A good book for history of biology/biotechnology for lay people

I have many friends who are interested in Biology and want to know more about the subject in general (like a history of biology, from Darwin's theory, to DNA structure discovery, to the human genome project). Of course, I cannot suggest to them to read Alberts or Lenninger. Do you know whether such a book exist? I guess that a book that covers most fields of biology cannot be compiled, but even more focused book would do.

Let me try to narrow it down: something like the greatest discoveries in the field of biology (like this article) would be an interesting book to read.

I am not sure how appropriate this question is for SE, but I am sure that I will get the best answer here. Besides, it would be great if lay people can be more excited about biology and contribute to the site growth.