. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military. Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you'll never see our nation's defenders in the same way again.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-285).
Formatted Contents Note:
Second skin : what to wear to war -- Boom box : automotive safety for people who drive on bombs -- Fighting by ear : the conundrum of military noise -- Below the belt : the cruelest shot of all -- It could get weird: a salute to genital transplants -- Carnage under fire : how do combat medics cope? -- Sweating bullets : the war on heat -- Leaky SEALs : diarrhea as a threat to national security -- The maggot paradox : flies on the battlefield, for better and worse -- What doesn't kill you will make you reek : a brief history of stink bombs -- Old chum : how to make and test shark repellent -- That sinking feeling : when things go wrong under the sea -- Up and under : a submarine tries to sleep -- Feedback from the fallen : how the dead help the living stay that way.
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