#41 in Popular science
Grunt
- 285
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 4 weeks on the list, peaked at #4
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About the book
A New York Times / National Bestseller "America's funniest science writer" ( Washington Post) 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.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 102 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 36% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Popular science average of 8.4. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.3 | 9 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 93 | 91% |
Frequently asked
What is Grunt rated?
8.1 out of 10, from 102 reader ratings across 2 independent sources.
Is Grunt worth reading?
Readers give it 8.1/10 from 102 ratings, which puts it ahead of 9 % of the Popular science shelf.
How long does it take to read Grunt?
About 5 hours at an average reading pace — 285 pages.
Where does Grunt rank?
#41 in Popular science on the current snapshot.
Was Grunt a bestseller?
Yes — 4 weeks on the New York Times list, peaking at #4. Sales are shown here but never scored.
How long is Grunt?
It has 285 pages — shorter than 66% of the ranked books in Popular science.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Popular science — with scores between 8.0 and 8.2, closest to this book.
