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2021
Winner
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
​
Shortlist
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
The End of Bias by Jessica Nordell
The Sleeping Beauties by Suzanne O'Sullivan
Science Fictions by Stuart Ritchie
2020
Winner
Explaining Humans by Camilla Pang

Shortlist
The World According to Physics by Jim Al-Khalili
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan
The Double X Economy by Linda Scott
Transcendence by Gaia Vince
​2019
Winner
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
 
Shortlist
Six Impossible Things: The ‘Quanta of Solace’ and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World by John Gribbin
The Remarkable Life of the Skin: An Intimate Journey Across Our Surface by Monty Lyman
Clearing the Air: The Beginning and End of Air Polution by Tim Smedley
The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter by Paul Steinhardt
Infinite Powers: The Story of Calculus – The Language of the Universe by Steven Strogatz
2018
Winner
Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
 
Shortlist
The Unexpected Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Wild Tales by Lucy Cooke
The Beautiful Cure: Harnessing Your Body’s Natural Defences by Daniel M Davis
Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine by Hannah Fry
Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives by Mark Miodownik
Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester
2017
Winner
Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of our Gendered Minds by Cordelia Fine
 
Shortlist
Beyond Infinity: An Expedition to the Outer Limits of the Mathematical Universe by Eugenia Cheng
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer's by Joseph Jebelli
To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death by Mark O'Connell
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
2016
Winner
The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf
 
Shortlist
The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird's Egg by Tim Birkhead
The Hunt for Vulcan by Thomas Levenson
Cure by Jo Marchant
The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World by Oliver Morton
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
2015
Winner
Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made by Gaia Vince
 
Shortlist
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop by David Adam
Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life by Alex Bellos
Smashing Physics: Inside the World’s Biggest Experiment by Jon Butterworth
Life’s Greatest Secret: The Story of the Race to Crack the Genetic Code by Matthew Cobb
Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by Johnjoe Mcfadden & Jim Al-Khalili
2014
Winner
Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World by Mark Miodownik
 
Shortlist
Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler by Philip Ball
Seven Elements That Have Changed The World: Iron, Carbon, Gold, Silver, Uranium, Titanium, Silicon by John Browne
The Perfect Theory by Pedro G Ferreira
The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine’s Deepest Mystery by George Johnson
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
 
Longlist
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W Bernard Carlson
What a Wonderful World: One Man’s Attempt to Explain the Big Stuff by Marcus Chown
Dice World: Science and Life in a Random Universe by Brian Clegg
The Compatibility Gene by Daniel M Davis
My Brief History by Stephen Hawking
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live by Marlene Zuk
2013
Winner
The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll
 
Shortlist
Bird Sense by Tim Birkhead
Cells to Civilizations by Enrico Coen
Pieces of Light by Charles Fernyhough
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Caspar Henderson
Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts
 
Longlist
The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body by Frances Ashcroft
Air: The Restless Shaper of the World by William Bryant Logan
The Story of Earth by Robert Hazen
Life’s Ratchet by Peter Hoffmann
The Cosmic Tourist by Patrick Moore, Brian May & Chris Lintott
The Life of a Leaf by Steven Vogel
2012
Winner
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick
 
Shortlist
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
My Beautiful Genome by Lone Frank
The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene
The Better Angels of our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes by Steven Pinker
The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe
 
Longlist
The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso
The 4 percent Universe by Richard Panek
The Address Book by Tim Radford
Pricing the Future by George G Szpiro
Race? Debunking a Scientific Myth by Ian Tattersall & Rob DeSalle
The Folly of Fools by Robert Trivers
2011
Winner
The Wavewatcher’s Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
 
Shortlist
Alex’s Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos
Through the Language Glass: How Words Colour Your World by Guy Deutscher
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science by Ian Sample
The Rough Guide to The Future by Jon Turney
 
Longlist
Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging and Mating by Leslie Brunetta & Catherine L Craig
Here on Earth: A new beginning by Tim Flannery
The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman
What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in Space by Mary Roach
The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah
2010
Winner
Life Ascending by Nick Lane
 
Shortlist
We Need to Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown
Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw
Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic by Frederick Grinnell
God's Philosophers: How the Medieval world laid the foundations of modern science by James Hannam
A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack
 
Longlist
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A Coyne
In Search of the Multiverse by John Gribbin
Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen
Darwin's Island by Steve Jones
The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell
2009
Winner
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
 
Shortlist
What the nose knows: The science of scent in everyday life by Avery Gilbert
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Decoding the heavens: Solving the mystery of the world's first computer by Jo Marchant
The drunkard's walk: How randomness rules our lives by Leonard Mlodinow
Your inner fish: The amazing discovery of our 375-million-year-old ancestor by Neil Shubin
 
Longlist
Living with Enza: The forgotten story of Britain and the great flu pandemic of 1918 by Mark Honigsbaum
Quantum: Einstein. Bohr and the great debate about the nature of reality by Manjit Kumar
Strange fruit: Why both sides are wrong in the race debate by Kenan Malik
Physics for future presidents: The science behind the headlines by Richard A Muller
Ice, mud and blood: Lessons from climates past by Chris Turney
Microcosm: E. coli and the new science of life by Carl Zimmer
The universe in a mirror : The saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the visionaries who built it by Robert Zimmerman
2008
Winner
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas
 
Shortlist
The sun kings by Stuart Clark
Gut feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer
Coral : A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones
Why beauty is truth by Ian Stewart
A life decoded by J Craig Venter
 
Longlist
Better looking, better living, better loving: How chemistry can help you achieve life's goals by John Emsley
Making Up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World by Chris Frith
Yes! by Noah Goldstein, Steve J Martin & Robert B Cialdini
How to fossilise your hamster by Mick O'Hare
The stuff of thought by Steven Pinker
Why the lion grew its mane by Lewis Smith
2007
Winner
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
 
Shortlist
The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson
In Search of Memory by Eric R Kandel
Lonesome George: The Lives and Loves of a Conservation Icon by Henry Nicholls
Homo Britannicus by Chris Stringer
One in Three by Adam Wishart
 
Longlist
Giant Leaps by Jack Challoner & John Perry
The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies
A Mind of its Own by Cordelia Fine
Bang! The Complete History of the Universe by Brian May, Patrick Moore & Chris Lintott
The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons
Francis Crick, Discoverer of the Genetic Code by Matt Ridley
2006
Winner
Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World by David Bodanis
 
Shortlist
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos by Michio Kaku
Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life by Nick Lane
Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes by Arthur I Miller
The Truth About Hormones - What's Going on when we're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful by Vivienne Parry
 
Longlist
The Elements of Murder - A History of Poison by John Emsley
The Gecko's Foot - Bio-inspiration - Engineering New Materials from Nature by Peter Forbes
The Silicon Eye - How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras and Cell Phones Obsolete by George Gilder
Venomous Earth - How Arsenic Caused the World's Worst Mass Poisoning by Andrew Meharg
Seven Deadly Colours - The Genius of Nature's Palette and how it Eluded Darwin by Andrew Parker
Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis - The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers by Dan Rockmore
The Fruits of War - How War and Conflict have Driven Science by Michael White
2005
Winner
Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another by Philip Ball
 
Shortlist
The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins
Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older by Douwe Draaisma
Matters of Substance by Griffith Edwards
Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey
The Human Mind by Robert Winston
 
Longlist
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization by Brian Fagan
Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science & Power in the Enlightenment by Patricia Fara
Deep Simplicity by John Gribbin
Aspirin: The Story of a Wonder Drug by Diarmuid Jeffreys
Status Syndrome by Michael Marmot
Hippocratic Oaths by Raymond Tallis
Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control by Kathleen Taylor
2004
Winner
A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
 
Shortlist
In the Beginning was the Worm by Andrew Brown
Magic Universe by Nigel Calder
Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi
Nature via Nurture by Matt Ridley
Backroom Boys by Francis Spufford
 
Longlist
Galileo's Finger by Peter Atkins
The Essential Difference by Simon Baron-Cohen
A Brief History of Infinity by Brian Clegg
Freedom Evolves by Daniel Dennett
Sex, Botany & Empire by Patricia Fara
After the Ice by Steven Mithen
How to Clone the Perfect Blonde by Sue Nelson & Richard Hollingham
Einstein's Refrigerator by Gino Segre
Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes
2003
Winner
Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus
 
Shortlist
Small World by Mark Buchanan
Reckoning with Risk by Gerd Gigerenzer
The Extravagant Universe by Robert P Kirshner
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Where Is Everybody? by Stephen Webb
2002
Winner
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking
 
Shortlist
Aeons:The Search for the Beginning of Time by Martin Gorst
The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes
The Madness of Adam & Eve by David Horrobin
A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky
Rivals by Michael White
2001
Winner
Mapping the Deep - The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science by Robert Kunzig
 
Shortlist
Creation: Life and How to Make it by Steve Grand
Strange Beauty - Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in Twentieth Century Physics by George Johnson
Mendel's Demon - Gene Justice and the Complexity of Life by Matt Ridley
Mendeleyev's Dream - The Quest for the Elements by Paul Strathern
Malignant Sadness - The Anatomy of Depression by Lewis Wolpert
2000
Winner
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
 
Shortlist
The White Death by Thomas Dormandy
A Brief History of the Future by John Naughton
Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
Children of Prometheus by Christopher Wills
1999
Winner
The Man who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman
 
Shortlist
Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
One Renegade Cell by Robert Weinberg
Consilience by Edward O Wilson
1998
Winner
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
 
Shortlist
The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch
Life: An Unauthorised Biography by Richard Fortey
This Is Biology by Ernst Mayr
Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh
Twins by Lawrence Wright
1997
Winner
The Wisdom of Bones: In Search of Human Origins by Alan Walker & Pat Shipman
 
Shortlist
Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins
Fire in the Mind by George Johnson
In the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny by Steve Jones
The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley
Longitude by Dava Sobel
1996
Winner
Plague's Progress by Arno Karlen
 
Shortlist
Nature's Keepers by Stephen Budiansky
The Faber Book of Science by John Carey
About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution by Paul Davies
River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins
Nature's Numbers by Ian Stewart
1995
Winner
The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide by John Emsley
 
Shortlist
The Book of Man by Walter Bodmer & Robin McKie
The Covenant of the Wild by Stephen Budiansky
The Snows of Olympus by Arthur C Clarke
Journey to the Ants by Bert Holldobler & Edward O Wilson
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
1994
Winner
The Language of the Genes by Steve Jones
 
Shortlist
Afterglow of Creation by Marcus Chown
The Red Queen by Matt Ridley
The Neandertals by Eric Trinkaus & Pat Shipman
The Engineer in the Garden by Colin Tudge
Dreams of a Final Theory by Steven Weinberg
The Diversity of Life by Edward O Wilson
1993
Winner
The Making of Memory by Steven Rose
 
Shortlist
Insects in Flight by John Brackenbury
The Mind of God by Paul Davies
The Malaria Capers by Robert S Desowitz
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick
Virtual Worlds by Benjamin Woolley
1992
Winner
The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond
 
Shortlist
Darwin by Adrian Desmond & James Moore
Fossils by Niles Eldridge
Dawn of a Millennium by Erich Harth
The Natural History of the Universe by Colin Ronan
Last Animals at the Zoo by Colin Tudge
1991
Winner
Wonderful Life - The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould
 
Shortlist
The Trials of Life by David Attenborough
Genome by Jerry Bishop & Michael Waldholz
Engines of Creation by K Eric Drexler
The Stuff of the Universe by John Gribbin
Global Warming by Stephen H Schneider
1990
Winner
The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose
 
Shortlist
Time Reversal by Anatole Abragam
Evolution The Great Debate by Vernon Blackmore & Andrew Page
The Mind Machine by Colin Blakemore
The New Physics by Paul Davies
Senses and Sensibilities by Jillyn Smith
1989
Winner
Bones of Contention by Robert Lewin
 
Shortlist
End. Cosmic Catastrophe etc... by Frank Close
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Crumbs of Contention by John Lenihan
1988
Winner
Living with Risk by the British Medical Association Board of Science
 
Shortlist
Thinking Machines by Igor Aleksander & Piers Burnett
Molecules by Peter Atkins
Egg by Robert Burton
The Omega Point by John Gribbin
The Quantum Universe by Tony Hey & Patrick Walters