An Aberdeen scientist who penned a hard-hitting account of an ongoing disaster which has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Bangladesh and West Bengal has been longlisted for a prestigious book prize.
Professor Andy Meharg, from the University of Aberdeen, wrote Venomous Earth which is among 13 books selected from more than a hundred put forward for the General Prize of the Royal Society's 2006 Aventis Prizes for Science Books – the Oscars of popular science books.
The longlist was announced today (March 7) at the London Book Fair by Fiammetta Rocco, Literary Editor at The Economist and one of the judges of the General Prize, which celebrates the very best in popular science writing for adults.
Venomous Earth documents a disaster that has its roots in the 70s when deep water wells were dug to prevent the many deaths that were occurring from people drinking contaminated surface water.
However, the tubewells, that were meant to save lives, brought devastation, as many wells contain water contaminated with very high levels of arsenic which occurs naturally in the rocks below.
Professor Meharg is delighted at the recognition of his book and its subject. He said: “I was pretty surprised when I heard that I had made the longlist. I had not expected it at all and I’m absolutely thrilled.
“I set out to write Venomous Earth to raise awareness to a horrific situation that is still ongoing in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Arsenic is the most notorious poison of all and arsenic poisoning causes skin, bladder and lung cancer, still births and heart attacks.
“It also causes black spots on victim’s torsos which often results in those people being cast out by their community.
“In India and Bangladesh between 40 and 80 million people are still at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that may have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths.
“I hope making the longlist of the General Prize of the 2006 Aventis Prizes of Science Books will contribute to raising awareness to this terrible crisis.”
Fiammetta Rocco, on announcing the longlist, said: “This year’s submissions were of remarkable high quality which made the job of picking out just a dozen books especially difficult.
“In fact, the longlist has 13 books because we didn’t want to lose a single one. The diversity of subjects, the excellence of the writing, the singularity of individual voices; all of these contributed to remind us that writing, and reading, about scientific ideas can be a tremendously exciting experience.”
The short list of books for the General Prize will be announced on April 11 and the winner announced on May 16. Past winners of the General Prize have included Jared Diamond, Bill Bryson and Stephen Hawking.
* The Aventis Prizes celebrate the very best in popular science writing for adults and children. There are two categories: The General Prize and the Junior Prize which is given to the best book written for under 14s.
The General Prize is chosen by a panel of five judges who select approximately six shortlisted books and subsequently a winner.