Science? In my Sci-fi?

As someone who tends to enjoy a little more science with their sci-fi, Red Mars is another one of those books that fall into my alley.  I actually had some lower expectations for how much I'd like this book, because so few of them in sci-fi that feature only humans and/or human colonization, even if there is some in-depth theoretical science mush, tend to appeal to me.  I'm not actually done reading the book, but I can still gush about it a bit.  

While I was a tad weary about the plot going into it, I really like stories that involve Mars.  It was a plus that this book featured a ton of actual and fictional science.  I sort of love books that cover all corners when it comes to explaining how things happen and work, like what the four layers of the piezoelectric plastic do for the city in terms of generating electricity, insulation, and radiation protection.  Literally everything has a satisfying explanation, and I'm A-okay with fictional science that the reader can understand conceptually but isn't actually available or even relatively realistic in real life, like gravitational lifts or hard light weaponry in video games.  

I want to mention that every time a space elevator is mentioned or depicted in sci-fi, I'm instantly sold (until said fiction does something to lose my interest or respect).  And the explanation for the ship's functional and social inter-workings was great.  Everything about it was so well rounded that I might not have minded if the plot was blander, which thankfully, it isn't.  

This all mostly about my interest in the scientific aspects of the book, so I'll get more onto the social dynamics of the various groups, from the first hundred to the integrating population of the growing city, and so on.  There's a lot of good stuff here!