Prize for Science Writing: Winner & Shortlist 2009

Judges: Danielle Clode (convenor), Robin Hirst and Frederick Mendelsohn

Judges' comments

In addition to their shortlist, the 2009 judging panel also highly commended Feathered Dinosaurs by John Long and Peter Schouten and The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen by Warwick Anderson.

Winner

The 2009 winner of the Prize for Science Writing is:

• The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia
  Patricia Vickers-Rich (JHU Press)

Shortlist

	Pasteur's Gambit: Louis Pasteur, the Australasian Rabbit Plague and the Ten Million Dollar Prize Stephen Dando-Collins (Vintage) Dashing French scientists, devious politicians and international superstars - who could imagine that these would be the characters in a story about the Australian rabbit plague? Dando-Collins' engaging and lively book uncovers the fascinating account of Louis Pasteur's quest for £25,000 to cure Australia of its rabbit plague. Like a modern day Pied Piper, Pasteur leapt at the opportunity to solve his financial woes at the same time as solving Australia's agricultural ailments. And, at least on the surface, it appears that he may well have been able to succeed. But the bursars of the newly federated Australia, like the bursars of Hamelin, turned out to be not as keen on a cure as they were on being seen to be trying. Dando-Collins reveals the political intrigues, personalities and deceptions that so often beset the progress of science. We’ll never know now if Pasteur was right, but thanks to Dando-Collins' book, we do know that the path of scientific progress has never run true. And that the only real winners were the rabbits.
	Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action David Spratt and Philip Sutton (Scribe) Climate Code Red is an important book for our time. Compiling comprehensive and compelling evidence that climate change is advancing far more rapidly than previously thought, Spratt and Sutton call for urgent action. Climate Code Red documents both the rapidly changing science that our internationally brokered agreements struggle to keep pace with and the excruciatingly slow and ineffective process of government inaction, compromise and denial. After reading Climate Code Red, we can be in no doubt that we face a crisis point and that, without immediate drastic action, there is a strong probability that our climate and our planet will irrevocably change for the worse. This book makes for sober reading, all the more for its lack of spin and hyperbole. The carefully collated and presented evidence speaks for itself. We need to take action fast, if we are to safeguard our futures and this is the book to help us travel along that difficult path.
	The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia - WINNER Patricia Vickers Rich (JHU Press) This masterful and beautifully presented account of the emergence of animal life travels through time and space to review the evidence, controversies and history of our past. The story weaves through colourful characters and exotic locations, from the Flinders Ranges in South Australia to the Russian tundra, from African deserts to frozen northern coastlines. Comprehensive and authoritative, this book neither skimps on scientific detail, nor skims over the complexities of the subject matter. Yet it remains engaging and accessible to its readers, bringing a wider audience to the fascinating subject of the rise of animals and what led to their successes and failures. The rise of animal life has arguably been one of the most significant events in earth's history. This book provides a fascinating range of views into that event, sharing the passions and opinions of the world's experts on the evidence with a broad audience.