Bill Bryson Wins Aventis Prizes for Science Books 2004.

Business Editors/Science Writers/Education Writers

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2004

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American author, Bill Bryson has won the General Prize for the Aventis Prizes for Science Books 2004, with his first popular science based book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (Doubleday/Transworld). Travelling through time and space, Bill Bryson's book introduces us to the universe, the world and the rise of civilisation.

A judging panel of six, chaired by Professor Robert Winston selected the winning title for the prestigious international book award, which celebrates the very best in popular science writing for adults and children.

Professor Robert Winston comments: "This ambitious book will communicate science to the widest possible audience in an intelligent and highly accessible way."

Commenting on the overall shortlist, the judging panel said: "The committee felt that this was a particularly outstanding shortlist and our unanimous decision was made only after considerable discussion."

Lord May of Oxford, President of the Royal Society and Dr Dirk Oldenburg, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Aventis Foundation presented the GBP 10,000 prize to Bill Bryson and GBP 1,000 to each of the shortlisted authors at an award ceremony at the Royal Society in London.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's quest to explain the world that we live in through an in-depth study of seven distinct topics: the origins of the universe; the historical discovery of the size and age of the earth; relativity and quantum theory; the present and future threats to life and the planet, the origins and history of life and the evolution of man. His sheer curiosity invites readers to question the origins of the universe and how we got from there being nothing at all, to here being the people that we are today.

The shortlisted books are:

-- In the Beginning Was the Worm By Andrew Brown (Simon &

Schuster)

-- A Short History of Nearly Everything By Bill Bryson

(Doubleday/Transworld)

-- Magic Universe By Nigel Calder (Oxford University Press)

-- Mutants By Armand Marie Leroi (HarperCollins)

-- Nature via Nurture By Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate)

-- Backroom Boys By Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber)

2004 saw the Royal Society receive a record number of entries for the General Prize up almost 20 per cent on the previous year.

Stephen Cox, Executive Secretary of the Royal Society, says: "We were delighted with the sheer volume of exceptional entries for this year's prizes. The shortlist covered a broad range of fascinating subjects and A Short History of Nearly Everything reflects the high calibre of compelling writing that the Aventis Prizes have become synonymous with."

The Aventis Prizes For Science Books 2004 are managed by The Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, and generously supported by the Aventis Foundation, a German charitable trust established by Aventis, a world leader in pharmaceuticals.

2003's General Prize was won by Chris McManus for his investigation into the lop-sided universe, Right Hand, Left Hand. Other previous winners include Stephen Hawking, Robert Kunzig and Stephen Jay Gould.

Notes to Editors

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, and lived for many years with his English wife and four children in North Yorkshire. He and his family then moved to America for a few years but have now returned to the UK. He is the bestselling author of The Lost Continent, Mother Tongue, Neither Here Nor There, Made in America, Notes From a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, Notes From a Big Country, Down Under and, most recently, A Short History of Nearly Everything. He is also the author of the bestselling African Diary (a charity book for CARE International).

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