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14/05/2005
Behaviour book takes £10,000 science prize
Philip Ball, a British science writer, has won the prestigious 2005 Aventis Prize for popular science books.
His book, Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another, is an exploration of human behaviour and the nature of decision-making.
The award was presented to Ball at a ceremony at the Royal Society yesterday evening.
The judges selected Ball's book from a strong shortlist of six, including The Human Mind by Robert Winston and Richard Dawkins' study of evolutionary biology, The Ancestor's Tale.
American travel writer Bill Bryson, who chaired the judging panel, said: "Each [book] in its different way has an exhilarating quality - a kind of passion that takes it beyond the really very good and makes it particularly outstanding and very special."
"These are all books that will be around for a very long time, I'm certain of that," he added.
Bryson's own book, A Short History Of Nearly Everything, won last years prize and has since become a bestseller.
The full shortlist for the 2005 General Prize:
Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another, by Philip Ball
The Ancestor's Tale, by Richard Dawkins
Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older by Douwe Draaisma
Matters Of Substance: Drugs - And Why Everyone's A User by Griffith Edwards
The Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey
The Human Mind by Robert Winston
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