The judges for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize announced the shortlist today, 22 May. Now in its eleventh year the prize is worth £20,000 to the winner. The Lost City of Z beat out celebrated writers such as Michael Holroyd, Alain de Botton and Andre Brink on a shortlist dominated by science.
The shortlist also includes Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed, Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, Leviathan by Philip Hoare, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, and Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar. Visit the Prize website for detailed information on each of the titles.