Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
There are three books in this series (click on the image for more info):
Red Mars
Green Mars
Blue Mars
Together, they form an epic history of the colonisation of Mars as it could truly happen. This is hard science fiction at its very best, in its huge scope and scientific detail. The story covers the first settlement on Mars and follows the lives of various colonists over a time frame of more than two hundred years.
These are books I recommend for people interested in a blueprint for space colonisation, or people interested in terraforming in science fiction.
These books you don’t read for either character or story, but for the sheer wealth of concepts and ideas. They are also not books that are either easy or quick to read, but if you’re into science fiction that deal with the colonisation of space, you can’t go past this trilogy.