Also a 'book guy,' I have learned a lot from:

Frank Berto's 'Complete Guide to Upgrading...'

Eugene Sloane's 'New Bicycle Maintenance Manual', c 1985 edition

and 'Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bike Maintenance' (or words to that effect) also from the 80s.

Through Amazon I bought each of the above for something like $3-5 shipped. The two maintenance books are much more useful and relevant to C&V (and smaller and cheaper) than the gigantic Lennard Zinn opus I unfortunately bought first.

Those are for equipment. For inspiration and context on bike riding and racing in particular (which I knew *nothing* about) I have enjoyed Tim Krabbe's 'The Rider,' Tim Moore's 'French Revolutions,' and Martin Dugard's 'Chasing Lance.' Now I have at least a little clue about what I am watching during the TdF.