Space is fascinating. Space is fascinating because it is big and because it's filled with unknown stuff and it is fascinating because it is profoundly isolating. Most sci-fi can only handle at most two of those things. In fact, most sci-fi focuses on disposing of the isolation of space as quickly as possible. In contrast, The Martian dials up isolation and down exploration. This shouldn't work, but it does and it's awesome.

The whole book reads kind of like a merge of an escape the room game and an episode of MacGyver, except set on Mars. The entire first sequence is Mark trying to do the algebra and botany to figure out how to create a farm from his own stool and the provisions in his emergency kit. The utter solitude of Mark on Mars is omnipresent for the first third of the book, and I really enjoyed contemplating that. If your speed is more space opera, this runs slow and technical. There's a lot of math and a lot of science and a lot of facts about Mars.

It's also really novel and deeply enjoyable to read a book where the conflicts are people versus the environment. All of the characters in this book (and eventually, there is more than one) get along and work as a team. On the one hand, Weir cares little for his characters and most of them read flat, on the other hand, it really optimizes the exploration of what really smart people, working together at their best can accomplish. I have no freaking clue how they made this into an enjoyable movie, BTW, maybe watching that should go on to my to-do list.