2008 winners - 2008 shortlists - Past winners & shortlists 1990-2007
Set up in 1988 as the "Science Book Prizes", the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books were originally named the Rhône-Poulenc Prizes for Science Books from 1990 - 2000, and the Aventis Prizes for Science Books from 2001 - 2006.
There are two categories: The Junior Prize, which is given to the best book written for under-14s, and the General Prize, for the best book written for a more general readership. Each prize is worth £10,000 to the winning author and £1,000 to the author of each shortlisted book.
The General Prize is chosen by a panel of five judges who select around twelve longlisted and then six shortlisted books and subsequently a winner. For the Junior Prize, initially a panel of five adult judges chooses the longlist and then the shortlist of six books. The task of picking the winner is then handed over to the people who should know best - young people aged up to fourteen in groups across the UK. Royal Society Prizes for Science Books
2010 Longlist Royal Society Prizes for Science Books
The shortlist will be announced on 24th August 2010. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Society on 21st October 2010 and awarded £10,000. The authors of each shortlisted book will receive £1000.
We Need To Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown (Faber and Faber)
The judges said: “We found ourselves applying ideas from this book to the world around us, turning suppositions on their heads and understanding complicated scientific concepts far more easily than we expected.
Why Does E=mc2? By Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw (Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group)
The judges said: “It’s the most famous equation that exists but few people actually know what it means. This book could change that – it’s beautifully written and not afraid to tackle really challenging physics.”
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne (Oxford University Press)
The judges said: “There are lots of books on Darwin and evolution, but this is a marvellous entry point - really engaging with wonderful historical anecdotes.”
In Search of the Multiverse by John Gribbin (Allen Lane, Penguin Press)
The judges said: “This is a book that aims to tackle difficult, complex questions in physics and succeeds, managing to both explain things and leave us pondering the subject for days afterwards.”
Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic by Frederick Grinnell (Oxford University Press)
The judges said: “Don’t be put off by the cover, this is the most accessible and comprehensible book on how science is done that we’ve ever come across – indispensible to anyone who wants to understand the science behind the headlines.”
God’s Philosophers: How the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science by James Hannam (Icon Books)
The judges said: “This book is a revelation, contradicting the popular idea of the Middle Ages as the “dark” ages, mapping key progressions during an era none of us associate with scientific advances and celebrating the lesser known mathematicians, “philosophers” and anatomists on whose shoulders modern science stands.
Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen (Bloomsbury)
The judges said: “This book, from a key figure in climate science offers first hand insight into the politics and vested interest that surrounds the debate. An excellent, authoritative and important history of climate change research, written in an engaging way.”
Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England by Steve Jones (Little, Brown)
The judges said: “Many books on Darwin focus on the Galapagos as if Darwin came home and that was it. This book redresses the balance, delving into ideas Darwin developed from his studies of the English countryside that surrounded him.”
Life Ascending by Nick Lane (Profile Books)
The judges said: “This book is a well thought out exploration of the building blocks of biological science – straightforward and convincing.”
The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist (Yale University Press)
The judges said: “McGilchrist welcomes you straight into his world, without making too many presumptions about what you already know, presenting beautiful ideas in an eminently readable and engrossing manner.”
Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell (Oxford University Press)
The judges said: “This book does a great job of connecting different fields to provide an accessible, interdisciplinary introduction to the complicated subject of complexity.”
A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack (Avery Books, Penguin Group)
The judges said: “This book gives a clear historical picture of the relationship between ice and climate . A very accessible and powerful perspective on climate change.
2009 Winner & Shortlist Royal Society Prizes for Science Books
Winner: The age of wonder: How the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science by Richard Holmes, published by Harperpress ISBN: 9780007149520
* Bad science by Ben Goldacre, published by Fourth Estate ISBN: 9780007240197
* Decoding the heavens: Solving the mystery of the world's first computer by Jo Marchant, published by William Heinemann ISBN: 9780099519768
* The drunkard's walk: How randomness rules our lives by Leonard Mlodinow, published by Allen Lane, Penguin Press ISBN: 9780141026473
* What the nose knows: The science of scent in everyday life by Avery Gilbert, published by Crown Publishers ISBN: 9781400082346
* Your inner fish: The amazing discovery of our 375-million-year-old ancestor by Neil Shubin, published by Allen Lane, Penguin Press ISBN: 9780141027586
Junior Prize: The big book of science things to make and do, by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt , Usborne (ISBN: 9780746080382)
General Prize: Six degrees: Our future on a hotter planet by Mark Lynas (Fourth Estate)
Royal Society Prizes for Science Books 2008 Junior Prize shortlist
Ask Dr K Fisher about animals, by Claire Llewellyn, illustrated by Kate Sheppard, Kingfisher Publications (ISBN: 9780753413852)
How the incredible human body works, by the Brainwaves, written by Richard Walker, illustrated by Ralph Lazar and Lisa Swerling, Dorling Kindersley (ISBN: 9781405321747)
It's elementary!, by Robert Winston, Dorling Kindersley (ISBN: 9781405318570)
Serious Survival: How to Poo in the Arctic and Other Essential Tips for Explorers, by Marshall Corwin, Collins (ISBN: 9780007262007)
The big book of science things to make and do, by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt , Usborne (ISBN: 9780746080382)- Winner
Why is snot green? Science Museum question and answer book , by Glenn Murphy, Macmillan Children's Books (ISBN: 9780330448529)
General prize shortlist for the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books 2008
A life decoded by J. Craig Venter (Penguin Allen Lane, 978-0713997248)
Coral : A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones (Little, Brown, 9780316729383)
Gut feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer (Penguin - Allen Lane, 978-0713997514)
Six degrees: Our future on a hotter planet by Mark Lynas (Fourth Estate)
The sun kings by Stuart Clark (Princeton University Press, 9780691126609)
Why beauty is truth by Ian Stewart (Basic Books, 978-0-465-08236-0)
Other 2008 longlisted:
Better looking, better living, better loving: How chemistry can help you achieve life's goals by John Emsley (Wiley-VCH, 978-3-527-31863-6)
How to fossilise your hamster by Mick O'Hare (Profile Books, 978-1846680441)
Making up the mind: How the brain creates our mental world by Chris Frith (Wiley-Blackwell, 978-1-4051-6022)
The stuff of thought by Steven Pinker (Penguin - Allen Lane, 978-0713997415)
Why the lion grew its mane by Lewis Smith (Papadakis, 978-1901092-83-7)
Yes! by Noah Goldstein, Steve J Martin, and Robert B Cialdini (Profile Books, 978 184668 016 8)
Winners & Shortlists 1990-2007
2007 Junior Prize
* Winner: Can You Feel the Force? by Richard Hammond (Dorling Kindersley; ISBN 1405315431)
* Shortlisted: How Nearly Everything Was Invented by The Brainwaves, devised and illustrated by Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar, written by Jilly MacLeod (Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 1405313293)
* Shortlisted: It's True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti by Heather Catchpole and Vanessa Woods, (Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1741146259)
* Shortlisted: KFK Natural Disasters by Andrew Langley (Kingfisher, ISBN 0753413051)
* Shortlisted: My Body Book by Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Franklin Watts, ISBN 0749663804)
* Shortlisted: Science Investigations - Electricity by John Farndon (Wayland, ISBN 0750234733)
2007 General Prize
* Winner: Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Harper Press)
* Shortlisted: Homo Britannicus by Chris Stringer (Penguin Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted: In Search of Memory by Eric R. Kandel (WW Norton & Co)
* Shortlisted: Lonesome George by Henry Nicholls (Macmillan)
* Shortlisted: One in Three by Adam Wishart (Profile Books)
* Shortlisted: The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson (Rough Guides)
* Longlisted: A Mind of its Own by Cordelia Fine (Icon Books)
* Longlisted: Bang! The Complete History of the Universe by Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott (Carlton Books)
* Longlisted: Francis Crick, Discoverer of the Genetic Code by Matt Ridley (Harper Press)
* Longlisted: Giant Leaps by Jack Challoner and John Perry (Boxtree)
* Longlisted: The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies (Penguin Allen Lane)
* Longlisted: The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons (Icon Books)
2006 Junior Prize
* Winner - Global Garden, Kate Petty, Jennie Maizels and Corina Fletcher ( Eden Project)
* Shortlisted - Kingfisher Knowledge: Forensics, Richard Platt (Kingfisher Publications plc)
* Shortlisted - Think of a Number, Johnny Ball (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - 100 Science Experiments, Georgina Andrews and Kate Knighton (Usborne Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Blame My Brain, Nicola Morgan (Walker Books Ltd)
* Shortlisted - It's true! Squids suck, Nicki Greenberg (Allen and Unwin)
2006 General Prize
* Winner - Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World, David Bodanis (Little Brown)
* Shortlisted - Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Jared Diamond (Penguin Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos, Michio Kaku (Penguin)
* Shortlisted - Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, Nick Lane ( Oxford University Press)
* Shortlisted - Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, Arthur I. Miller (Little Brown)
* Shortlisted - The Truth About Hormones - What's Going on when we're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful, Vivienne Parry (Atlantic Books)
* Longlisted - The Elements of Murder - A History of Poison, John Emsley ( Oxford University Press)
* Longlisted - The Gecko's Foot - Bio-inspiration - Engineering New Materials from Nature, Peter Forbes (Fourth Estate)
* Longlisted - The Silicon Eye - How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras, and Cell Phones Obsolete, George Gilder (WW Norton)
* Longlisted - Venomous Earth - How Arsenic Caused the World's Worst Mass Poisoning, Andrew Meharg (Macmillan)
* Longlisted - Seven Deadly Colours - The Genius of Nature's Palette and how it Eluded Darwin, Andrew Parker (Simon & Schuster)
* Longlisted - Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis - The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers, Dan Rockmore (Jonathan Cape)
* Longlisted - The Fruits of War - How War and Conflict have Driven Science, Michael White (Simon & Schuster)
2005 Junior Prize
* Winner - What Makes Me, Me?, Robert Winston (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Kingfisher Knowledge: Endangered Planet, David Burnie (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Kingfisher Knowledge: Microscopic Life, Richard Walker (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Leap Through Time: Earthquake, Nicholas Harris (Orpheus Books)
* Shortlisted - Mysteries and Marvels of Science, Phillip Clarke, Laura Howell, Sarah Khan (Usborne Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Night Sky Atlas, Robin Scagell (Dorling Kindersley)
* Longlisted - Bodyscope: Movers and Shakers, Patricia MacNair (Kingfisher)
* Longlisted - Bodyscope: The Story of Life, Patricia MacNair (Kingfisher)
* Longlisted - Curie and the Science of Radioactivity, Ian Graham, David Antram (Salariya Book Company (Book House))
* Longlisted - E Explore Earth, Matt Turner (Dorling Kindersley)
* Longlisted - Kingfisher Knowledge: Animal Giants, Barbara Taylor (Kingfisher)
* Longlisted - Kingfisher Young Knowledge: Solar System, Mike Goldsmith (Kingfisher)
* Longlisted - Seaside Scientist, Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (Franklin Watts)
2005 General Prize
* Winner - Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another, Philip Ball (William Heinemann)
* Shortlisted - Matters of Substance, Griffith Edwards (Penguin (Allen Lane))
* Shortlisted - The Ancestor's Tale, Richard Dawkins (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
* Shortlisted - The Earth: An Intimate History, Richard Fortey (HarperCollins)
* Shortlisted - The Human Mind, Robert Winston (Bantam Press/Transworld Publishers)
* Shortlisted - Why life speeds up as you get older, Douwe Draaisma (Cambridge University Press)
* Longlisted - Aspirin: The Story of a Wonder Drug, Diarmuid Jeffreys (Bloomsbury)
* Longlisted - Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control, Kathleen Taylor ( Oxford University Press)
* Longlisted - Deep Simplicity, John Gribbin (Penguin (Allen Lane))
* Longlisted - Hippocratic Oaths, Raymond Tallis (Atlantic Books)
* Longlisted - Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science, & Power in the Enlightenment, Patricia Fara (Pimlico)
* Longlisted - Status Syndrome, Michael Marmot (Bloomsbury)
* Longlisted - The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization, Brian Fagan (Granta)
2004 Junior Prize
* Winner - Really Rotten Experiments, Nick Arnold & Tony De Saulles (Scholastic Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - In the Rainforest, Peter Riley (Hodder Wayland)
* Shortlisted - Riotous Robots, Mike Goldsmith (Scholastic Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - Start science: Forces and Motion, Sally Hewitt (Chrysalis Children's Book)
* Shortlisted - The Beginning: Voyages Through Time, Peter Ackroyd (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Who Lives In Space?, Clare Oliver (Chrysalis Children's Books)
* Longlisted - A Drop In The Ocean: The Story Of Water,, Jacqui Bailey & Lilly Matthew (A & C Black)
* Longlisted - Artificial Intelligence, Anne Rooney (Chrysalis Children's Books)
* Longlisted - Big Numbers, John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin (Icon Books)
* Longlisted - Eureka !, Richard Platt (Kingfisher)
* Longlisted - Introduction to Weather & Climate Change, Laura Howell (Usborne)
* Longlisted - Mysteries & Marvels of Nature, Elizabeth Dalby (Usborne)
* Longlisted - Optical Illusions, Duncan Muir (Chrysalis Children's Books)
* Longlisted - The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin (Hodder)
2004 General Prize
* Winner - A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson (Doubleday/Transworld)
* Shortlisted - Backroom Boys, Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber)
* Shortlisted - In the Beginning was the Worm, Andrew Brown (Simon & Schuster)
* Shortlisted - Magic Universe, Nigel Calder ( Oxford University Press)
* Shortlisted - Mutants, Armand Marie Leroi (Penguin: Viking USA)
* Shortlisted - Nature via Nurture, Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate)
* Longlisted - A Brief History of Infinity, Brian Clegg (Constable & Robinson)
* Longlisted - Adam's Curse, Bryan Sykes (Bantam Press)
* Longlisted - After the Ice, Steven Mithen (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
* Longlisted - Einstein's Refrigerator, Gino Segre (Penguin: Allen Lane)
* Longlisted - Freedom Evolves, Daniel C Dennett (Penguin: Allen Lane)
* Longlisted - Galileo's Finger, Peter Atkins ( Oxford University Press)
* Longlisted - How to Clone the Perfect Blonde, Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham (Ebury Press)
* Longlisted - Sex, Botany & Empire, Patricia Fara (Icon Books)
* Longlisted - The Essential Difference, Simon Baron-Cohen (Penguin: Allen Lane)
2003 Junior Prize
* Winner - The DK Guide to the Oceans, Dr Frances Dipper (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Get in Gear, Sholly Fisch (Innovative Kids)
* Shortlisted - Horrible Science: The Terrible Truth about Time, Nick Arnold (Scholastic)
* Shortlisted - Leap Through Time: Dinosaur, Nicholas Harris (Orpheus Books)
* Shortlisted - The Way Science Works, Robin Kerrod & Dr Sharon Ann Holgate (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Why Can't I..? Series, Sally Hewitt (Chrysalis Children's Books)
2003 General Prize
* Winner - Right Hand, Left Hand, Chris McManus (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Reckoning with Risk, Gerd Gigerenzer (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - Small World, Mark Buchanan (Wieidenfeld & Nicholson)
* Shortlisted - The Blank Slate, Steve Pinker (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - The Extravagant Universe, Robert P Kirshner (Princeton University Press)
* Shortlisted - Where Is Everybody?, Stephen Webb (Copernicus Books)
2002 Junior Prize
* Winner - DK Guide to The Human Body, Richard Walker (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Dead Famous:Einstein, Mike Goldsmith (Scholastic Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia, David Burnie (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Life Finds It Feet, Jacqui Bailey (A & C Black Publishers)
* Shortlisted - Materials (Library of Science Series), Alastair Smith, Phillip Clarke and Lorinne Henderson (Usborne Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Mega Bites: Bugs, Christopher Maynard (Dorling Kindersley)
2002 General Prize
* Winner - The Universe in a Nutshell, Stephen Hawking (Bantam Press/ Transworld Publishers)
* Shortlisted - A Primate's Memoir, Robert Sapolsky (Jonathan Cape)
* Shortlisted - Aeons:The Search for the Beginning of Time, Martin Gorst (Fourth Estate)
* Shortlisted - Rivals, Michael White (Secker & Warburg)
* Shortlisted - The Madness of Adam & Eve, David Horrobin (Bantam Press/ Transworld Publishers)
* Shortlisted - The Secret Life of Dust, Hannah Holmes (John Wiley and Sons)
2001 Junior Prize
* Winner - DK Guide to Weather, Michael Allaby (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - DK Guide to Dinosaurs, David Lambert (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Eyewitness Guides: Epidemics, Brian Ward (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Suffering Scientists (Horrible Science Series), Nick Arnold (Scholastic)
* Shortlisted - The At Home with Science Series, Janice Lobb and Peter Utton (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - The Complete Book of the Brain, John Farndon (Hodder Wayland)
2001 General Prize
* Winner - Mapping the Deep - The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science, Robert Kunzig (Sort of Books)
* Shortlisted - Creation: Life and How to Make it, Steve Grand (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Malignant Sadness - The Anatomy of Depression, Lewis Wolpert (Faber)
* Shortlisted - Mendeleyev's Dream - The Quest for the Elements, Paul Strathern (Penguin)
* Shortlisted - Mendel's Demon - Gene Justice and the Complexity of Life, Mark Ridley (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Strange Beauty - Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in Twentieth Century Physics, George Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
2000 Junior Prize
* Winner - DK Guide to Space, Peter Bond (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Evolve or Die, Phil Gates (Scholastic Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - History News - In Space, Michael Johnstone ( Walker Books)
* Shortlisted - Science Magic: Brainwaves in the Bedroom, Richard Robinson ( Oxford University Press)
* Shortlisted - The Kingfisher Book of Planet Earth, Martin Redfern (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - The Usborne First Excyclopedia of Our World, Felicity Brooks (Usborne Publishing)
2000 General Prize
* Winner - The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene (Jonathan Cape)
* Shortlisted - A Brief History of the Future, John Naughton (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Children of Prometheus, Christopher Wills (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - Genome, Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate)
* Shortlisted - The White Death, Thomas Dormandy (Hambledown Press)
* Shortlisted - Time, Love, Memory, Jonathan Weiner (Faber & Faber)
1999 Junior Prize
* Winner - The Usborne Complete Book of the Microscope, Kirsteen Rogers (Usborne Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Ask Uncle Albert 100½ Tricky Science Questions Answered, Russell Stannard (Faber and Faber)
* Shortlisted - Big Head! A Book about your Brain and your Head, Pete Rowan (Bodley Head)
* Shortlisted - Science School , Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Stephen Biesty's Incredible Body, Richard Platt (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - The Marshall Children's Guide to Astronomy, Jacqueline and Simon Mitton (Marshall Publishing)
1999 General Prize
* Winner - The Man who Loved Only Numbers, Paul Hoffman (Fourth Estate)
* Shortlisted - A Beautiful Mind, Sylvia Nasar (Faber and Faber)
* Shortlisted - Consilience, Edward O Wilson (Little, Brown and Company)
* Shortlisted - How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - Mapping the Mind, Rita Carter (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - One Renegade Cell, Robert Weinberg (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
1998 Junior Prize
* Winner - The Kingfisher Book of Oceans, David Lambert (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Big Bang: The Story of the Universe, Heather Couper/Nigel Henbest (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - How Did I Begin?, Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Franklin Watts)
* Shortlisted - Understanding Your Muscles and Bones, Rebecca Treays (Usborne Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Yikes!, Mike Janulewicz (HarperCollins Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - Yum-Yum!, Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Franklin Watts)
1998 General Prize
* Winner - Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond (Jonathan Cape)
* Shortlisted - Fermat's Last Theorem, Simon Singh (Fourth Estate)
* Shortlisted - Life: An Unauthorised Biography, Richard Fortey (HarperCollins)
* Shortlisted - The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - This Is Biology, Ernst Mayr (Belknap/Harvard)
* Shortlisted - Twins, Lawrence Wright (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
1997 Junior Prize
* Winner - Horrible Science series: Blood, Bones and Body Bits and Ugly Bugs, Nick Arnold (Scholastic)
* Shortlisted - Atlas of Earthcare, Miles Litvinoff (Gaia Books Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Big Bug Search, Caroline Young (Usborne Publishing Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Incredible Journey to the Centre of the Atom, Nicholas Harris, Joanna Turner and Dr Trevor Day (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - What Happens When..., John Farndon (Macdonald Young Books)
1997 General Prize
* Winner - The Wisdom of Bones: In Search of Human Origins, Alan Walker and Pat Shipman (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Climbing Mount Improbable, Richard Dawkins (Viking)
* Shortlisted - Fire in the Mind, George Johnson (Viking)
* Shortlisted - In the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny, Steve Jones (HarperCollins)
* Shortlisted - Longitude, Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate)
* Shortlisted - The Origins of Virtue, Matt Ridley (Viking)
1996 Junior Prize
* Winner - The World of Weather, Chris Maynard (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Creatures that Glow, Anita Ganeri with Obin, Roger Stewart and Peter Sarson (Victor Gollancz)
* Shortlisted - Everyday Machines, John Kelly with David Burnie and Obin (Hamlyn)
* Shortlisted - Microbes, Bugs and Wonder Drugs, Fran Balkwill and Mic Rolph with Victor Darley-Usmar (Portland Press)
* Shortlisted - Our Universe, Russell Stannard (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Wild Technology, Phil Gates (Kingfisher)
1996 General Prize
* Winner - Plague's Progress, Arno Karlen (Victor Gollancz)
* Shortlisted - About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, Paul Davies (Viking)
* Shortlisted - Nature's Keepers, Stephen Budiansky (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - Nature's Numbers, Ian Stewart (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - River Out of Eden, Richard Dawkins (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
* Shortlisted - The Faber Book of Science, John Carey (Faber and Faber)
1995 Junior Prize
* Winner - The Most Amazing Pop-Up Science Book, Jay Young ( Watts Books)
* Shortlisted - Fire - Friend or Enemy?, Jack Challoner (Kingfisher)
* Shortlisted - Life, David Burnie (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Lucky Science, Royston M Roberts and Jeanie Roberts (John Wiley)
* Shortlisted - The Egg and Sperm Race, Fran Balkwill and Mic Rolph (Collins)
* Shortlisted - The Robot Zoo, John Kelly (Hamlyn)
1995 General Prize
* Winner - The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide, John Emsley (WH Freeman)
* Shortlisted - Journey to the Ants, Bert Holldobler and Edward O Wilson (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)
* Shortlisted - The Book of Man, Walter Bodmer and Robin McKie (Little, Brown and Company)
* Shortlisted - The Covenant of the Wild, Stephen Budiansky (Weidenfeld and Nicholson)
* Shortlisted - The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)
* Shortlisted - The Snows of Olympus, Arthur C Clarke (Victor Gollancz)
1994 Junior Prize
* Winner - Eyewitness Science: Evolution, Linda Gamlin (Dorling Kindersley)
* Winner - Science with Weather, Rebecca Heddle and Paul Shipton (Usborne)
* Winner - The Ultimate Dinosaur Book, David Lambert (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - The Body Atlas, Steve Parker (Dorling Kindersley)
1994 General Prize
* Winner - The Language of the Genes, Steve Jones (HarperCollins)
* Shortlisted - Afterglow of Creation, Marcus Chown (Arrow)
* Shortlisted - Dreams of a Final Theory, Steven Weinberg (Hutchinson Radius)
* Shortlisted - The Diversity of Life, Edward O Wilson ( Allen Lane /The Penguin Press)
* Shortlisted - The Engineer in the Garden, Colin Tudge (Jonathan Cape)
* Shortlisted - The Neandertals, Eric Trinkaus and Pat Shipman (Jonathan Cape)
* Shortlisted - The Red Queen, Matt Ridley (Viking)
1993 Junior Prize
* Winner - Mighty Microbes, Thompson Yardley (Cassell plc)
* Shortlisted - Distance, Brenda Walpole (A and C Black)
* Shortlisted - How the Earth Works, John Farndon (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Jumbo Jets, Althea and Edward Parker (A and C Black)
* Shortlisted - The Newsround Book of Space, Nick Heathcote, Susie Staples and Marshall Corwin (BBC Books)
1993 General Prize
* Winner - The Making of Memory by Steven Rose, Steven Rose (Bantam Press)
* Shortlisted - Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics, James Gleick (Little, Brown and Co.)
* Shortlisted - Insects in Flight, John Brackenbury (Blandford)
* Shortlisted - The Malaria Capers, Robert S Desowitz (WW Norton and Co Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Mind of God, Paul Davies (Simon and Schuster Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Virtual Worlds, Benjamin Woolley (Blackwell)
1992 Junior Prize
* Winner - The Amazing Voyage of the Cucumber Sandwich, Peter Rowan (Jonathan Cape Ltd)
* Winner - How Nature Works, David Burnie (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Black Holes and Uncle Albert, Russell Stannard (Faber and Faber Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Dinosaur!, David Norman (Boxtree Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Ian and Fred's Big Green Book, Fred Pearce and Ian Winton (Kingfisher/Bennett Books)
* Shortlisted - Tomorrow's Earth, David Bellamy (Mitchell Beazley Publishers)
1992 General Prize
* Winner - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond (Hutchinson Radius)
* Shortlisted - Darwin, Adrian Desmond and James Moore (Michael Joseph)
* Shortlisted - Dawn of a Millennium, Erich Earth (Penguin Books)
* Shortlisted - Fossils, Niles Eldridge (Aurum Press Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Last Animals at the Zoo, Colin Tudge (Hutchinson Radius)
* Shortlisted - The Natural History of the Universe, Colin Ronan (Transworld Publishers Ltd)
1991 Junior Prize
* Winner - Cells are Us and Cell Wars, Fran Balkwill and Mic Rolph (William Collins Sons and Co Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Flight, Malcolm Dixon (Wayland (Publishers) Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Sounds and Music, Robin Kerrod (Cherrytree Press Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Big Book of Prehistoric Life, Dougal Dixon (The Octopus Publishing Group Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Big Book of Stars and Planets, Robin Kerrod (The Octopus Publishing Group Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Why is Night Dark?, Sophy Tahta (Usborne Publishing Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Worm's Eye View, Kipchak Johnson (Cassell Publishers Ltd)
1991 General Prize
* Winner - Wonderful Life, Stephen Jay Gould (Hutchinson Radius)
* Shortlisted - Engines of Creation, K Eric Drexler (Fourth Estate Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Genome, Jerry Bishop and Michael Waldholz (Simon and Schuster)
* Shortlisted - Global Warming, Stephen H Schneider (The Lutterworth Press)
* Shortlisted - The Stuff of the Universe, John Gribbin and Martin Rees (William Heinemann Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Trials of Life, David Attenborough (William Collins Sons and Co. Ltd/BBC Books)
1990 Junior Prize
* Winner (under 8) - The Giant Book of Space, Ian Ridpath (Hamlyn Publishing)
* Winner (under 14) - Starting Point Science Series: What Makes a Flower Grow?/What Makes it Rain?/What's Under the Ground?/Where Does Electricity Come From?, Susan Mayes (Usborne Publishing Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Acid Rain, John Baines (Wayland (Publishers) Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Dinosaur, David Norman and Angela Milner (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Helicopters, Ian Graham (Franklin Watts Ltd)
* Shortlisted - The Time and Space of Uncle Albert, Russell Stannard (Faber and Faber)
* Shortlisted - The World of the Microscope, Chris Oxlade and Corinne Stockley (Usborne Publishing Ltd)
1990 General Prize
* Winner - The Emperor's New Mind, Roger Penrose (Oxford University Press)
* Shortlisted - Evolution The Great Debate, Vernon Blackmore and Andrew Page (Lion Publishing)
* Shortlisted - Senses and Sensibilities, Jillyn Smith (John Wiley and Sons)
* Shortlisted - The Mind Machine, Colin Blakemore (BBC Books)
* Shortlisted - The New Physics, Paul Davies (Cambridge University Press)
* Shortlisted - Time Reversal, Anatole Abragam ( Oxford University Press)
1989 Junior Prize
* Winner - The Way Things Work, David Macaulay (Dorling Kindersley)
* Shortlisted - Bricks, Terry Cash (A and C Black)
* Shortlisted - Ecology, Richard Spurgeon (Usborne)
* Shortlisted - Lots of Rot, Vicki Cobb (A and C Black)
* Shortlisted - Smallpox is Dead, Arnold R Sanderson (Farrand Press)
1989 General Prize
* Winner - Bones of Contention, Robert Lewin (Simon and Schuster)
* Shortlisted - A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (Bantam Press)
* Shortlisted - Chaos, James Gleick (William Heinemann)
* Shortlisted - End. Cosmic Catastrophe etc..., Kenneth Jon Rose (John Wiley)
* Shortlisted - The Crumbs of Contention, John Lenihan (Adam Hilger)
1988 Junior Prize
* Winner - Science Alive - Living Things, Robin Kerrod (Macdonalds Children's Books)
* Shortlisted - Size is Vital, Eric Laithwaite (Franklin Watts Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Spaceprobes and Satellites, Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest (Franklin Watts Ltd)
* Shortlisted - Visual Science - Medicine, Bruce Durie (Macdonald Children's Books)
1988 General Prize
* Winner - Living with Risk, the British Medical Association Board of Science (the BMA and John Wiley and Sons)
* Shortlisted - Egg, Robert Burton (Collins)
* Shortlisted - Molecules, Peter Atkins (WH Freeman and Co.)
* Shortlisted - The Omega Point, John Gribbin (William Heinemann)
* Shortlisted - The Quantum Universe, Tony Hey and Patrick Walters (Cambridge University Press)
* Shortlisted - Thinking Machines, Igor Aleksander and Piers Burnett ( Oxford University Press)
