As an avid midlife gamer with nostalgic interest in gaming history I enjoy reading gaming books.
In this picture you can see the gaming books I own. My favorite is "Masters of Doom" followed by "The Ultimate History of Video Games" (I am aware there is a second volume).
I would like to hear more recommendations from you.
P. S: Note that PC gaming is my thing therefore it is highly unlikely that I will get a book about consoles or console games.
Raising the Bar (out of print for several years now so I recommend just finding yourself a .pdf) is a book about the development of Half-Life 2 and bits of Half-Life as well. Geoff Keighley has also written a few "The Final Hours" books about the development of Portal 2, Titanfall, and Half-Life: Alyx, though I think all are digital-only.
I also second this one.