I just finished reading Mary Roach’s book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, and if you like books about space, you’ll love this one. She does good research, has fun with it, and she brings all that fun to life on the page. And if you think NASA’s vision and people have become boring and staid and that we’ve lost our ability to dream big, she’ll set you straight.

Best of all, her closing lines answer the question “Why do this?” as well as any I’ve ever read. I’m tempted to quote them, but then you might be tempted to not read the book yourself. So I won’t…so you will.

p.s. On a space-related note, if you’ve ever hankered after a book signed by an Apollo astronaut who’s flown to the moon, I’ll be giving one away in a few days, so stay tuned!

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