I would call the books you describe pop science. In general to create a good book you need to completely remove some details from the scientific debate and simplify others. That is not bad, but what usually happens is that the doubt goes out the window with those two.

For example in Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond there is a lot of theory that is presented rather convincingly, but most historians see the book as seriously flawed often even simply wrong. Part of the reason for that is that alternative theories did not make it into the Diamond's book.

Still other popular books like moonwalking with Einstein of What if are:

• Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz. This is about human biases and mental constructs in relation to being wrong.

• The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks. About what happens in the mind to the images our eyes perceive.

• Freakonomics by by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner about using tools from economic analysis in rather strange and new ways.

• Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis. About Wall Street traders who make their profits by trading fractions of a second faster than their competitors.

These are all interesting, but they can give a distorted view of the consensus in a particular field of study. What you can do to stimulate the mind while getting to do your own thinking, is have a look at some philosophical texts. Since philosophy is about ideas and thoughts and those can be expressed well in words you don't lose as much of the ideas behind the theories as in other fields of science. Otherwise you would need to know the methods and the nature of the observations that back up a theory to really understand what people in a particular field are talking about.

If you are new to the subject, I can recommend Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn. From there you can try to find works in a field that catches your interest.