I found this interesting as a person who gets motion sickness and simulation sickness. It was told and narrated interestingly, but I probably didn't need to know this level of detail on the topic.

Have you every wondered why you suddenly tripped over nothing as you are walking down the sidewalk? How about finding you no longer enjoy roller-coasters like you did as a teenager? And then there is the question of why you get nausea riding in a car or at the movies. Well, Carol Svec has answers to these questions and even more you have not thought of yet.

In a style similar to Mary Roach (including funny footnotes), Carol Svec provides a through overview of what balance is and the central role it plays in our lives. She starts with a look at the inner ear's part in keeping us upright and spends time looking at the causes of motion sickness. She then points out that each of us have rocks in our heads that help us know which way is up and which way is down. And she continues with the part played by our eyes in balance. Then proprioception problems are discussed with the case of Ian Waterman. After these discussions of the major components of balance, the books wanders through a number of balance related issues: sound related dizziness, shaky camera movies, flight simulators, virtual reality, and outer space. Carol Svec finishes the book with a look at how kinesiology, virtual reality and exoskeletons can aid in keeping us upright in old age.

Balance provides a quick read through the science of how we stay upright and what the future may hold for us.

Enjoyable companion to Packing for Mars. About how balance works, when it doesn't, and what can be done to help.

I admit it, I wanted to read this book because I have balance problems and was intrigued by the promise that they might have ways to help me.

What I got in this engaging book is so much more than that. I got insight into fascinating and little understood processes, met many interesting scientists, and read, quite simply, a wonderful, witty book.

Svec is very reminiscent of Mary Roach in her chatty, but informative rendering of popular science.

Fun and informative. Great for the inquisitive mind..!

Balance is just one of those things you don’t think about…unless you have a problem with it. But if any robot designer came up with the human form, they would have been laughed out of the business. An upright human is basically an unstable structure, and while walking is an efficient mode of transport, it requires exceptional balance and control. Carol Svec examines the magic that makes the whole thing work.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* The book is an excellent overview of human senses, especially as they relate to balance and equilibrium. Everything from what causes sea and air-sickness, how auto interiors are designed to minimize problems, and wind-turbine sickness are discussed. None of the discussions are especially scientifically rigorous, but do cover the basic knowledge and theories on what causes them.

* The author writes in an informal and easy-to-read style. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, while the science is reasonably well explained and summarized.

* Svec loads the book with any number of interesting little observations. For example, infants and small children seldom get motion sickness, probably because their sense of balance doesn’t develop until somewhat later in life. A good thing, since small children need to tolerate an endless routine of falling, wobbling, and being carried at odd angles. Similarly, there was an excellent discussion on how the body calculates where to place a foot for the next footstep. It is a remarkably complex calculation, done in real time.

* Throughout the book we meet a number of researchers delving into any number of areas. Svec does a marvelous job of explaining their thoughts, and in many cases describing experiments that can either be replicated at home…or at least described well enough to give a feel for what the research is all about.


=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* Svec can get a bit “touchy-feely” in her descriptions. For example, she feels the need to describe the body-language of some of the researchers. An interesting tidbit, perhaps, but I found it annoying. Similarly, the author likes to pass judgement on the researcher’s abilities and intelligence, something I am not sure she has the credentials to really allow.

* I am sure Svec struggled with just how detailed to make the book, and naturally there are times when I wish she was either more or less detailed. Some experiments and research are described in agonizing detail, while some left me wishing for a more complete story. For example, one area of research was “sub-optimal” training conditions for athletes whereby a skeet shooter had his vision blocked for 80% of the time. The idea was that when given full vision, their performance should improve. An interesting idea, but I wanted more details on why this would work.

=== Summary ===

Despite some things I wish were done differently, I enjoyed the book. It is a marvelous overview of how science thinks our brain works, and how it handles every day mundane tasks such as walking, not falling over, and simple eye-hand coordination tasks. The book is reasonably scientific, but written so that anyone with an interest in the subject could understand it. It is an excellent jumping-off point for further reading.