James Gleick’s The Information has won the 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Published by Fourth Estate, it tells the story of information and how humanity uses, transmits and stores it.
The £10,000 prize was awarded to James Gleick by Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize-winning President of the Royal Society at a ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in London.
The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books is the leading award for popular science writing. Books shortlisted for the award are accessible, interesting and compelling accounts of the world around us or inside us.
You can watch the announcement of the winner on Channel 4 news and interviews with the other shortlisted authors:
Joshua Foer talking about Moonwalking with Einstein
Lone Frank talking about My Beautiful Genome
Brian Greene talking about The Hidden Reality
Steven Pinker talking about The Better Angels of Our Nature
"Nathan Wolfe talking about The Viral Storm ":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RKc3lTMvhk&list=PLg7f-TkW11iWnejwByV0jXcqmRi_LrU1q&index=5&feature=plpp_video
Reading group reviews
We worked with the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books to get six groups reading the shortlisted titles. Bluebirds reading group from Craigavon, Belfast, read The Information. Here’s their review of the winning title:
The Information was the first non-fiction book for our bookclub, and there was a mixed reaction at first at tackling a science book – some were a bit concerned that it would be like being back at school and studying, while some of us who were in IT, were more open to trying it. However, Gleick’s narrative style made this a surprisingly readable and enjoyable book.
The Information is an epic journey through the changes in the storage, communication and content of information, from the war drums in Africa to DNA and the internet. The book is peppered with anecdotes, pictures and diagrams to make the work accessible to even the most novice science reader. All concepts were explained throughout so none of us were ‘left behind’ and while we learnt a lot, it didn’t feel like a lesson!
None of us had read Gleick before but his passion for his subject matter came across throughout. We particularly liked his portrayal of different characters throughout the book with a brief pen picture of their history, inclusion of dialogue, motivations and applications of their discoveries.
Check back soon for more reviews of the shortlisted titles
Get involved
Have you read The Information or any of the shortlisted books? Please tell us what you thought of them by adding a comment below.
