It’s not science fiction either (for which the author is well known).

this is an excellent study of human ingenuity overcoming challenges before we had modern machinery, no ancient astronauts needed.

A fun read if you are even slightly interested in the engineering behind ’stuff’ we use every day.  

Entertaining and non-technical. Unfortunately this is very little on Eastern development, such as China.

It was written in the 60s, so it’s time for an update!

The Ancient Engineers, L. Sprague de Camp, 1965, ISBN 0-88029-456-6