Tangata Whenua book wins 2015 Science Book Prize

The book Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History has won the 2015 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize, announced at the Auckland Writers Festival this weekend.

Source: Bridget Williams Books
Source: Bridget Williams Books

The book, written by Atholl Anderson, Aroha Harris and the late Dame Judith Binney, tells the stories of the Māori people from their origins and their journey to Aotearoa to the 21st Century. It brings together archaeology, genetics, palaeoecology and climate science as well as history, traditional narratives and oral sources.

The other books shortlisted for the 2015 Science Book Prize were The Wandering Mind by Michael Corballis, Gathering Evidence by Caoilinn Hughes, Dolphins of Aotearoa: Living with New Zealand Dolphins by Raewyn Peart, and Manuka: the Biography of an Extraordinary Honey by Cliff Van Eaton.

Read more on the Royal Society of New Zealand website

The prizegiving has been covered in national media. Examples include:

Radio New Zealand: ‘A dazzling work of scholarship’
Yahoo News NZ: Tangata Whenua wins Royal Society of NZ Science Book Prize
New Zealand Herald: Auckland Writers Festival: Brits Walliams and Mitchell charm crowd