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Sometimes, I find books can be too enamoured by the science. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy comes to mind. I loved those books as a kid, but I don't think I have the patience any more to slog through some of the longer technology descriptions he inserted.
One relatively recent book I read, In the Mouth of the Whale by Paul J. McAuley, had lengthy technical descriptions that did nothing for the story but take me out of it. I remember one scene in particular where he spent a paragraph or two just describing the molecular composition of dirt. It wasn't part of a conversation anyone was having, it wasn't pertinent to the plot, and it didn't enhance my enjoyment one iota.
There's definitely a fine balancing act for hard scifi authors - just enough detail to create wonder, but not so much that your prose start to sound like you just cut and paste from your research.
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