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  • Grunt

  • The Curious Science of Humans at War
  • Written by: Mary Roach
  • Narrated by: Abby Elvidge
  • Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

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Grunt cover art

Grunt

Written by: Mary Roach
Narrated by: Abby Elvidge
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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.

What listeners say about Grunt

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Sample it first!

I was excited about this book, but I should have sampled it first. The narrator makes it nearly unlistenable for me. The pace nearly put me to sleep, there are far too many dramatic pauses, and the inflection use is way over the top.

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learn and laugh

this was a great read. it was informative and funny. I love everything this author does. #audible1

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Another Mary Roach Classic

True to her form, Mary Roach delivers an enjoyable listen that is witty, insightful, and and initiative. Up there with Stiff and Gulp, Grunt is fantastic.

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