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Aventis Prize 2004

Read more about the winner, shortlist and longlist for this year's prestigious Aventis Prize, arguably the best popular science books of 2003. All these books are worth a look - it's a superb collection.

When you've taken a look, why not vote for your favourite popular science books of 2004? Click here to read more.

Click on the book name to see the review. We are yet to review books without a rating below, but you can still click on the Amazon buttons to find out more. For books we have reviewed, click on the review or the book name to find out more or buy at Amazon.

Peter Atkins	Galileo's Finger	Attempt to identify the key scientific breakthroughs of history
Simon Baron-Cohen	The Essential Difference	Fascinating new evidence on the genetic difference between male and female brains, but a bit stodgy
Andrew Brown	In the Beginning was the Worm	Delightful introduction to the first creature to have its genome sequenced - and the scientists who did it
Bill Bryson	A Short History of Nearly Everything	Triumphant charge through all of science
Nigel Calder	Magic Universe	Alphabetic collection of articles on modern science that are fascinating to read and give a good overview.
Brian Clegg	A Brief History of Infinity	The people and paradoxes in the quest to think the unthinkable
Daniel C Dennett	Freedom Evolves	Fascinating (if long-winded) exploration of free will, only low scoring as more philosophy than science
Patricia Fara	Sex, Botany & Empire	Joseph Banks (and Linnaeus) and his contribution to biological classification
Armand Leroi	Mutants	Truly remarkable book that uses human mutation to explain how we are all formed while avoiding the voyeurism of the freak show
Steven Mithen	After the Ice	Huge history of humanity between 20,000 and 5,000 BC with neat "observer" style
Sue Nelson & Richard Holligham	How to Clone the Perfect Blonde	Eight fascinating applications of science, beautifully explained, but let down a little by childish humour
Matt Ridley	Nature via Nurture	A superbly balanced picture of the ages-old debate between nature and nurture, and the latest thinking to emerge from genetic science
Gino Segre	Einstein's Refrigerator [A Matter of Degrees]	Excellent exploration of temperature, heat and cold, taking in a trip through much of science
Francis Spufford	Backroom Boys	Wonderful history of six quirky UK technology breakthroughs including Concorde and the game Elite
Bryan Sykes	Adam's Curse	Another men vs women in genetics - here what makes men how they are... and are they heading for extinction?

Our own shortlist

Here are the Aventis prize entries that have won our coveted 5 star award, forming our own, rather different Aventis shortlist:

Andrew Brown	In the Beginning was the Worm	Delightful introduction to the first creature to have its genome sequenced - and the scientists who did it
Brian Clegg	A Brief History of Infinity	The people and paradoxes in the quest to think the unthinkable
Armand Leroi	Mutants	Truly remarkable book that uses human mutation to explain how we are all formed while avoiding the voyeurism of the freak show
Gino Segre	Einstein's Refrigerator [A Matter of Degrees]	Excellent exploration of temperature, heat and cold, taking in a trip through much of science

When you've taken a look, why not vote for your favourite popular science books of 2004? Click here to read more.

Professor Robert Winston comments: ”The judging process has so far proven to be a riveting experience. The diversity of themes has covered everything from the history of infinity to evolution and issues surrounding the gender debate. My fellow judges and I have enjoyed reviewing and debating each of the entries but found it difficult to agree on a longlist because of the sheer number of outstanding entries, in fact the highest number ever entered. In future, we hope to see an increase in the number of submissions from women science writers, which seemed to be in short supply this year.”

The judging panel for the General Prize consists of Professor Robert Winston (Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London - chair), Terry Pratchett OBE (author), Sunetra Gupta (reader in epidemiology at the University of Oxford and author), Daniel Glaser (neuroscientist at University College London and former scientist in residence at the Institute Of Contemporary Art) and Emma Read (commissioning editor for Discovery Channel Europe).

Junior Prize 2004

Peter Ackroyd	The Beginning: Voyages through time
Nick Arnold & Tony de Saulles	Really Rotten Experiments
Jacqui Bailey & Lilly Matthew	A Drop in the Ocean: the story of water
Elizabeth Dalby	Mysteries & Marvels of Nature
Mike Goldsmith	Riotous Robots	Enjoyable exploration of robots in fiction and reality (mostly reality) with good cartoon illustrations. Rather bitty, though.
John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin	The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin	Big Numbers
Sally Hewitt	Forces & Motion
Laura Howell	Introduction to Weather & Climate Change
Duncan Muir	Optical Illusions
Clare Oliver	Who Lives in Space?
Richard Platt	Eureka!
Peter Riley	In the Rainforest
Anne Rooney	Artificial Intelligence

Kate Heavenor comments: ‘The level of exceptional entries made our task of selecting the longlist extremely tough. The titles selected are unique in style and cover a broad range of subject matter from robots to space to climate change. The titles are highly informative and we are very much looking forward to discussing the shortlist.'

For the third year running, the Aventis Prizes have teamed up with SciZmic, the national network for science clubs. Children aged up to 14 from 60 science clubs around the country, will be selecting the winner of the Junior Prize, from a shortlist selected by the Junior Prize judging panel.

The judges for the Junior Prize 2004 Aventis Prizes For Science Books are Kate Heavenor (CBBC and presenter of Eureka), Jacqueline Wilson (children's author), Professor Heinz Wolff (television presenter and Professor of Bioengineering at Brunel University), Mark Evans (veterinarian and TV Presenter on the Discovery Channel) and Abdul-Hayee Murshad (deputy head teacher of Hermitage Primary School, London).

To find out more about the Aventis Prizes see the official website.

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