Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity.

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, and even beer. Space exploration is, in some ways, an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take?

What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? Have sex? Smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour?

To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

Insectopedia is a stunningly original exploration of the ties that bind us to the beautiful, ancient, astoundingly accomplished, and unfathomably different species with whom we share this world.

For as long as humans have existed, insects have been our constant companions. Yet, we hardly know them, not even the ones we're closest to: the insects that eat our food, share our beds, and live in our homes.

Organizing his book alphabetically, with one entry for each letter, Hugh Raffles weaves together brief vignettes, meditations, and extended essays. He embarks on a mesmerizing exploration of history and science, anthropology and travel, economics, philosophy, and popular culture, showing us how insects have triggered our obsessions, stirred our passions, and beguiled our imaginations.

Raffles offers us a glimpse into the high-stakes world of Chinese cricket fighting, the deceptive courtship rites of the dance fly, the intriguing possibilities of queer insect sex, and the vital and vicious role locusts play in the famines of West Africa. He also explores how beetles deformed by Chernobyl inspired art, and how our desire and disgust for insects have prompted our own aberrant behavior.

Deftly fusing the literary and the scientific, Hugh Raffles has given us an essential book of reference that is also a fascination of the highest order.