Sarah Jayne Blakemore Wins Royal Society Book Prize 2018
Sarah Jayne Blakemore has been awarded the 2018 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize for Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, in a ceremony hosted by Professor Brian Cox.
Founded in 1988, the Prize ? described as the ?Booker Prize of Science Writing? by BBC Radio 4 ? celebrates outstanding popular science books from around the world and is open to authors writing for a non-specialist audience.
Inventing Ourselves was chosen from a six-strong shortlist, including Professor Daniel M Davis (The Beautiful Cure), Professor Mark Miodownik (Liquid), Simon Winchester (Exactly), and two fellow Janklow & Nesbit clients Lucy Cooke (The Unexpected Truth About Animals) and Dr Hannah Fry (Hello World). Professor Blakemore received a cheque for ?25,000 at the ceremony and the five shortlisted authors were each awarded ?2,500.
Chair of this year?s panel Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft, Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and author, said about the book:
?Any of the shortlisted titles would have been a worthy winner. However, Inventing Ourselves stood out because it addresses an important but somewhat neglected area that affects every one of us. It?s a completely captivating read on the teenage brain written by a leading expert in the field. Blakemore explains the science behind teenage behaviour in a lucid and engaging way, deconstructs the myths that surround it, offers new insight into how we should treat teenagers, and reflects on how our new knowledge might usefully influence policy decisions. She illustrates all this with engaging anecdotes from her own teenage years, so that the book is both an entertaining memoir and a scientific study of how the adolescent brain develops ? of how we become ourselves. This is truly a book that everyone should read.?
Founded in 1988, the Prize ? described as the ?Booker Prize of Science Writing? by BBC Radio 4 ? celebrates outstanding popular science books from around the world and is open to authors writing for a non-specialist audience.
Inventing Ourselves was chosen from a six-strong shortlist, including Professor Daniel M Davis (The Beautiful Cure), Professor Mark Miodownik (Liquid), Simon Winchester (Exactly), and two fellow Janklow & Nesbit clients Lucy Cooke (The Unexpected Truth About Animals) and Dr Hannah Fry (Hello World). Professor Blakemore received a cheque for ?25,000 at the ceremony and the five shortlisted authors were each awarded ?2,500.
Chair of this year?s panel Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft, Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and author, said about the book:
?Any of the shortlisted titles would have been a worthy winner. However, Inventing Ourselves stood out because it addresses an important but somewhat neglected area that affects every one of us. It?s a completely captivating read on the teenage brain written by a leading expert in the field. Blakemore explains the science behind teenage behaviour in a lucid and engaging way, deconstructs the myths that surround it, offers new insight into how we should treat teenagers, and reflects on how our new knowledge might usefully influence policy decisions. She illustrates all this with engaging anecdotes from her own teenage years, so that the book is both an entertaining memoir and a scientific study of how the adolescent brain develops ? of how we become ourselves. This is truly a book that everyone should read.?