Pun Salad

Once again, a loosely-themed book from "America's funniest science writer", Mary Roach. And that loose theme is humanity's love/hate struggles with the other living species with which we share our planet.

Mary bounces around a lot. The first chapter ("Maul Cops") has her attending a training session (given by Canadians in a Reno casino) on predator attacks on people. (What's the best way to shoot a bear who's trying to eat your father-in-law? How do you tell if a victim has been mauled by a bear, cougar, or wolf?)

You may remember a few years ago I reported on the book A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear; the author had a great deal of fun with the onetime libertarian-dominated town of Grafton NH, which tried to draw a cause-and-effect arrow from the town's budget-cutting to its difficulty dealing with bears. Reader, Mary travels to Aspen CO, not known for its libertarian leanings (except for drugs), and describes bear problems there. Bottom line: if they live near your town, they are gonna visit your town, looking for pic-a-nic baskets. Stay clear.

But bear problems in America are nothing compared to elephant problems in India. They kill about 500 humans every year. Mary travels to investigate. And discovers monkey bites. And dog bites. And (whoa) snake bites kill 40,000 Indians per year. (She's usually funny; she isn't here.)

And lest you think she concentrates on the animal kingdom… well, OK, she does. But she also has a chapter on killer trees. A lot of people die because they are in an unfortunate spot when a tree decides to die and take someone with them. And there's another chapter on killer beans.

Fun fact: the CDC estimates that 10,000 Americans are killed or injured every year in trying to avoid hitting an animal. Next time you see a squirrel in the road ahead, just say Sorry little feller, it's either you or me and keep driving.

The one yarn I especially liked was the US Navy's battle against Midway Island albatrosses. Worried about birds that might have a fatal encounter with arriving or departing planes, they tried all sorts of abatement procedures over years, some of them quite amusing. (But, often, not for the albatrosses.)

Bottom line: "Naval Air Station Midway" closed in 1993. It is now "Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge". Yes, the gooney birds defeated the might of the United States Navy.

My previous reports on Mary's books: Gulp, Grunt, Spook, My Planet, and Packing for Mars. I still have a couple to go: Stiff and Bonk. Portsmouth Public Library has them both, so maybe I'll be getting to those next year. And maybe she'll come out with something new. I hope so.

About that "America's funniest science writer": I'm pretty sure she's the world's funniest science writer. Prove me wrong.