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.
Ooh, more Tchaikovsky. How did I miss that one? I’ve been meaning to check out Ted Chiang, this is probably as good a time as any. I’ve enjoyed every one of the recs you’ve made so far that I’ve read, I’ll definitely check out the rest!
Air sick low lander. How could you miss Tchaikovsky…
But seriously, he’s a great author. And Chiang is great too. I don’t think I’ve read any of his short stories and come away disappointed. I mean one of them became the basis for the movie Arrival.
They don’t always end on a happy note (most are hopeful) but they’re true to the story they tell.
Well I didn’t miss all of Tchaikovsky. I think I took a break from him after finishing the Shadows of the Apt series and forgot about his other books.
Storms take it, I’m gonna cry again aren’t I?
You will. The Great Silence was very poignant. But yeah, there’s a great variety of stories.
I’m just starting The Apt series (guess I’m doing Tchaikovsky in reverse) end will finally get to the children of time series when I can get it via my library or I might just bite the bullet and buy the audiobook.