These excellent titles were shortlisted for the Royal Society of Biology Book Awards, celebrating outstanding biology books for the general reader, as well as exceptional undergraduate and postgraduate textbooks.

The Society would like to congratulate the authors, editors and publishers of the award winning General Book Prize, Undergraduate Textbook Prize and Postgraduate Textbook Prize.

General Biology Book Prize

Winner

It's All In Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness

Suzanne O'Sullivan

Chatto & Windus

The judges said: A sympathetic but scientific analysis by a consultant neurologist of medical conditions for which no physical cause can be found, extensively illustrated through the use of anonymised patient histories.

Body by Darwin: How Evolution Shapes our Health and Transforms Medicine

Jeremy Taylor

University of Chicago Press

The judges said: A fascinating journey through the surprising insight that evolutionary biology can shine on some very modern medical mysteries.

Death on Earth: Adventures in Evolution and Mortality

Jules Howard

Bloomsbury Sigma

The judges said: Howard takes us on a personal journey which explores the science of death and our fears which surround it.

Life's Greatest Secret

Matthew Cobb

Profile Books

The judges said: A page-turning account of the race to discover the structure of DNA and decipher the genetic code, arguably the greatest achievement in biology in the 20th century.

Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells

Helen Scales

Bloomsbury Sigma

The judges said: A walk along the beach will never be the same again – this book reveals that every seashell has a compelling story.

The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life

Jack Challoner and Dr Philip Dash

Ivy Press

The judges said: This beautifully-illustrated book gives an insight the building blocks of life, which will capture the imagination of biologists and non-biologists alike.

Undergraduate Textbook Prize

Winner

Haematology (2nd edition)

Gary Moore, Gavin Knight and Andrew Blann

Oxford University Press

The judges said: An excellent fundamental textbook. Written in a modern style it is well designed with plenty of useful case studies and practical experiments.

An Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics (2nd edition)

Lindell Bromham

Oxford University Press

The judges said: This is an accessible well laid out textbook covering difficult subject matter. Its excellent synthesis nicely combines evolutionary biology with modern genetics.

Anatomy and Physiology: An Integrative Approach

Michael McKinley, Valerie O'Loughlin, Theresa Bidle

McGraw-Hill Education

The judges said: A smart book in every sense of the word with fantastic pedagogic illustrations and multiple online resources. Core content is of a high level and material is well integrated for students studying a range of bioscience subjects.

Postgraduate Textbook Prize

Winner

Quantitative Viral Ecology: Dynamics of Viruses and Their Microbial Hosts

Joshua S Weitz

Princeton University Press

The judges said: Beneath its unassuming plain green cover is a novel, readable and extensive scholarly work on viruses and their interactions. A superb introduction to new field of research.

Organism and Environment: Ecological Development, Niche Construction, and Adaptation

Sonia E Sultan

Oxford University Press

The judges said: Focusing on how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, this is possibly one of the most exciting biology textbooks published recently.

Synthetic Biology - A Primer

Paul S Freemont, Richard I Kitney, Geoff Baldwin, Travis Bayer, Robert Dickinson, Tom Ellis, Karen Polizzi, Guy-Bart Stan

Imperial College Press

The judges said: Synthetic Biology: A Primer is very readable book, well organised into sections and sub-sections with plenty of supporting literature and current examples. An excellent starter to synthetic biology.

The Origin of Higher Taxa: Palaeobiological, Developmental, and Ecological Perspectives

T S Kemp

Oxford University Press

The judges said: A book with real backbone! For the student who is looking at the big picture of evolutionary biology this is a brilliant start point on what is a modern developing field.