LA Times Book PrizeScience & Technology

Given by Los Angeles Times

Other Names: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
159 Works 0 Books
The Los Angeles Times has awarded a set of book prizes annually since 1980. Eligibility for the prizes requires a book to have its first United States publication between January 1 and December 31 show more of any given year. This American publication must be in English; however, English does not have to be the original language of the work. Authors may be of any nationality. They should be alive at the time of their book’s qualifying U.S. publication although eligibility is also extended to significant new translations of the work of deceased writers. Books by current employees of the Los Angeles Times, by current employees of Tribune Company or any of its other affiliates, by currently serving judges of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, or by immediate family members of these groups are not eligible. show less
Stages:
All, Winner (364), Finalist (1,601)
Categories:
Years:
All, 2023 (5), 2022 (5), 2021 (5), 2020 (1), 2019 (5), 2018 (5), 2017 (5), 2016 (5), 2015 (5), 2014 (5), 2013 (5), 2012 (5), 2011 (5), 2010 (5), 2009 (5), 2008 (5), 2007 (5), 2006 (5), 2005 (5), 2004 (5), 2003 (4), 2002 (5), 2001 (5), 2000 (5), 1999 (5), 1998 (5), 1997 (5), 1996 (7), 1995 (5), 1994 (5), 1993 (4), 1992 (1), 1991 (5), 1990 (1), 1989 (1)
Announced:
April 19: Winner2023 Recent
February 21: Finalist2023 Recent

Winner 35

WorkYear
Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng2023
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler2022
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein2021
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager2020
Figuring by Maria Popova2019
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy2018
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky2017
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich2016
The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf2015
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert2014
Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? by Alan Weisman2013
Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams2012
Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar2011
The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman2010
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo2009
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind2008
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter2007
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel2006
Before The Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana Preston2005
The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change by Charles Wohlforth2004
Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation by Philip J. Hilts2003
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox2002
The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies by Richard Hamblyn2001
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine by James Le Fanu2000
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel1999
Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr1998
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker1997
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan1996
Naturalist by Edward O. Wilson1995
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner1994
Fuzzy Logic: The Revolutionary Computer Technology That Is Changing Our World by Daniel McNeill1993
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. Diamond1992
The Truth About Chernobyl by Grigori Medvedev1991
Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vacine by Jane S. Smith1990
Peacemaking among Primates by Frans B. M. de Waal1989

Finalist 159

WorkYear
Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng2023
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell2023
The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos by Jaime Green2023
A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous by Caspar Henderson2023
A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? by Kelly Weinersmith2023
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler2022
Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald2022
Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Ph.D.2022
Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants by James Vincent2022
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong2022
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein2021
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe2021
Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World by Emma Marris2021
God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O'Gieblyn2021
A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul2021
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager2020
Figuring by Maria Popova2019
Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban2019
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham2019
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez2019
Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini2019
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy2018
Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World by Marcia Bjornerud2018
Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold2018
What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha2018
Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood by George Rose2018
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky2017
Making Sense of Science: Separating Substance from Spin by Cornelia Dean2017
A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna2017
Life 3.0 : being human in the age of artificial intelligence by Max Tegmark2017
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker2017
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich2016
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach2016
Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah2016
Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age by Bruce Watson2016
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong2016
The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf2015
Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots by John Markoff2015
The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by David J. Morris2015
How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro2015
Rust : the longest war by Jonathan Waldman2015
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert2014
Cosmigraphics by Michael Benson2014
Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser2014
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein2014
Dataclysm: Who We Are* *When We Think No One's Looking by Christian Rudder2014
Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? by Alan Weisman2013
Social: why our brains are wired to connect by Matthew D. Lieberman2013
Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell2013
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction by Annalee Newitz2013
Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience by Sally Satel2013
Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams2012
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain2012
Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson2012
The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall2012
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't by Nate Silver2012
Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar2011
A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher by Joel Achenbach2011
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick2011
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl2011
Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker2011
The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman2010
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee2010
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes2010
Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss2010
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot2010
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo2009
The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak2009
Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever2009
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham2009
Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Kaesuk Yoon2009
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind2008
What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life by Avery Gilbert2008
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth R. Miller2008
Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform by Martin J. S. Rudwick2008
Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer2008
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter2007
Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence by James L. Gould2007
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally2007
Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segrè2007
On Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lord Smail2007
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel2006
The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius by Joyce Chaplin2006
The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors by Ann Gibbons2006
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin2006
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth by Edward O. Wilson2006
Before The Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana Preston2005
Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo by Sean B. Carroll2005
Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance by Mariana Gosnell2005
Descent: The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss by Brad Matsen2005
The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney2005
The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change by Charles Wohlforth2004
The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine by Ann B. Parson2004
Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater2004
On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Falcon by Alan Tennant2004
His Brother's Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine by Jonathan Weiner2004
Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation by Philip J. Hilts2003
The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America by David Baron2003
The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession by Chandler Burr2003
Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension by Stephen S. Hall2003
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox2002
Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection by Deborah Blum2002
Of Moths and Men by Judith Hooper2002
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky2002
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story by Richard Preston2002
The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies by Richard Hamblyn2001
In Code: A Mathematical Journey by Sarah Flannery2001
A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future by David Hancocks2001
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks2001
The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry by Bryan Sykes2001
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine by James Le Fanu2000
E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis2000
Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance by Dennis Overbye2000
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley2000
A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud by Karl Sabbagh2000
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel1999
Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich1999
The River by Edward Hooper1999
Lucy's legacy : sex and intelligence in human evolution by Alison Jolly1999
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh1999
Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr1998
The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character by Daniel J. Kevles1998
Mendel's Dwarf by Simon Mawer1998
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V. S. Ramachandran1998
Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight by Pat Shipman1998
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker1997
The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes and Its Implications by David Deutsch1997
Venus Revealed : A New Look Below the Clouds of our Mysterious Twin Planet by David Harry Grinspoon1997
Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague by Richard Rhodes1997
The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays On The Biology Of The Human Predicament by Robert M. Sapolsky1997
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan1996
Fermat's Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem by Amir D. Aczel1996
The Most Beautiful Molecule: The Discovery of the Buckyball by Hugh Aldersey-Williams1996
The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchmann1996
Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order by George Johnson1996
Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century by James Howard Kunstler1996
The Dying of the Trees by Charles E. Little1996
Naturalist by Edward O. Wilson1995
The Alchemy of the Heavens by Ken Croswell1995
Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio1995
An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks1995
The Moral Animal : Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright1995
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner1994
Uncommon Sense: The Heretical Nature of Science by Alan Cromer1994
Signs of Life: The Language and Meanings of DNA by Robert Pollack1994
Why Zebras Dont Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping by Robert M. Sapolsky1994
The End of Evolution by Peter Ward1994
Fuzzy Logic: The Revolutionary Computer Technology That Is Changing Our World by Daniel McNeill1993
AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence by Daniel Crevier1993
Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion by Gary Taubes1993
The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson1993
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. Diamond1992
The Truth About Chernobyl by Grigori Medvedev1991
The Ascent of Mind: Ice Age Climates and the Evolution of Intelligence by William Calvin1991
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel1991
Walking With the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas by Sy Montgomery1991
Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe by Dennis Overbye1991
Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vacine by Jane S. Smith1990
Peacemaking among Primates by Frans B. M. de Waal1989

Descriptions

The Los Angeles Times has awarded a set of book prizes annually since 1980. Eligibility for the prizes requires a book to have its first United States publication between January 1 and December 31 of any given year. This American publication must be in English; however, English does not have to be the original language of the work. Authors may be of any nationality. They should be alive at the time of their book’s qualifying U.S. publication although eligibility is also extended to significant new translations of the work of deceased writers. Books by current employees of the Los Angeles Times, by current employees of Tribune Company or any of its other affiliates, by currently serving judges of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, or by immediate family members of these groups are not eligible. (English, Member-written)
This year’s Los Angeles Times Book Prizes honored outstanding literary achievement in nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult fiction. Each winner receives a $1,000 cash award. (English, Member-written)

Tags

anthropology(829) astronomy(491) audiobook(505) biography(3,396) biology(2,982) brain(577) cancer(773) climate change(435) cognitive science(470) cryptography(762) currently-reading(453) ebook(940) ecology(420) economics(380) environment(569) ethics(368) evolution(2,174) food(478) genetics(1,118) goodreads(618) health(514) history(5,253) history of science(895) introverts(362) Kindle(957) library(380) math(1,410) medical(378) medicine(1,471) memoir(564) music(776) natural history(677) nature(821) neurology(560) neuroscience(999) non-fiction(14,368) own(570) philosophy(1,166) physics(924) politics(591) popular science(864) psychology(3,287) read(1,268) religion(403) science(13,354) sociology(603) technology(380) to-read(15,002) unread(768) wishlist(421)

Top Members

alo1224 (78 works), Den85 (58), mffowler (55), Steve_Walker (54), aimg (51), erohwedd (50), FrankJLucatelli (48), e-zReader (47), LunaSlashSea (47), nfactor13 (47), RLNunezKPL (46), KelMunger (44), theodarling (44), bujeya (43), lafstaff (43), rybie2 (43), benitastrnad (42), bragan (42), buffygurl (42), VisibleGhost (41), piononus (40), sarahb6 (40), Floyd3345 (39), j.a.lesen (39), MDGentleReader (39), qebo (39), ThufirHawat (39), davidd (38), garryjr (38), bridgitshearth (37), Frasp (37), Kaethe (37), cacraig (36), dvnmng (36), lcdlover (36), PeskyLibrary (36), davesmind (35), kirja (34), lycaenidae (34), michaelg16 (34), noiseguy (34), PDCRead (34), RyneAndal (34), zhuazhua88 (34), AsYouKnow_Bob (33), mark.vuletic (33), Robert_Musil (33), settingshadow (33), Victor.Xu (33), GrettelTBR (32), JohnCernes (32), spaetij (32), doncornell (31), geohistnut (31), leah_markum (31), mcountr (31), mwolfs80015 (31), octavianflavius (31), petie1974 (31), Sandydog1 (31), wanack (31), Arseny (30), Bodoni (30), kamintra (30), Leonardo.Galvao (30), Lepophagus (30), lespotiers (30), Rex_Lui (30), shea0017 (30), SoschaF (30), aabdelrahmanm (29), bgbaumgart (29), book_junky (29), cataloga (29), DarrinLett (29), IamAleem (29), LegoDruid (29), WestBranch (29), agmlll (28), bpath (28), cspiwak (28), DanteAshton (28), HadriantheBlind (28), lorax (28), paarth7 (28), PuddinTame (28), richorlin (28), albanyhill (27), bookboy804 (27), GerrysBookshelf (27), hohosmurf (27), katharineborges (27), kylerhea (27), mazecto (27), MichaelAScott (27), tootstorm (27), Adolf_Ledesma (26), BigTony (26), CMUQLResearch (26), erisdunn (26), Exeter (26), Fargo66 (26), KriRand70 (26), Mocate (26), sethwilpan (26), SoutheastMBLibrary (26), alrajul (25), anirudhgarg100 (25), bertilak (25), Canaanlibrary (25), claire.rivers (25), gentlemania (25), GREGandDANICA (25), jdtchicago (25), jonmower (25), Lokayat (25), lquilter (25), MadLudwig (25), Markober (25), NickEdkins (25), profpenguin (25), quavmo (25), Tan_Nguyen (25), TonyDib (25), tyrosine (25), 2manybooksUK (24), alcottacre (24), bellaterrabooks (24), Bookish59 (24), erathostenes (24), GeigerLibrary (24), ktkeith (24), Marissa_Doyle (24), odeb (24), ProfessorEX (24), rivkat (24), rothwell (24), smcternen (24), ugcCyTGLrPCgMkWbiyV (24), waitingtoderail (24), wallcraf (24), wpwhite (24), Berni396 (23), bltjna11 (23), bsuff (23), BubusJackson (23), dchaves (23), funky_george (23), ibinu (23), IslandDave (23), James.W.Beckman (23), jeremyrichardpowell (23), JohnWilliam56 (23), kukulaj (23), martynamos (23), mitchellray (23), nytbestsellers (23), sci901 (23), Vorobyey (23)