I haven't seen this written yet but I highly recommend Kenji's book: The Food Lab. It's the perfect book for HN Nerds that love to cook
I didn't like The Wok (his most recent real coobook) as much as the Food Lab. Although the garlic noodles with regular Italian pasta, oyster sauce, and Parmeggiano Reggiano are absolutely incredible and easy to whip up because it's all pantry ingredients.
Another cookbook I recommend is Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling. Also teaches the science and the guy who wrote it is one of the main people who debunked the resting meat.
On the topic of nerd cookbooks recommendations: Cooking for Geeks. I found it way more approachable/readable than The Food Lab (which is a beast of a book, volume wise)