During a terrible storm that forced the rest of his team to evacuate from the planet, Mark Watney - botanist and mechanical engineer - is left completely alone and under-supplied on Mars. 
 This book is Robinson Crusoe in space, complete with the lists, the problems, and the lengthy descriptions of the solutions. And it was fascinating. I wasn't following a lot of the math and science, but I never felt like that was a problem as the narrator led me through it, and I've learned quite a few new terms/concepts. 
 At the beginning, I felt like the characterization was suffering. Much of the narration is written in a "comm chatter" style, where characters relate facts rather than feelings or personality. So early on in the book, I felt like the characters who were being introduced were unmemorable and interchangeable. Even Mark himself was just a guy doing things on Mars - the things happening to him and the things he was doing were all interesting, but he was not. However, as the book progressed, I felt like I got to know him better. I came to see how he would respond to stressful situations, I got to see how he was coping with the loneliness and the stress. Even the side characters started to seem familiar, and I was surprised by how recognizable they became even though they received so little narrative time. 
 The pacing of the narrative is incredible. This was the first time in a very long time - at least since I became a parent - that I just put everything else aside and read a book for eight hours straight. I was on the edge of my seat. I even started to get a stomach ache at one point because I was so tense. It was riveting. 
 There were a few minor issues. The biggest, and the only one really worth mentioning, is that the narrative style was a little inconsistent. There were two main styles: The first were Mark's first person logs, chronicling his activities on Mars. The second were the third person narratives of all the other characters, both on earth and the other team members still on the Hermes ship. That was fine, and a good decision, I thought. However, toward the end, I counted two third person narrative sections following Mark. In both situations, I could understand why the choice was made (the descriptions were of things that Mark wouldn't have described in his own logs). However, I did find it jarring, since it was a break in the established patterned. I think those two sections could/should have been integrated somehow into Mark's log. 
 When I finish a book, I like to go online and see what other people have said about it before I write my own review. By far the most confusing/amusing review I found gave the book 2/5 stars based on the complaint that "the main character just comes across like a complete nerd." Okay, yes. He's a nerd. He's a botanist and a mechanical engineer and an astronaut. He's going to talk about math and science a lot, and he's going to crack nerdy jokes. If you hate nerds, this probably isn't the right book for you.