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These two books were texts I found particularly good through my course:
http://www.whfreeman.com/universe5e/ - Very good easy to read
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-Bradley-Carroll/dp/0805304029 - This one's heavier reading, but very comprehensive.

Even after finishing my Astronomy masters, I'm finding new insights in this book. It doesn't go into the heavy math though.
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/

I agree that Excel isn't enough, but don't dismiss Excel as a tool.

For doing some of the basic astrophysics in my Astronomy masters it was invaluable. Now I did this masters for my own learning and wasn't intending to use it professionally. To put it in perspective the course I took would make an okay stepping stone to teaching highschool physics/astronomy or first year university Astronomy but it was more an educator's course than a professional Astronomer's course. So much so that we were permitted to skip the Calculus if we wished. I'm certainly not saying a professional astronomer should learn nothing but Excel.

By the way I'm a business programmer by trade. It's just where the opportunities were for me. You could call me a sellout, or you could choose to call me a realist. My dream of going into science just wasn't going to work out for me and I made the best of it.

As much as I hate J2EE (which I do use day to day), I'd say Java's a good first language for a scientist to learn. It's grown up enough, but you don't have to deal with the machine and pointers right away.

Check out this book and accompanying software. (Not affiliated with the author, and think the software has some problems, but it's the best I've seen in about 10 years. I'm part way through the book but I've stalled because my time is tight)
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/

That's the way it seems to go. If it's science for entertainment you have to leave out the math, over-simplify every idea so that an illiterate red-neck could follow the argument, and preferably have something explode spectacularly. In lieu of exploding chemicals you can occassionally subsitute a story about someone brilliant being oppressed by those pesky scientists that don't understand a thing.

If you want good science at a popular level you do fair better leaving out the popular press. There are some good books out there. Some of them even let math in the door. Take for example http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/

Math is a beautiful thing. That movie was not. I was going to be a smart alec and post anonymously about how much I disliked the movie but I didn't think that'd be a very nice thing to do just so I could have a chuckle on a bad day (even though trolling seems to be an ingrained tradition here)....Instead,

There's a book I'd like to recommend to you if math in Nature is your thing.

Gravity from the Ground up.
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/pdf/preface.pdf
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/excerpts.html
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=P_T0xxhDcsIC&dq=gravity+from+the+ground+up&pg=PP1&ots=eYBnl6oBlg&sig=h6x74j7itqQs7AgsVN4kU39oaFQ&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=gravity+from+the+ground+up&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail

It only requires highschool math - trig and algebra, and replaces the more complex mathematics with software (that mostly uses finite difference equations in place of calculus) so you'll probably find it talks down a little if you're a mathematician. I also feel the author's a little biased in his view of history. However the physical insights into physics and physical phenomenon are incredible. (Disclaimer: I'm only on chapter 2...but I've looked at the content and this is a book I've been waiting my whole life for. I have a Masters degree in Astronomy that I've never used, but we went light on the math - about as light as this book - and we never covered Realivity in the sort of depth I wanted to)

Math is a beautiful thing. That movie was not. I was going to be a smart alec and post anonymously about how much I disliked the movie but I didn't think that'd be a very nice thing to do just so I could have a chuckle on a bad day (even though trolling seems to be an ingrained tradition here)....Instead,

There's a book I'd like to recommend to you if math in Nature is your thing.

Gravity from the Ground up.
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/pdf/preface.pdf
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/excerpts.html
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=P_T0xxhDcsIC&dq=gravity+from+the+ground+up&pg=PP1&ots=eYBnl6oBlg&sig=h6x74j7itqQs7AgsVN4kU39oaFQ&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=gravity+from+the+ground+up&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail

It only requires highschool math - trig and algebra, and replaces the more complex mathematics with software (that mostly uses finite difference equations in place of calculus) so you'll probably find it talks down a little if you're a mathematician. I also feel the author's a little biased in his view of history. However the physical insights into physics and physical phenomenon are incredible. (Disclaimer: I'm only on chapter 2...but I've looked at the content and this is a book I've been waiting my whole life for. I have a Masters degree in Astronomy that I've never used, but we went light on the math - about as light as this book - and we never covered Realivity in the sort of depth I wanted to)

Math is a beautiful thing. That movie was not. I was going to be a smart alec and post anonymously about how much I disliked the movie but I didn't think that'd be a very nice thing to do just so I could have a chuckle on a bad day (even though trolling seems to be an ingrained tradition here)....Instead,

There's a book I'd like to recommend to you if math in Nature is your thing.

Gravity from the Ground up.
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/pdf/preface.pdf
http://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/excerpts.html
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=P_T0xxhDcsIC&dq=gravity+from+the+ground+up&pg=PP1&ots=eYBnl6oBlg&sig=h6x74j7itqQs7AgsVN4kU39oaFQ&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=gravity+from+the+ground+up&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail

It only requires highschool math - trig and algebra, and replaces the more complex mathematics with software (that mostly uses finite difference equations in place of calculus) so you'll probably find it talks down a little if you're a mathematician. I also feel the author's a little biased in his view of history. However the physical insights into physics and physical phenomenon are incredible. (Disclaimer: I'm only on chapter 2...but I've looked at the content and this is a book I've been waiting my whole life for. I have a Masters degree in Astronomy that I've never used, but we went light on the math - about as light as this book - and we never covered Realivity in the sort of depth I wanted to)

I just don't think there exists such a thing as a layman explanation of our understanding of gravity.

I was always frustrated by the absence of a simple answer to 'How does gravity work?'

Why is it always attractive and never repulsive?

Try the book Gravity from the Ground Up, written by Bernard Schutz, one of the directors of the Albert Einstein Institute (the largest gravity research center in the world). You can also Google for information on "general relativity", our current best theory of gravity, and "quantum gravity" for the theories that may replace it.

However, it may not satisfy you, because I have often found that people who are frustrated by "How does X work?" in fundamental physics are really looking for an answer at a philosophical level that science cannot provide.