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Different books for different needs.
For stats, Sheldon's Black Books are essential. If I had to pick one volume, it would be 2, covering a forgotten era. (And I have copy number 3.)
For a story, Cooper Cars by Doug Nye, from cut & shutting Fiat Topolinos to the World Title and back.
For a rollicking read, The Story of March by Mike Lawrence, terribly indiscreet but very well told. "When Robin Herd received the letter announcing he had been awarded the OBE, his reaction was 'Christ, Mark Thatcher wants a drive'."
From a sheer literature perspective, the Blight books mentioned above and anything by William Court. The latter is the closest we have to a Motor Racing Laureate. Court was a barrister and I believe Blight was a solicitor - something to legal accuracy and verbiage?
Best autobiog is probably Wyer's, or maybe Alf Francis'.
Best oral history is American Zoom by Peter Golenbock.
Honourable mention to Greg Fielden for his indefatigable NASCAR work and Gerald Rose for his first motor racing history.
But if I had to choose one book to rescue from a fire, it would be Janos Wimpffen's Time & 2 Seats. Talk about a labour of love! Stats wonderful, photos magnificent - and covering some of the obscurities as well, captions irreverent, text entertaining. Runner-up would be Georgano's Encyclopaedia from 1970ish but that's a lot commoner on ebay...
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