Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. A scientist is on a mission to save the world. The science stuff is accurate and easy to understand in my opinion (but I'm a physicist, lol).

The author also wrote the Martian, that was adapted as a movie, you probably know it.

My colleague recommends it to everyone, and she reads a lot. I read a little and also liked it. Not only because of the science, but also because of the story.

Martha Wells and her Murderbot series is hilarious. It really made me laugh out loud and I read every book back to back.

It's about a robot that thinks he's a psychopath and a murderer, who hacked his own circuits so he can pirate TV shows and watch them while on missions.

I won't tell more, just read.

"The Disappearing Spoon" by Sam Kean goes through the entire periodic table with fun and often very funny vignettes about each of the elements.

There are some book/literature focused instances that might have communities you could be interested in.

A general "books" instance: https://literature.cafe/

And the instance I'm on (https://sffa.community) for science fiction/fantasy stuff

Series of Unfortunate Events is hilarious and digestable.

Neuromancer by William Gibson, it's a great book that is easy to follow, well written, and extremely fun.

We are talking non fiction here?

Bobiverse series, if you like programming and science you'll love it.

Immune by Philipp Dettmer is a very good and easily digestible book about the human immune system.
He's also the founder of Kurzgesagt.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky could be up your alley. One of the best books I've read in recent memory

I think you and I have somewhat different tastes in books. Most of my favorites don't fall under programming, tech, DIY, and science, but some do. I've shared some below broken into your taste and other in case you want to venture out and try something new.

Programming, Tech, DIY, & Science

One, Two, Three...Infinity by George Gamov

• An actual science book that fits with your interests! It's a book that covers major theories/areas of physical science and math in an interesting way that a layperson can understand it. I learned more from this book that any formal training on the matter. The book starts off with defining counting and infinity.

Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Michael Matthews

• Provides education on weightlifting, from learning to design your own workouts & schedules to weightlifting diets. He goes into why certain workouts and diets work based on science. I have followed the recommendations in this book multiple times (separate episodes), and found them to be quite effective.

Other

Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano

• A book that covers the history of humanity with a sense of social justice and poetic style. It's written in short poems rooted in actual history, but presents a perspective that is not typical of the common narrative.

A Field Guide to Earthlings by Ian Ford

• This is a guide written by an autistic person for autistic people on understanding the neurotypical world. The premise is that autistic and neurotypical people are quite different from each other, to the point that they see each other as aliens. Because of this, it hits the reader differently depending on their neurotype. If the reader is autistic, it helps them understand the world and their social difficulties better. If the reader is neurotypical, I would imagine it's an interesting perspective on human behavior, almost like reading a report on human behavior written by an alien.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

• This book is like a mental reset to me. It uses the innocence of a child to break down silly and unhelpful social matters to remind us what's universally important.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

• A fun science-fiction that, according to me, it's main appeal is the style of writing. The author tells the story in a unique way that makes me laugh because it kind of says things in a way we think but rarely share with each other.

Nonfiction oldies that still hold up: The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll and The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.

The Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman is a lot of fun, a pretty breezy read, and is fairly unbelievable for how true the story is. It involves (in varying amounts) programming, science, and DIY, mostly from an early-80s perspective (since a lot of it is about the development of the game), plus some corporate espionage and Soviet meddling.

I think any of the books Mary Roach would suit you. They are easy to read, yet are brimming with science explained in a fascinating and unintimidating way.

Her book Stiff is prolly my favorite. It explains what happens to the body starting with death, and covers medical, forensic, and funerary subjects (among others). Fascinating.

Maybe you would enjoy "Every tool's a hammer" by Adam Savage.

Bit late to this, but you might enjoy The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton - later turned into a great movie and a TV show I've not seen so can't comment on. It's about scientists dealing with something dangerous brought back from space.

Check out Snowcrash. Not the best book ever written, but is definitely interesting and is a major influence for Mark Zuckerberg. (Which if you do read the book may lead you to think he has very little reading comprehension imo)

AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee.

If black mirror was a book this would be it. It blends the current and upcoming AI/tech trends with sci-fi that allows you to explore different worlds and give you perspective on how they can really affect us. There is an analysis at the end of each story and explainds the tech used and where we are in terms of achieving that tech.

Good luck on your reading journey!

I really enjoyed The Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan. Black powder style weaponry and some types of people get magical powers from ingesting black powder. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it really hooked me pretty quick

Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris. It's about the Jeopardy! champion's life and journey through the game, and shares his memorization techniques. It's quite funny and insightful.

"Phantoms in the Brain" by V.S. Ramachandran.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. It's a bit coming-of-age but it's lite, interesting, tech sci-fi.

Only other i read that is close is the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

Here is a decision tree for NPR's best scifi/fantasy books. I just started crossing these out with the phone's image editor when I finish one.