The Aventis General Prize for Science Books

The Aventis General Prize for Science Books is in its 18th year. When it comes to popularising science books written for a general audience the Aventis Prize is doing a fantastic job. Pas winners include Phillip Ball, Bill Bryson, Stephen Hawking and Chris McManus.

The shortlist for 2006 included:

1. Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, by Nick Lane (Oxford Universiy Press)

2. Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, by Arthur I Miller (Little Brown) This book is about the public humiliation of young Subramanyan Chandrashekhar by Sir Arthur Eddington in 1930.

3. Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World, by David Bodanis (Little Brown)

4. Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond (Penguin Allen Lane)

5. Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and out Future in the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku (Penguin)

6 The Truth About Hormones - What's Going on when We're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful by Vivienne Parry (Atlantic Books)

The winner this year is Electric Universe by David Bodanis.

Fascinating stuff for youngsters and for all of us who are young in mind.