James Gleick’s The Information is the winner of the 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Published by Fourth Estate, it tells the story of information and how humanity uses, transmits and stores it.
Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS, Chair of the judges, said: "The Information is an ambitious and insightful book that takes us, with verve and fizz, on a journey from African drums to computers, throwing in generous helpings of evidence and examples along the way. It is one of those very rare books that provide a completely new framework for understanding the world around us. It was a privilege to read."
The £10,000 prize was awarded to James Gleick by Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize-winning President of the Royal Society at a ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in London.
The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books is the leading award for popular science writing. Books shortlisted for the award are accessible, interesting and compelling accounts of the world around us or inside us.