This is a great book about the human side of space travel. There are fascinating chapters on how astronauts are chosen (people who are able to keep making decisions and responding to instructions while under extreme stress, and also do not snore) and on the problems of personal hygiene when underwear and room for manoeuvre are limited. The chapter on sex in zero gravity was a bit disappointing because there is in fact no empirical source material. But there is a lot about poo, a recurrent theme throughout the book culminating in a long chapter which answers every question you ever thought you might ask, and many more, about toilets in space.
The book is not quite as entertaining as the same author’s Bonk, I guess because sex is a more familiar activity than space flight (for me, anyway); it is also not quite as well edited, with some repetition of anecdotes perhaps indicating that some of the chapters began life as newspaper or magazine columns. But it is great fun anyway.
It also dug up a long-forgotten memory, which is that as I was in the habit of doing, I turned on the television one rainy afternoon to see what was on. I must have been nine or ten, and what was on was Around the World in 80 Days. And it was just splendid, far superior to the normal weekend afternoon fare. I think it was probably the best film I’d ever seen at that point, and I don’t think I’ve seen it again since. I suspect it won’t have aged well. I had no idea it won Best Picture.