A press release from The Bodley Head:
The Bodley Head is delighted to have acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in Aftermath: How to Rebuild Civilisation by Lewis Dartnell, on proposal, and will publish in Spring 2014.
Rights were acquired by Stuart Williams from Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit (UK) after an eight-publisher auction.
In Aftermath Lewis Dartnell asks, if civilisation were brought to its knees by a virus, a nuclear winter or an asteroid—taking with it the wealth of our scientific prowess—what knowledge would we walk away with? Taking the end of the world as its starting point, Aftermath provides the reader with a toolkit: the science the survivors would need in order to start rebuilding, with the ultimate aim of recovering technological society.
Stuart Williams said: “This promises to be both a fascinating thought experiment and an engrossing primer on the elegant first principles of science by an accomplished young science writer.”
The book has also been sold on pre-empt to Spectrum in Holland and Hanser in Germany, with offers received in Italy. PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit Associates will handle US rights.
Lewis Dartnell is based at University College London where his research is in the field of astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. He focuses on how microbial life, and signs of its existence, might survive the cosmic radiation in the dry dusty surface of Mars. Lewis writes about science and technology for the Guardian, New Scientist, Cosmos and BBC Focus, and has won several awards for his writing. He is 31.