Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book is still one of my all time favourite. What they did back then was almost black magic. I learned a good part of maths, cs and physics trying to mod id1 with this book during my teenaghood.
The tech specifics covered have been out of use for decades. But, it's still a very fun read about thinking through the process of optimization.
Unfortunately I didn’t do anything as impressive as modding a game; I read the book because the writing style itself was engaging and gripping like a novel.