The judges said: “THE INFORMATION  is an audacious book and offers remarkable insight. Gleick takes us, with verve and fizz, on a journey from African drums to computers, liberally sprinkling delightful factoids along the way. This is a book we need to give us a fresh perspective on how we communicate and how that shapes our world.”

To find out more, visit http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/shortlist/

The annual book prize celebrates the best in popular science writing.

The winner is selected by a judging panel which is appointed annually. They release a longlist of about 12 books and a shortlist of 6 books before the winner is announced in November.

The ‘Science Books Prize’ was originally established in 1988 with the aim of encouraging the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books.