I highly recommend the Scientific American Library book series. This is an out of print but readily available series in the used book market that is probably th

I highly recommend the Scientific American Library book series. This is an out of print but readily available series in the used book market that is probably the greatest collection of scientific writing I've seen. I have been slowly collecting all of the entries, and for the ones that I've read, they are absolutely excellent. There are lots of pictures and the writing is at a level understandable by laymen but it does not dilute the technical aspects just to be palatable. The books I have read tell the real story. The authors are all fantastic and usually experts in their field, such as John Wheeler, Steven Weinberg, Peter Atkins, Julian Schwinger, Martin Rees, and others. https://www.goodreads.com/series/181771-scientific-american-library-series https://www.goodreads.com/series/181771-scientific-american-... https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/scientific-american-library-series/92985/ https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/scientific-american-libra... The series reminds me of being a kid and taking home my granny's old encyclopedia set. I'll normally just grab one of the Scientific American Library books and peruse through it reading bits here and there.