A <em>Briefer</em> History of Time is even better, more current and better edited.
You could also check out this book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553385461/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_KY0bGbX1F4E2K
The book "A Briefer History of Time" does an awesome job at explaining this.
Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time, or if you want, just the Brief version (not as easy to read).
It really shows how much we all take for granted, and how complex even the simple things actually are.
I second this. There are plenty of pop science books that give a good foundation of science in a big-picture way, which can then be applied to more dense studied.
One of my favorites: A Briefer History of Time
Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, and Carl Sagan all have excellent and very readable books.
i suggest you read hawkings' a briefer history of time http://www.amazon.com/Briefer-History-Time-Stephen-Hawking/dp/0553385461/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291595534&sr=1-2