[AceJohnny2]

obviously, David Macaulay, The Way Things Work

So mainstream, it has a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Things_Work

[donkey_brains]

I’m so lucky to have had a copy of this as a kid. Loved that book. It really let you understand how all kinds of things worked, with beautiful illustrations you could pore over for hours. Thanks for reminding me of it.