Deborah Cohen‘s Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health (Oneworld), and Steve Ramirez‘s How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past (Robinson) have been shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2026.

The shortlist was unveiled to a live audience on the opening night of the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition on 30th June at an event hosted by New Scientist’s Alison Flood.

All of this year’s authors make the shortlist for the first time. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 29th September at an award ceremony held at the Royal Society in London.

Palaeontologist Mike Benton, chair of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2026 judging panel, said: “A good science book has the power to change your life, and that’s just what these shortlisted books might do. If you read them carefully, you will discover things you didn’t know before and that will make you re-evaluate the way you look at your future and the future of our planet.

“But they also have the power to move you. As judges, they made us happy, made our jaws drop in awe and anger, and even made us cry. Each beautifully written, weaving the wonders of science with rich human stories, at times uplifting, at others heartbreaking, these six books prove that science writing can be just as compelling as any work of fiction.”

The shortlist was selected from 192 submissions published between 1st July 2025 and 30th September 2026. Alongside professor Benton, the 2026 judging panel comprises multi-award-winning speculative fiction author, Irenosen Okojie; stand-up comedian and actor Eshaan Akbar; BBC radio science presenter, Marnie Chesterton; writer and historian, Subhadra Das; and non-fiction range manager at Waterstones, Adeela Badshah.

The full Bookseller article can be read here.