Longlist
What The Wild Sea Can Be The Future of the World's Ocean
Helen Scales
Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality
Manjit Kumar
For most people, quantum theory is a byword for mysterious, impenetrable science. And yet for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly-written history of this fundamental scientific revolution, and the divisive debate at its core. Quantum theory looks at the very building blocks of our world, the particles and processes without which it could not exist. Yet for 60 years most physicists believed that quantum theory denied the very existence of reality itself. In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar shows how the golden age of physics ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century.
Manjit Kumar has degrees in physics and philosophy and co-wrote Science and the Retreat from Reason, a critically acclaimed book published in 1995 that introduced key areas of modern science. He has also written and reviewed for a variety of publications including the Guardian, Independent, Times, Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Literary Review. Kumar currently lives in north London.
Longlist
Helen Scales
Shortlist
Rachel Clarke
Winner
John Vaillant
Longlist
Chris van Tulleken