I've found myself asking quite the same questions. Most of the algorithm books you can find are full of math, and you can't read them as an Asimov novel.

But there are some rare jewels that explain you also the algorithm ideas in clear words. I've found so few of them. That is very difficult, because explaining such algorithm often requires abstract concepts based on others, which in turn, ...

Nevertheless, I think the math part is important to catch the algorithm performance, complexity, "degree of fit" (can't find a better english expression for this, sorry) for your application, etc ...