Last year I promised two "wonderful but little-known books"
and then never came up with them.
It was in the context of de-lurking (last October).

This year I have emerged from lurkdom only to
explain solar day vs sidereal day and to pronounce Laphroaig.

So here are the two books.  Actually a book and a half.

1. The new science of strong materials,
or why you don't fall through the floor,
by J. E. Gordon.
(My copy is a Princeton Univ. Press paperback.)
You can tell by the subtitle that this was written for Pinheads
(among others).  Gordon begins, true to his subtitle,
by explaining how Newton's law of equal and opposite reaction
is what keeps you from falling through the floor.
Most of the rest of the book is less scientific
and more entertaining.  I promise you will love it.

(He has another title "Structures, or why things don't fall down"
which is probably even more pertinent to this list,
but I haven't got around to it yet.)

2.  Geology and the buildings of Oxford,
by Paul Jenkins. (1988)
This is just a pamphlet really, 42 pages; you will have trouble finding it
unless you're in Oxford, so I suggest you file this listing
in your "Next time we're in Oxford" file.
Jenkins is in Civil Engg at Oxford Polytechnic.
His booklet explains about the oolitic limestone that is
such a beautiful and such a durable building stone,
used across the middle of England
roughly from Bath through the Cotswolds and Oxford
and on to the east.  It has walking tours of Oxford
and detail photos of medieval and newer buildings there.

Don't look for it in your library.  The Internet "WorldCat"
only found it in one library in the USA (the Geol Survey library)
and four in the UK.  More's the pity.
If you're determined, write to Oxford Polytechnic;
it was published by "Thematic Trails, Oxford Polytechnic"
and printed by Witney Press, Oxfordshire.