If you can get over your distaste for Richard Dawkins, I strongly recommend his books The Selfish Gene and Climbing Mount Improbable. The first deals with the gene, rather than the individual or the species, as the basic unit of natural selection. Dawkins explains how genes simulataneously compete and work as a team, how altruism arises among inherently 'selfish' individuals, and gives a good summary of the basic principles of evolution along with a cursory glance at abiogenesis in general. Climbing Mount Improbable deals more with Intelligent Design. Dawkins argues that life does indeed show evidence of design, but that it shows the natural design of cumulative selection rather than purposeful intelligent design- life was made by a 'blind watchmaker', to steal the central metaphor from another of his books. Dawkins is among the best writers of science for lay people. Evolution is an extremely elegant theory, and Dawkins really makes you go "wow!" It's not a simple subject, so don't expect simple books, but the books are made very easy to follow by Dawkins' gift for perfect scientific analogy. He takes you through his logic slowly, never making any sudden leaps in logic, and introduces concepts bit by bit.