The Royal Society has announced the shortlist for this year's Aventis Prizes for Science Books' General Prize, which celebrates the very best in popular science writing for adults.

Critical Mass by Philip Ball (William Heineman) takes a look at the application of physics to the collective behaviour of society. “This book is impressively clear and breathtaking in scope... For anyone who would like to learn about the intellectual ferment at the surprising junction of physics and social science, Critical Mass is the place to start.” Steven Strogatz (Nature 428, 367–368; 2004).

Robert Winston's The Human Mind (Bantam Press/Transworld) is an examination of the workings of our brains for an adult audience, inspired by his recent television series. His book What Makes Me, Me? (Dorling Kindersley), which takes a wider view of how the human body functions for a younger audience, has been shortlisted for the Junior prize.

In The Ancestor's Tale (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Richard Dawkins “views species as pilgrims marching into the past, joining each other genetically on a 3-billion-year journey to evolution's Canterbury: the first ‘replicator’”. Jerry Coyne (Nature 431, 903–904; 2004).

In Matters of Substance (Penguin, Allen Lane), Griffith Edwards presents a lucid account of drug use and control, taking the radical view that the effect of any drug is just as dependent on the social, historical and psychological context as on its chemical structure.

In The Earth (HarperCollins), Richard Fortey “offers a clear, graphic and entertaining exposition of the manner in which, over an eon, the observed geological phenomena have achieved their present state. And he forcefully reminds us that events remotely embedded in deep time may yet be highly relevant as determinants for the lifestyles of modern human communities.” Gordon L. Herries Davies (Nature 428, 697–698; 2004).

A review of Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older by Douwe Draaisma (Cambridge University Press), an examination of the nature of memory, will appear in next week's issue of Nature.

The General Prize judging panel consists of author Bill Bryson, who won in 2004, weather forecaster Lisa Burke, Sian Ede,who is a renowned authority on art and science interactions, neurophysiologist Mark Lythgoe, and poet Ruth Padel. The winners will be announced on 12 May 2005.