Carl Zimmer, who spoke at CSICon 2018 and subsequently published a well-received article “Seven Big Misconceptions about Heredity” in the May/June 2019 Skeptical Inquirer, has won the 2019 Science in Society Journalism Award in the book category from the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).  The award is for his book She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potentials of Heredity, published by Dutton. Winners receive a $2,000 cash award.

The NASW judges called Zimmer’s book “a deep and many-layered dive into the science of heredity and a well-woven history of our understanding of the term.” The judges called it “a very humane book” that is “astonishing in its comprehensiveness.”