Pretty good hard sci-fi novel. It felt a little weak on character development. I couldn't even get a read on Watney's personality, except that I found his attempts at humor a little irritating, which is understandable, given the mental effects of isolation. On that topic, there wasn't a lot of discussion of Watney's thoughts or feelings, beyond his plans & hopes for survival. There wasn't a lot of philosophy, which I would think a story about being stranded alone on a planet would lend itself to; although perhaps Weir's point is that in such a struggle for survival, there's no room for deep thought (which is where Watney's binge-ing 70s pop culture comes in). The novel is still superior to the movie; for one thing, the book makes Watney seem miserable & very ready to be rescued, while the movie made me think it was going end with him wandering off into the wastes like a JG Ballard protagonist. This book is from 2011, and so its vision of the future is seeming a little naive right now. Perhaps a 2019 ending would be that Watney's been on Earth the whole time, and his rescuers are taking him back to Mars.