130,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Grunt

The Curious Science of Humans at War
3.94 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 23,126 ratings, 2,561 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Grunt by Mary Roach delves into the science of keeping soldiers alive and healthy on the battlefield. The book explores a unique blend of military research and scientific inquiries, revealing the challenges faced in areas like extreme heat, deadly diseases, and the psychological impacts of warfare. Through engaging narratives and insightful interviews, Roach sheds light on how science meets warfare's gritty realities.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of Grunt. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

If you're fascinated by how science and nature intersect with everyday life, then this book will grab your attention. It delves into the surprising and often humorous details of military science, exploring topics like sleep deprivation, enduring physical strain, and more, all while spotlighting the ingenious ways that science addresses them.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

‘The most entertaining writer in science’ – The Times, Books of the Year – explores the mysterious world of military science

The bestselling author of Gulp and Packing for Mars explores the military’s odd and obscure adversaries and the scientists who seek to conquer them

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Grunt n. informal a low-ranking soldier.

At a converted movie studio, amputee actors prepare army medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds, while at a base in East Africa, diarrhoea threatens national security. Beyond weapons and strategy, this is about the other side of war – how scientists protect soldiers from panic, exhaustion, heat, and noise.

Setting about her task with infectious enthusiasm, the incomparable Mary Roach sniffs archival World War II stink bombs, tests earplugs in a simulated war zone with the Marine Corps, and burns the midnight oil with the sleep-deprived crew of a nuclear submarine. Speaking to the scientists and the soldiers, she learns about everything from life-changing medical procedures such as testicular transplants to more esoteric innovations like firing dead chickens at fighter jets.

Engrossing, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny, Grunt is an irresistible ride to the wilder shores of modern military life.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Grunt by Mary Roach receives widespread acclaim for its humorous and insightful exploration of military science. Reviewers highlight Roach's ability to unearth the intriguing and oft-overlooked aspects of military technology, blending detailed reporting with wit and charm. Her talent for making complex scientific subjects accessible and entertaining is frequently praised, with many noting the book's lively and engaging narrative style.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781786070890

Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 June 2017

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Oneworld Publications

Illustration: 15 greyscale images

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Mary Roach is the New York Times bestselling author of several popular science books. She has written for the Guardian, Wired, BBC Focus, GQ and Vogue. She lives in California.

Also by Mary Roach

View all
  • Replaceable You
    Our bodies regenerate at a remarkable rate – our skin replaces itself every month, our blood every four. You can remove ninety per cent of a liver and it’ll still grow back to its original size (please do not try this at home). Others – the brain, the heart, the eyes – are more complicated. These stay with us for...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Stiff
    For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure,...
    Paperback
    $5100
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Replaceable You
    The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available—sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we’re attempting to grow...
    Hardback
    $7200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Animal Vegetable Criminal
    What happens when nature and humanity clash? In past centuries, wild animals who broke the law would be given lawyers and put on trial. But what’s the solution now, as we humans dominate the planet and don’t like it when wildlife gets in the way? In this fresh, funny and thoroughly-researched book, Animal Vegetable Criminal, Mary Roach examines the problems,...
    Hardback
    Sold Out
  • Packing for Mars
    What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? When you can’t have sex? Or smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles an hour? Packing for Mars by Mary Roach delves into these fascinating and often humorous questions about the peculiarities...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Gulp
    Eating is the most pleasurable, gross, necessary, unspeakable biological process we undertake. But very few of us realise what strange wet miracles of science operate inside us after every meal—let alone have pondered the results of the research. How have physicists made crisps crispier? What do laundry detergent and saliva have in common? Was self-styled 'nutritional economist' Horace Fletcher right...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Bonk
    Few things are as fundamental to human happiness as sex, and few writers are as entertaining about the subject as Mary Roach. Can a woman think herself to orgasm? Is your penis three inches longer than you think? Why doesn't Viagra help women - or, for that matter, pandas? Does orgasm boost fertility? Or cure hiccups? The study of sexual...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from Science & Nature

View all
  • Nuclear War
    The Sunday Times bestselling non-fiction thriller that has to be read to be believed. Baillie Gifford shortlisted, a favourite of Steven Bartlett, with an average reader rating of 4.6, sure to be a mass-market hit. Up to now, no one outside of official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Anxious Generation
    A powerful argument for reclaiming childhood—and all human relationships—from the online world, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author. Jonathan Haidt has spent his career speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most difficult spaces—communities polarised by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the mental health emergency hitting teenagers today in many countries around...
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Prisoners of Geography
    Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present, and future to offer crucial insights into one of the major factors that determine world history – because if you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture. Originally published in 2015, this completely revised and updated edition brings it up to date with the events and trends of the past...
    Paperback
    $2899
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Ultra-Processed People
    Launching the runaway bestseller with ambitions to be the biggest non-fiction paperback of the year IT'S NOT YOU. IT'S THE FOOD. "If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one" - Bee Wilson "You've got to get this book in your life . . . Completely compelling . . . Read a page...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Kitchen Confidential
    The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Irvine Welsh. BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN. ‘Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ — A.A. Gill ‘Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ — Daily Telegraph After twenty-five years of sex,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Sapiens
    Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is an extraordinary exploration of humanity's history from the dawn of our species to the present day. Harari delves into our evolution, offering insights into the cognitive revolutions that allowed Homo sapiens to rise above other animal species. Traversing through various stages of human development, he examines the Agricultural Revolution, the unification of humankind through...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Talk
    A Harvard professor shows how we can become better talkers - and why effective conversation will help us all thrive. Conversation is at the heart of our relationships and decision-making, but the science behind our everyday interactions, and how to improve them, is little known. In Talk, Harvard Professor Alison Wood Brooks provides fascinating insights into the power of effective...
    Paperback
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Clean & Green
    Simple swaps and innovative ideas for cleaning and maintaining your home that won't cost the Earth. Learn how easy it is to make simple swaps in your cleaning and tidying methods for a more eco-friendly home. This beautifully illustrated black and white guide with 101 hints and sustainable, natural cleaning tips and hacks will help you take small steps that...
    Paperback
    $2999
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    18% off
    The Genetic Book of the Dead
    From one of the world’s great science writers, a book that explores the deepest principles of evolutionary history. In this groundbreaking new approach to the evolution of all life, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behaviour, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book – an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. A perfectly camouflaged...
    Hardback
    $4000
    Elsewhere:
    $5499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Coming Wave
    The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider - the only book you need to read on this subject. An Economist, Financial Times, Guardian, Prospect and Sunday Times Book of the Year Shortlisted for the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year This is the only book you need to understand our new world - from the...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Breath
    Discover the transformative power of breathing in Breath by esteemed journalist James Nestor. This revolutionary book delves into the science and history of one of the most fundamental human activities - breathing. From the bustling streets of São Paulo to the serene temples of India, Nestor embarks on a global journey to uncover the secrets of ancient breathing techniques such...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Murder Before Evensong
    THE INSTANTLY ICONIC NO. 1 BESTSELLER 'I've been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs... et voila!' Dawn French 'Cosy crime with a cutting edge' Telegraph 'Whodunnit fans can give praise and rejoice' Ian Rankin 'Charming and funny' Observer 'Even better than I knew it would be' India Knight 'Quintessentially English' Sunday Express 'An...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.