It doesn't answer your question, but I would love to read an updated version of Asimov's guide to science: https://archive.org/details/asimovsguidetosc00unse/mode/2up

I'll give a shoutout to Feynman's QED. It's approachable for anyone with high school understanding, and gives a reasonable insight into all sorts of phenomena.

Depends on how deep you want to go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Ideas_in_the_Unive...

I went to a public lecture by Martin Rees at uni. He asked everyone who read it to put up their hand, then put it down if they understood it. He pointed to the professor of astrophysics who had invited the lecture and said "ok, you! The rest of you, no chance!"

Have not read it yet, but recently researched this question and came to this book as a readable overview of the latest thinking in cosmology, Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins by Afshordi and Halper [1].

The book assumes a basic knowledge of physics and cosmology so it does not spend half the book reviewing basics like many pop physics books do.

[1] https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo244963...

Look up introductory college courses, e.g.., in astronomy. Their syllabi have your answers. Maybe it is more extensive than you want, but one or two book might be what you seek.

The very useful Open Syllabus Project collects syllabi and lists the most popular books, etc.: https://www.opensyllabus.org/

A professor's course materials may suit your need.

There was never a time when a book gave the public an overview of the universe. ABHOT was so popular for being a book no one actually read, theres even an index named after Hawking due to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_Index

Did _you_ read that book?

There however definitely was a piece of media that captured public minds and educated them about the cosmos. And that was the show Cosmos. The original of course. Not the NDT drivel.