Royal Society 2016 Science Book Prize shortlist announced

In the UK, the Royal Society has announced the shortlist for the 2016 Science Book Prize for ‘outstanding popular science books’ written for a non-specialist audience. The six titles on the shortlist are: Cure (Jo Marchant, Text), The Gene (Siddhartha Mukherjee, Nodley Head), The Hunt for Vulcan (Thomas Levenson, Head of Zeus); The Invention of Nature (Andrea Wulf, John Murray); The Most Perfect Thing (Tim Birkhead, Bloomsbury); and The Planet Remade (Oliver Morton, Portobello). Four of the titles on the shortlist were first published in the UK by independent presses. Chair of judges Bill Bryson said the shortlisted books showed science writing ‘at its best, lyrical and vivid and thrilling—not to mention as interesting, useful and accessible as any writing you will find in any genre’. The winner of the Prize will be announced on 19 September and will receive a further £25,000 (A$42,960) on top of the £2,500 (A$4300) that is awarded to each shortlisted author.

Category: International news