American author Bill Bryson won an $18,000 award for "A Short History of Nearly Everything," his first science book.
Bryson, best known for his travel books, won the general prize for the Aventis Prizes for Science Books 2004, which chooses good works in popular science writing.
"This ambitious book will communicate science to the widest possible audience in an intelligent and highly accessible way," said professor Robert Winston, one of six judges who selected the winning title.
Bryson received the prize during a ceremony Monday at the Royal Society in London, Britain's national academy of science, which manages the Aventis Prizes.
They are funded by the Aventis Foundation, a German charitable trust established by Aventis, a world leader in pharmaceuticals.
Bryson, who lives in England, is the author of a wide variety of travel books and memoirs, including "A Walk in the Woods," "Made in America," "Down Under" and "African Diary," a charity book for CARE International.