The Harvard Physicist and Historian of science, Peter Galison, has written several books exploring developments in modern physics. "Image and Logic" explores the tension between the deterministic physics of large bodies, as developed by Isaac Newton, and the probabilistic world of quantum mechanics, as developed by Niels Bohr and others. Also of interest is Galison's "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's maps: Empires of Time." This book deals with the social and technological background of the advent of modern physics at the start of the 20th Century.
Columbia University physics professor and Stuyvesant High School alum Brian Greene authored 1999's "The Elegant Universe." Largely an account of String Theory, this book traces the historical development of modern physics. Adapted into an award-winning NOVA documentary for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), this book has reached a wide audience. Focusing more on historical development than the philosophical implications of contemporary physics, Greene offers the general reader a gentle introduction to some very perplexing, counterintuitive ideas.
David Bodanis' "E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation" breaks each aspect of that equation down, even the equal sign, and traces its development through history. Taking a very personal approach, you learn that French chemist Antoine Lavoisier developed the central tenant of modern chemistry, the conservation of mass, saved his wife from an unhappy marriage and lost his head to the guillotine during the French Revolution. Combining science, history and story telling, this book offers the non-expert an excellent point of departure to the wonders of contemporary physics.
The first third of "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" portrays the key figures responsible for the development of the atomic bomb, in their cultural and historical milieu. While the big names are all there, you will also learn about less famous, yet key figures such as Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard and Austrian chemist Lise Meitner. Rhodes documents the controversies and competition between the scientists and their backers in government and the military.