HA! I have Asimov's Guide to the Bible on my bookshelf; it came from an annual library book sale just before Covid, but I have not yet cracked it open.

One good candidate for a modern Asimov on this subject would be Karen Armstrong. I've read her A History of God: the 4000 year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I also see titles by her that may pique your interest - The Bible (that is the title of her own book :P ), In The Beginning, The Battle for God, etc. that I have not read. I think just go to a big library and there's not a bad choice with her name on it.

She shares with Asimov the fact that she knows the subject deeply but is a more-or-less nonbeliever, writing with some arm's length detachment which definitely helps. While Asimov was ethnically Russian and Jewish, he also was on record self identifying as an atheist. Armstrong was born Catholic, became a nun, then left, then seems to be a moving target over several decades - more or less agnostic but respectful of the value of religious tradition. She also gives good interviews and teaches at SMU 30 minutes away from where I grew up.

Her books are intended for an educated but general audience. I got a ways into a book on Islam and kind of ran out of gas because it had too many names and places for which I lacked a foundation of knowledge, but that's not her fault. Most good history books require to know a bit before you can build more meat on the bones.

Bart Ehrmann has a lot of books out that might cover what you want. You could also look into "introduction to the Bible" type textbooks. Mark Allan Powell has a good one for the New Testament, and Marvin Sweeney's Tanak is good for the Hebrew Bible. Those are geared toward college and seminary students, but at an introductory level, so they require some basic previous knowledge but not a ton.

Generally, I think you'll find that "the Bible" is too broad for a single book to handle well, so if you're interested in deeper study look for things that narrow it down: just the Hebrew Bible or New Testament, or just the Prophets, or just the Gospels, or just a particular period of history. You'll also want to be aware of bias no matter who you're reading--Sweeney is Jewish, but most people who write books about the Bible are at least culturally Christian, and that makes a difference. Ehrmann has good information, but some people find him to be a little antagonistic toward Christianity. I'm wary of anything that refers to the "Old Testament," because these days scholars who aren't theologically conservative Christians usually use Hebrew Bible or Jewish Bible, but sometimes publishers make that decision for marketability, especially in books for a popular market. Everyone has bias, so it's not a question of avoiding it, just being aware of the perspective you're getting.

I've just read From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible by historian and archaeologist Eric H. Cline, in which he sets the old testament myths against modern historic and archaeological facts and findings. Very decent read.

Of course, we all can guess the result of such endeavour.

Beyond the Texts - Dever is a very dense book that looks at the archeological evidence and explores what we know from actual evidence and excavation. Basically, evidence doesnt support a biblical Exodus. Evidence does support the possibility of a King David. He basically shows that had events unfolded as was recounted in the return from Egypt in the Bible there would have to be evidence in the strata. There isn't any. However, there was a King David mentioned in the writings of neighboring kingdoms. And around the time he was written of in neighboring kingdoms, a line of fortifications pushed back the Philistines.