Popular Science - Royal Society Winton Prize 2011

Home Authors Books Subjects Events Software Features Links Newsletter Gifts Blog Forum What's New

Royal Society Winton Prize 2011

Read more about this year's prestigious Royal Society Winton Prize, arguably the best popular science books published in 2010. And now there's also the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize to take a look at.

Take a look at the longlist... plus our alternative suggestions.

Alex's Adventures in Numberland	Alex Bellos		Short list
Spider Silk	Leslie Brunetta & Catherine L. Craig	The origins and nature of spiders, everything you want to know about silk and webs and more in this study of the life and loves of the arachnids.	Long list
Through the Language Glass	Guy Deutscher	Absolutely cracking book on linguistics and whether it can reveal anything about human perception. A great read.	Short list
Here on Earth	Tim Flannery	Beautifully written introduction to evolution and the history of Earth and its inhabitants, plus not quite as good aspects on climate change/pollution and potential solutions.	Long list
The Price of Altruism	Oren Harman		Long list
The Disappearing Spoon	Sam Kean	Instead of plodding through the periodic table this delightful book on elements has random but highly entertaining excursions into the people and events that are associated with the elements.	Short list
What Technology Wants	Kevin Kelly		Long list
The Wavewatcher's Companion	Gavin Pretor-Pinney		WINNER
The Rational Optimist	Matt Ridley	Not really science, more a political polemic, but a wonderful exploration of why things are better than they used to be thanks to trade and the interaction of ideas - a great counter to doom mongers.	Long List
Packing for Mars	Mary Roach	Not a lot of science and technology but a fascinating and often hilarious at what the experience of space travel is like for real astronauts.	Long list
Massive	Ian Sample	The search for the Higgs boson and the source of mass. The story of the development of the colliders is great, but the physics is rather summary.	Short list
The Fever	Sonia Shah		Long list
The Rough Guide to the Future	Jon Turney	Interesting idea of exploring the future, well written, but let down by the lack of science and often rather dull topics that have to be covered but don't inspire.	Short list

Our own longlist

The Royal Society Winton Prize longlist doesn't necessarily cover the best popular science books out in 2010 - as well as the five star books above, take a look at some additional books that should have made it, but didn't:

1089 and all that	David Acheson	Very entertaining and occasionally surreal take on maths, making the subject ridiculously appealing in a pocket-sized volume
Boffinology	Justin Pollard	Fun set of stories behind scientific discoveries and the scientists who made them. Very readable, often surprising and entertaining.
The Canon	Natalie Angier	The basics of all science in an accessible and surprisingly full little book.
The Climate Files	Fred Pearce	Excellent analysis of the 'climategate' leaked emails, doubts about climate science, climate sceptics and the reality of global warming.
Dazzled and Deceived	Peter Forbes	Excellent book on the fascinating topic of mimicry and camouflage, covering both the natural world and military attempts. Great insights into evolutionary mechanisms.
Economyths	David Orrell	Stunning dissection of economics that shows how it's based on totally inappropriate misapplication of scientific tools without understand the scientific method. Masterly..
A Grand and Bold Thing	Ann Finkbeiner	Wonderfully told story of the effort to produce the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and how it has transformed astronomy. Excellent popular science writing.
The Lives of Ants	Laurent Keller & Elisabeth Gordon	Well written and endlessly fascination exploration of the lives of ants in all their strange and wonderful ways.
Microcosm	Carl Zimmer	Fascinating study of the bacterium E. coli with plenty of lessons for the understanding of life as a whole, and our attitude to human genetic material.
Neutrino	Frank Close	Small but totally fascinating book on the hunt for this most elusive of quantum particles. Superb insight into the way real science works.
Physics of the Impossible	Michio Kaku	Remarkable span of ideas, pulling together everything from robots and phasers to time travel and teleportation. Looks at why they are currently impossible and how they make become possible in the future.

The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize

The six books shortlisted by the judges are:

The Icky Sticky Blood and Snot Book by Steve Alton and Nick Sharratt (Bodley Head)

The judges said: "This book does exactly what it says on the cover, using some really yucky facts and pop-ups to explain the fascinating science of the human body. We liked the fact that it is easy enough for young children to understand at the start, but then builds up to some fairly complex science which parents or teachers can help with."

What's the Point of Being Green? by Jacqui Bailey (Franklin Watts)

The judges said: “A book that covers the key environmental issues for this generation of young readers in an accurate and measured way. The book pulls no punches - but it also remains balanced and positive, pointing to practical solutions that its readers and their parents can easily put into practice."

WINNER - How the World Works by Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Beverly Young (Templar Publishing) [read our review ]

The judges said: "We loved the way this book uses stunning pop-ups and other mechanisms to explain the science of the Earth - covering everything from the hydrological cycle to plate tectonics."

What Mr Darwin Saw by Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Frances Lincoln Children's Books) [read our review ]

The judges said: “This book uses the story of Charles Darwin’s life to make the science of evolution and the wonders of nature truly accessible to young people. The reader really feels immersed in Darwin’s world and the story of his younger years should prove an inspiration to any child."

The Story of Astronomy and Space Published by Louie Stowell & Peter Allen [read our review ]

The judges said: “Beautifully illustrated, this wonderfully engaging book uses superb images from space missions and astronomy alongside quirky hand-drawn illustrations to explain the science of space and the story of the scientists who explored it."

What Goes On In My Head by Robert Winston (Dorling Kindersley)

The judges said: "An astonishing book for slightly older readers, which explains how the brain and nervous system work and how they influence our abilities and behaviour. Wonderful and intriguing illustrations make the book attractive to a wider age group."

DISCLAIMERS

This site has no connection with Popular Science magazine or other sites and publications with a similar name.

Much of the content of this site is written by popular science writers or friends of popular science writers. Inevitably many of the reviews in such a small community are written by or about someone we know. We always aim to be impartial in our reviews, but there is a connection which we need make clear, as there is no intention to deceive. The content of any review or article is solely the opinion of the author and should not be read or understood on any other basis. The site exists to promote popular science writing and popular science authors and for this reason should be considered promotional material, just as the editorial reviews in an online bookshop or the blurb on the back of a book should be considered promotional.

The website should not be eaten or used where it can come into contact with water.

Disagree with our review? Want to write your own review or comment on a feature? Drop in to the Popular Science forum and have your say!

Part of the site