As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.
Edit: I’m so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.
You just reminded me I have to get caught up with that series again so I can read the last book. I powered through the whole series before the last book was released and now I kind of forget what was going on, to jump in again.
Protomolecule. Lots and lots of protomolecule.
It’s so easy to read, worth starting over. If you read fast you’ll get through it all in a couple months.