Judging for the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books is well under way. The longlist of books for the general prize includes a wider mix of popular science books than in previous years, with Giant Leaps by journalist John Perry of UK newspaper The Sun and Jack Challoner vying with Nobel laureate Eric Kandel's memoir In Search of Memory. The mysteries of the mind are also explored by Cordelia Fine in A Mind of its Own and Daniel Gilbert in Stumbling on Happiness. Adam Wishart's One in Three is a personal exploration of the biology and treatment of cancer. Current issues are represented by Robert Henson's The Rough Guide to Climate Change and TV tie-ins by The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons. Established writers Matt Ridley (who wrote Francis Crick), Paul Davies (The Goldilocks Enigma) and Chris Stringer (Homo Britannicus) appear alongside newcomer Henry Nicholls (Lonesome George). Rock guitarist Brian May joined experienced astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott to write Bang!

This list will be whittled down to a shortlist of six, and the winners of both the general and the junior prizes will be announced on 15 May 2007.

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/sciencebooks