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The ’s prestigious book prize awards is one of science’s few glittering functions.

For most authors, even the relatively well-known ones who tend to make up the Royal Society shortlist, £25,000 is a big deal for an outright win – plus £2500 for the runners-up.

Then there’s the decent glasses of fizz, superior canapes – and, best of all, the chance to read an extract from your book to a highly tuned and appreciative audience (after a gentle quizzing by media celebrity and physicist Brian Cox).

This year neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, won for her book Blakemore (pictured above at ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ Live) explores what lies behind the kind of behaviour adults tend to dismiss as excessive, risky or puzzling, and makes a strong case in favour of adolescence as a period of great creativity that needs to be acknowledged and celebrated.

The Royal Society set up the book prize in 1988 as an annual award to promote outstanding popular science books from all over the world. Past winners have included Stephen Hawking, Jared Diamond, Stephen Jay Gould, Bill Bryson, and last year Cordelia Fine for her book Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds, Icon Books.

Here’s the full shortlist, announced earlier this year:

• by Sarah Jayne Blakemore, Doubleday. Blakemore has featured in many ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ articles including
• by Lucy Cooke, Doubleday/Black Swan
• by Daniel Davis, Bodley Head. His book was reviewed in 2 February 2018 issue of the magazine
• by Hannah Fry, Doubleday
• by Mark Miodownik, Viking. Midiownik featured in on science communicators. He is a previous winner of the prize in 2014 for , Viking
• by Simon Winchester, William Collins