And if you're picking up Feynman, be sure to grab "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" They may not be as hard-science as the other books on this list, but they do a great job of capturing the sense of wonder and curiosity that the best scientists possess. Also, they're hilarious.

Cosmology seems destined to be a moving target for the rest of our lifetimes. Reading a cosmology book written in 1990 would seem to only serve those interested in the history of the science. I'm loathe to suggest books on this topic as they're likely superceded by something more recent. As far as recent authors go, I'd put Martin Rees (heh, I see his most recent forays into this realm was in 2000 and 2001) and Timothy Ferris (who is Sagan-esque in his writing) high on the list.

But don't skimp on the Feynman.

Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, like the theory which it explains, is a house of cards built on the back of a moving tortoise. It's already outdated. Greene, despite weasel words, presents string theory as fact though to date no observable data has confirmed a single prediction of string theory. In fact, when the LHC comes online later this year string theory and m-theory may collapse entirely. Or it may not. Anyway, I wouldn't move Greene to the top of my reading list.

Dawkins's book has many of the same problems that plague Dawkins as an anti-theologist and social scientist. He takes an interesting metaphor and tries to force-fit everything into it.