Start with high-confidence engineering books, then narrow by subgenre or adjacent topics.
Structures
J. E. Gordon
Introduction to Infrastructure
Michael R. Penn, Philip J. Parker
Mechanics of Materials for Dummies
James H. Allen, III
Stuff Matters
Mark Miodownik, Sarah Scarlett
Path Between the Seas
David McCullough
To Forgive Design
Henry Petroski
To Engineer Is Human
Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis
J. David Irwin, R. Mark Nelms
101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School
John Kuprenas, Matthew Frederick
