Right now the only way to see what any given research does is to open the book itself, select the topic (eg. "Leadership") and then see what crafting and research this grants you. (No ingame descriptions, but that is an entirely different issue.)

That means you have to take the book out of the table every time you want to check something, which gets tedious fast.

The suggestion: Is it possible to add a button next to the research book slot in the table that opens the book instead, so you can skip the whole "take it out, check it and put it back in" step? Exiting it would bring you back to the table you are currently on.
Maybe even highlight/filter research/crafting you have currently available and have already done, to make referencing quicker.