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.
I’m seconding The Long Earth. It’s by Baxter and Pratchett, quite good; I’m partway into the sequel
Manifold Time by Baxter is also really good, haven’t read the other two in the trilogy