Book Log 2/2016 - Andy Weir: The Martian

I galloped through this book in two days, ignoring my own pressing work and letting the family sort itself out because... I couldn't put it down. I'm sure everyone has heard the plot by now: astronaut, Mark Watney, left behind on Mars when a mission has to be aborted suddenly, and then finds himself having to 'science the shit' out of everything in order to stay alive until the next Mars mission arrives. First he has to make running repairs to his EVA suit in order to get back to the habitat, and then he has to stitch the puncture wound in his side. After that he has to work out how to feed himself after the mission supplies have run out and has to repair and repurpose everything he can find. Nothing is wasted, from human waste to the tiniest little bolt or clip. Every page (written mostly as log entries) presents a new problem to be solved and one by one Watney solves them while the whole population of earth waits with bated breath to see whether the various ideas for a rescue mission are going to fly. (Sometimes literally!) It's an absorbing read, an extreme 'man against the environment' story. I read the book after seeing the movie, but even though I had a fair idea of what was going to happen, I was still thoroughly gripped. Probably the best book I've read in a long time.