For the Space Shuttle part of the space program specifically, Rowland White's Into the Black is a great recounting of how that program got started and came to f

For the Space Shuttle part of the space program specifically, Rowland White's Into the Black is a great recounting of how that program got started and came to fruition with the first flight: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Extraordinary-Columbia-Astronauts/dp/1501123637 https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Extraordinary-Columbia-Ast... Haven't read my copy yet, but for the origins of the (extremely important) container shipping industry, Marc Levinson's The Box comes highly recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy/dp/0691170819 https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econom... Another one high on my to-read list; the story of the 19th century telegraph system and its impact (figure this is early enough to fall outside the traditional tech category): https://www.amazon.com/Victorian-Internet-Remarkable-Nineteenth-line/dp/162040592X https://www.amazon.com/Victorian-Internet-Remarkable-Ninetee...