The road to reality

It pains me to give four stars because I really love this book, honestly, but it does have some flaws. It could definitely use a glossary, for instance. The first time I picked this up years ago I struggled hard, although admittedly I was much much younger then.
So, first I would heartily recommend reading 'The Theoretical Minimum' series first and 'A Very Gentle Guide to General Relativity', and 'e, story of a number'. Probably also read something about gauges and groups, and it definitely wouldn't hurt to read a book talking about Riemann. Coming back to it after those, this is a lot less dense; it's just so much easier to read a book when you've seen some of the vocabulary before and aren't wading through new language every single page. Especially a long book like this one.
Also, if you've encountered concepts before, it can be easier to get through by just skipping to sections you find most interesting and then going back to the previous sections for a quick refresher.

It's just really refreshing to see a book that doesn't dumb shit down, but is also holistic so that if you're craving an overview, you have, well, an overview. I have a feeling this will be one of the few books I actually re-read.