Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books longlist announced

Shortlist announcement 12^th September - Winner announcement 25^th November

 The longlist for this year’s Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books – the world’s most prestigious award for popular science writing –  is announced today (1 June).

The judges selected a longlist of twelve books:

The Spark of Life by Frances Ashcroft (Allen Lane)

The judges said: “Beautifully clear, engaging and accessible. A live wire account of the body electric.”

Bird Sense by Tim Birkhead (Bloomsbury)

The judges said: “A wonderful glimpse into an alien world. Imagine how birds hear, taste and feel.”

The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll (Oneworld Publications)

The judges said: “Fizzing with enthusiasm. Makes you realize what the fuss with the Higgs Boson is all about.” 

Cells to Civilizations: The Principles of Change that Shape Life by Enrico Coen (Princeton University Press)

The judges said: “Daring and ambitious. Succeeds in making transparent the mechanisms of evolution and development.”

Pieces of Light: The New Science of Memory by Charles Fernyhough (Profile Books)

The judges said: “Illuminating. This book is not only about how memory works but what memory means to us.”

The Story of Earth by Robert Hazen (Viking)

The judges said: “Brilliantly explains the origin of earth and life. Skilfully compressed into a punchy text.”

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Caspar Henderson (Granta)

The judges said: “This is a treasure. Encapsulates the pure wonder of discovery and the strangeness of the world around us.”

Life's Ratchet by Peter Hoffmann (Basic Books)

The judges said: “A bold, enterprising book that explains how life starts from the very small.”

Air: The Restless Shaper of the World by William Bryant Logan (WW Norton)

The judges said: “Lyrical - the poetry of this book is beautiful. Delights in dust and scent and all that fills the air around us.”

The Cosmic Tourist by Sir Patrick Moore, Brian May and Chris Lintott (Carlton Books)

The judges said: “Exuberant and well illustrated. A book to inspire future cosmologists and astronomers.”

Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts (Allen Lane)

The judges said: “A celebration and a wake-up call. The changing state of our oceans has never been made clearer.”

The Life of a Leaf by Steven Vogel (The University of Chicago Press)

The judges said: “Exciting and visually engaging. Takes you back to what it is like to be a child looking at the world of plants.”

Professor Uta Frith, Chair of the judges, said:

“This may be a golden age of science writing - we had to choose from well over a hundred wonderful books covering a huge range of topics. Many of them would have deserved a place on the list. We happily and unanimously agreed on the long list, but we each had favourites that we were sad not to be able to include. We are very pleased that almost all of our selected books are ambitiously grounded in several subjects at once, be it biology, physics, psychology, or technology. The judges all commented on how much they enjoyed the process. It was an inspiring task.”

The shortlist will be announced on 12^th September 2013. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Society on 25^th November 2013.

The judges on this year’s judging panel are Jon Culshaw, impressionist and comedian; Dr Emily Flashman, Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at University of Oxford; Professor Uta Frith DBE FBA FRS (Chair), Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development at University College London; Joanne Harris, novelist and author of Chocolat; and Lucy Siegle, journalist and writer on environmental issues.

The longlist is being announced to coincide with a panel discussion at the World Science Festival in New York today (1 June). James Gleick, winner of the 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books and 2012 shortlisted authors Lone Frank and Brian Greene are taking part in a panel discussion entitled Science and story: cutting-edge discovery for a literary public.

Commencing in 2011, the global investment management company Winton Capital Management agreed a five year sponsorship deal of the prize. 

. The judges:

·         Jon Culshaw - Impressionist and comedian

·         Dr Emily Flashman - Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University        of Oxford

·         Professor Uta Frith DBE FBA FRS - Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development, University   College London

·         Joanne Harris - Novelist and author of Chocolat

·         Lucy Siegle - Journalist and writer on environmental issues