It has been some time since I started looking for books on Mesopotamian culture/history, especially that of Babylon. However, I haven´t had much luck as of this moment. The only "prominent" example I get is a pop history book written by Paul Kriwaczek, whose authority on the subject I don´t know. Any book recommendation will be greatly appreciated, as would be commentary on the book I mentioned above as well as its author.
Paul Kriwaczek's Babylon is a good read and well-researched, but as you say it is "pop history". For a more thorough and scholarly work, I'd recommend A. Leo Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. The author was one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of the 20th century, and despite the book's age it holds up well today. I think he avoided becoming dated by only writing about things that he was very sure of and could discuss in great depth, which does make the book feel like it has some noticeable gaps in its coverage - but those lacunae are inherent to the field itself, so I appreciate the omissions.