So, I've been doing a bit more reading lately, and I've got another book review. Nothing special or anything, just a really good book for science lovers. And since this is a lifting journal, well...there's bone density stuff in there too.
The book is:
And it's very good. There's science, wit, anecdotes, all wrapped up with just enough whimsical thinking by scientists to make you think, 'Hey- I have batshit crazy ideas all the time too! I could do science!'
But you don't have a degree from Harvard. So just give up now.
One of my favorite things about interesting books like this is how much you get to learn during the reading experience. There are so many interesting stories to be told, and so many approaches to the human condition.
And one of my least favorite things about interesting books like this is how much you forget within a minute of having read the book.
You're left with the distinct impression that something very important has happened, and that you were there for that event, but you have no idea what it was.
Having experienced this bitter disappointment of useless knowledge more than once, I've decided that maybe I should find some books that are actually useful to me in my daily life. Books not about space travel and virology, but about cooking and drinking excessively...
...And then I decided that's boring and started writing the useless knowledge down, in the hopes of retaining it.
Just in case I go into space.
You never know.
So, if you haven't read the book, and you're too lazy to go out and find it, here are some samples of my notes:
- Origami cranes are part of the Japanese space program's (JAXA's) selection process.
- 1st woman in space, Svetlana Savitskaya, was given an apron as she entered the space shuttle.
- "Do you burn your own hair for fun?" Is now a question before staying in field camps in Antarctica. Thanks, Spaniards.
- Pistols were kept on Russian space shuttles because of a previous landing inside of the territory of a pack of wolves.
- V-2 Rockets:
- 1st use: Nazi warheads over London in WWII.
- 2nd use: Albert the space monkey.
- Previous attempt to send animals into space? 1783. So, a duck, a sheep and a rooster go up in a hot air balloon….
- Trick to surviving being sucked into ("Ingested by") a jet engine? Carry a wrench or a flashlight which is unsecured, so that it will precede you into the engine, hopefully stopping it before you are sucked in. This can occur from over 6 feet away.
- Space beauty treatment: you lose 10-15% of your body's water in space. Your organs float upwards, inside your rib cage. Crows feet disappear.
- Dogs have a human motion sickness threshold, but rabbits and guinea pigs are immune.
- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left behind 4 urine collection assemblies. 2 were large, 2 were small. Which one belonged to who? No one knows.
- 1st living creature to orbit the home planet? Nov. 1957, Laika the Moscow street dog. We both have a tomb of the unknown soldier, but only Russia has a Tomb of the Unknown Dog. It honors the contributions of canine research subjects.
- After 4 weeks of not bathing, space test subjects were finally allowed to shower. But it had to be a cold shower, so as not to "cook the skin flakes". Scientists examined the shower drains. (1964-1965)
- Apocrine sweat glands are responsible for BO
- Devon Island, in Canada, is a simulation area for Mars.
- If germicide doesn't come into contact with every bit of poop in an astronaut's poop bag, it will decompose, swell and explode. All over zero gravity. And the astronauts floating around in zero gravity.
- In zero gravity, people can hold 2-3 liters of water in their hair.
- After spending a week in space, astronauts are 2.5 inches taller because of lack of compression on their spine..
- The same calories from 1 500kilo steer can be derived from 42 kilos of (or 1,700) mice.
- Partial hydrolysis can make almost anything edible. Anything. But eating poop is terrible for morale.
So, there you have it. That's a partial list of the things I learned from this book. For the whole thing, you'll just have to read it. But those are some of the good ones.
