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 bulled my way though all three.
There was enough story for one novel, padded out with crap to fill enough books for a “clever” post on the titles.
If someone’s looking for a good Mars read: Moving Mars by Greg Bear.