Five awards were presented in the second edition of the contests for the best scientific book for the general reader, organised jointly by the Jagiellonian University and Euclid Science Communication Foundation.
The titles of the awarded books and their authors were announced during a gala which took place on 20 April 2017 in Collegium Novum. The gala was attended by the authors, publishers, jury, and Jagiellonian University authorities.
Winners of the Smart Book of the Year 2016 award:
- Smart Book of the Year 2016: Upright thinkers. The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos by Leonard Mlodinow
- Smart Book of the Year 2016 – Children’s Edition: Professor Astro Cat’s Atomic Adventure by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
- JU Academic Community Award: Mapy. Obrazkowa podróż po lądach, morzach i kulturach świata [Maps. An illustrated journey through the world’s lands, seas and cultures] by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizieliński
- Smart Book Website Editor’s Award: The Autistic Brain. Helping Different Kinds of Minds Succeed by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek
- Public Choice Award: Naukowcy spod czerwonej gwiazdy [Soviet star scientists] by Andrzej and Marta Goworski
‘The world is made of questions. As children, we’re constantly asking questions and getting answers. If we have good teachers, we don’t allow ourselves to believe that we know everything and we never lose our curiosity. The more answers we have, the more questions we ask’, said Prof. Stanisław Kistryn, JU Vice-Rector for Research and Structural Funds when presenting the JU Academic Community Award to Richard Panek.
Aleksandra Stanisławska, co-author of a science communication blog Crazy nauka and one of the jurors, expressed very much the same opinion when handing over the main award in the Children’s category. ‘We’re often envious of children’s curiosity. We should nurture it, never let it go away. The mission of Smart Books for children is to shape a critical, scientific viewpoint’.
The gala was followed by a Q&A meeting, during which the participants discussed the intricacies of science communication. When asked about his opinion on science communication competitions such as Smart Book of the Year, Richard Panek said that when he is writing a book, he hopes to inspire the readers to see the world from a different perspective. Competitions and awards, he argued, could play the same role, engaging more and more people in science and encouraging an attitude of respecting science and facts.
The winner of the main award, Leonard Mlodinow, was unfortunately unable to attend the gala. However, in a short video he said: ‘I wrote the Upright thinkers with the goal of helping people understand the soul of science and appreciate scientific thinking, and I’m thrilled that by this award you’re acknowledging that I’ve reached you. Writing a book is an extremely work-intensive effort. You put out your heart and your soul with no guarantee that you’ll touch anyone, or that anyone will even read your book. It’s a leap of faith that you might connect and affect people or change their thinking in any way. And so to receive the award is a great validation. It means that putting my energy into this project has been worthwhile’.
‘Physics is a daunting subject for many people, but it was our belief that it doesn’t have to be, so we tried really hard to make it as fun and engaging as possible, but also cover as much as much absolutely proper physics as possible. For me, physics has been an incredibly rewarding subject to learn over the years, and so we wanted to open that up to children, try to capture their imagination and tell them some really mind blowing science’, said Dominic Walliman in his acceptance speech video.
