Read more about the 2004 Aventis (Royal Society) Prize, arguably a summary of the best popular science books published in 2003. Here are the results: Winner A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson Shortlist Backroom Boys – Francis Spufford In the Beginning was the Worm – Andrew Brown Magic Universe – Nigel Calder Mutants – Armand Leroi Nature via Nurture – Matt Ridley Longlist A Brief History of Infinity – Brian Clegg After the Ice – Steven Mithen Freedom Evolves – Daniel Dennett Galileo’s Finger – Peter Atkins How to Clone the Perfect Blonde – Sue Nelson & Richard Holligham Sex, Botany and Empire – Patricia Fara The Essential Difference – Simon Baron-Cohen and here are our favourites that didn’t make the long list: Einstein’s Refrigerator – Gino Segre Plus the Junior Prize shortlist: Forces & Motion – Sally Hewitt In the Rainforest – Peter Riley The Beginning: Voyages through Time – Peter Ackroyd Really Rotten Experiments – Nick ...

A while ago John Gribbin wrote  Science: A History , which attempted to cover all of the development of science in a single volume. The trouble is, it fell between two stools – itwasn’t readable as a narrative, nor was it a comprehensive encylopedia. Travel writer Bill Bryson has now done the same thing, but with significantly more success as he has very clearly abandoned any attempt to be comprehensive – the result is a much easier read. If (like me) you are a Bryson fan you may find the book a slight disappointment. His genius is as a humorous raconteur of everyday events that have happened to him, and although he includes many enjoyable anecdotes, his style doesn’t work anywhere near as well when talking about a historical event. Despite this and a decided lurch towards the biological and earth sciences that leaves the rest a little under-covered, this is the best attempt yet to cover pretty well everything in a readable way. Bryson is perhaps at his best when coming up w...

As far as the general public is concerned there is no doubt who was the greatest physicist of the 20th century – Albert Einstein. Ask a physicist, though, and Einstein will only justscrape in there ahead of Richard Feynman. Feynman was both a superb scientist and a great storyteller. This lovely book, subtitled ‘adventures of a curious character’ is edited down from taped conversations with fellow scientist and friend, Ralph Leighton. It’s a sort of informal autobiography, in that it runs through Feynman’s life, but it consists of series of anecdotes, often very funny, of things that happened to this remarkable man. And they certainly did happen. During the Second World War, for instance, Feynman was working on the project to develop the atomic bomb. Feynman made significant contributions, but his stories are mostly about safe-breaking and lock picking. He was very suspicious of the security regime, which said that everything should be locked away, but then provided inadequate...