@kenshirriff @clark
Ken no doubt has a long list of "old VLSI books" to recommend, but undoubtedly one should start with the extremely accessible (IMHO) classic by Mead and Conway:

Mead–Conway VLSI chip design revolution
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead%E2%

"Introduction to VLSI Systems" by Carver Mead, Lynn Conway; 1979 (or 1980?)
ISBN-10: 0201043580 ISBN-13: 978-0201043587
amazon.com/Introduction-VLSI-S

Archive.org borrow-able online copy
archive.org/details/introducti

I imagine it's on the other usual online book sources as well.