[dhr]

I'm not sure how much this is a tech book, but Dawn of the New Everything by Jaron Lanier is great.

Jaron is a pioneer from the early days of VR (he started/helped start VPL Research Labs). The book is a combination memoir and thoughts on what VR is and isn't. It opened my mind as to what is possible with VR but also the dangers it poses.

Regarding the tech side, it did get me interested more in the math of computer graphics, so if anything, I would call it a gateway tech book :)