In this podcast, Physics World‘s editor, Matin Durrani, and reviews editor, Margaret Harris, share their thoughts about the year’s shortlist with host James Dacey. You’ll hear them describe how the shortlist was chosen, and then discuss four of the books on it in more detail before they announce the winner.

The books on the shortlist cover a wide range of topics, from acoustic physics and astronomy to quantum theory and volcanology, and they all meet the criteria of being well written, scientifically interesting and novel. We hope you enjoy hearing about these books as much as the panel enjoyed reading and talking about them, and congratulations again to all the shortlisted authors.

2014 Books of the Year shortlist (alphabetical by author)

Wizards, Aliens & Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction Charles Adler

Serving the Reich: the Struggle for the Soul of Physics Under Hitler Philip Ball

Five Billion Years of Solitude: the Search for Life Among the Stars Lee Billings

Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters Kate Brown

Smashing Physics: Inside the World’s Biggest Experiment Jon Butterworth

Sonic Wonderland: a Scientific Odyssey of Sound Trevor Cox

The Perfect Theory: a Century of Geniuses and the Battle Over General Relativity Pedro G Ferreira

Stuff Matters: the Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World Mark Miodownik

Einstein and the Quantum: the Quest of the Valiant Swabian A Douglas Stone

Island on Fire: the Extraordinary Story of Laki, the Volcano that Turned Eighteenth-century Europe Dark Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe