Shortlist for 2012 Foyles Best Book of Ideas announced

Date posted: 4 May 12

	Six books have been shortlisted for the 2012 Foyles Best Book of Ideas. The prize is awarded to the book published in 2011 which presents new, important and challenging ideas, which is rigorously argued, and which is engaging and accessible.

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The six shortlisted books are:

Zero Degrees of Empathy:A New Theory of Human Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen (Allen Lane)	The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive by Brian Christian (Viking)	Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Made Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier by Edward Glaeser (Pan)
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Allen Lane)	The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes by Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)	Edgelands by Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley (Cape)

Andrew Kelly, festival director, said today:

Once again we have a brilliant shortlist. Some of the world’s leading commentators and writers have produced stunning work that contributes to the world of learning, debate and ideas.

The winner will be announced on 21 May 2012 as part of the seventh annual Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Previous prize winners are:

2009 Nick Davies, Flat Earth News
2010 Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
2011 Dan Hind, The Return of the Public

The judges for the 2012 Prize are:

Dan Hind, winner of the 2011 Best Book of Ideas for The Return of the Public
Andrew Kelly, Director, Bristol Festival of Ideas
Wendy Larner, Professor of Human Geography and Sociology, and Research Director for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol