Genius – The life and science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.

It perhaps seems to be strange recommending a book about a physicist but this biography of Richard Feynman is written by James Gleick, the author of the best-selling book on Chaos. It is very readable and explains much about particle physics and quantum theory which is also relevant to chemistry. In fact Feyman, who arguably was the second best physicist of the last century (behind Einstein) wrote his first major thesis at MIT on intermolecular forces. The book also talks much about the nature of scientific discovery and the man behind the scientist.