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Awards for best popular science books presented at JU

Awards for best popular science books presented at JU

‘When Life Nearly Died. The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time’ by Michael Benton and ‘Why? The Best Ever Question and Answer Book about Nature, Science and the World around You’ won main awards in the Smart Book 2017 competition, organised by the Jagiellonian University and the Euclid Foundation. The results were announced on April 19 during a gala in Collegium Novum.

The competition is aimed to promote the highest standards of popular science books published in Polish.  The “smart books” reflect researchers’ willingness and to share their knowledge in an attractive and accessible way. The Euclid Statuette is a token of gratitude for their efforts in this field. The event organisers would also like to attract more popular science readers, including parents, for whom such books provide invaluable help in answering most difficult questions asked by their kids.

The Euclid Statuette for the best popular science book for adults was presented to the British paleontologist Michael Benton for his book When Life Nearly Died. The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time, which tells a story of a complicated series of events that resulted in the death of almost all living organisms on the Earth 250 million years ago. The mass extinction in the late Permian has been unparalleled in the history of our planet. The cataclysm was survived by only one tenth of the living species, whereas “only” 50 percent of them perished in the later Cretaceous disaster 65 million years ago, much better known due to the extinction of dinosaurs.

Why? The Best Ever Question and Answer Book about Nature, Science and the World around You by the Canadian writer Catherine Ripley was awarded as the best popular science book for children. Translated into numerous languages, it is an invitation to asking and answering even the weirdest questions. The high factual value goes hand in hand with vivid language which is attractive and easy to grasp for children.

The JU academic community award and the public choice award went to the book Sen Alicji, czyli ja działa mózg (Alice’s Dream. How the Brain Works) edited by the late Prof. Jerzy Vetulani together with Maria Mazurek and Marcin Wierzchowski. The Smart Books website editors’ award was granted to Marcin Rotkiewicz, the author of the book W Królestwie Monszatana. GMO, gluten i szczepionki (In Monsatan’s Realm. GMO, Gluten, and Vaccines).

The award ceremony was followed by a panel discussion on science communication featuring awarded authors, jury members, and publishing houses representatives.

The third annual contest was co-organised by the Jagiellonian University and the Euclid Foundation, which promotes science communication and runs the Smart Books website.

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