The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

Abandoned on page 90. Good in theory – science newswriter sets out to educate otherwise well-rounded adults on the basics of the hard and life sciences, because lots of people don't know how you actually get from atoms to, you know, us. And it's worth knowing for the sake of knowing. Agreed, but not from Angier, who is under the tragic misapprehension that she's funny. Oh honey no. Dorris Kearns Goodwin has spoiled me rotten -- I just don't have the fortitude anymore for that particular stripe of chatty, modern nonfiction that gets its patter from the loser's at a gong show.

Also, not to be snotty, but I hadn't yet learned anything new. Then again, I'm the sort of intellectual weirdo who's remained solidly in the literature/soft sciences end of the educational spectrum, but who took astrophysics for fun. The real one, with actual math. So YMMV.