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.
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds fits pretty well. I like the progression of figuring out how to survive and thrive as their situation changes. I also quite like how the book deals with questions like how sentient species might interact despite the vast gulf of distance and time that exist between their civilizations.
That looks really interesting, definitely gonna check it out, thanks!