I agree with your characterization of "pop" and "giant collections of studies" -- there are a lot of books like that turn out to not be very good. I honestly f

I agree with your characterization of "pop" and "giant collections of studies" -- there are a lot of books like that turn out to not be very good. I honestly felt that way about Dan Ariely's books, which are heavily recommended. I found it hard to get through them. For writers with a pleasing style and are deep on content, I would recommend Michael Pollan's books and Jared Diamond's books. Those are two of the authors that I've read 4+ books from. They are really synthesizing information and not just describing a list of studies. I've also read 4+ books from Jon Krakauer and Anthony Bourdain. Although they're not about "synthesis", I think books that are "narrative" are better than a lot of the pop non-fiction books you're talking about. It's concrete and lets you draw the conclusions, rather than trying to force some canned conclusions upon you.