Toni Pou, finalist in the Catalan Society of Biology's Dissemination Awards with 'Jordi Sabater Pi. L’últim naturalista’ [Jordi Sabater Pi. The Last Naturalist]
Physicist and science journalist Toni Pou was a finalist for the Catalan Society of Biology awards in the popular science category with the book 'Jordi Sabater Pi. L’últim naturalista', published by Barcelona Llibres in collaboration with Edicions UB.
The SCB dissemination award recognises the best work of dissemination in the field of the biological sciences published in 2023. This year’s winner was the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), for the science dissemination project Cura’t en salut [Prevention is Better than Cure]. How scientific is folk wisdom? The other finalist prize went to the Triops Divulgació Association’s project entitled Rara avis.
The Catalan Society of Biology awards comprise a total of seven different categories, covering different stages and aspects of scientific endeavour, from high school students to entrepreneurship and dissemination projects.
“Jordi Sabater Pi. L’últim naturalista”
Toni Pou’s book is the first to reconstruct the history of Jordi Sabater i Pi based on the correspondence he maintained while living in Africa. In a prose as vibrant as the luxuriance of the rainforest, the author retraces the personal and intellectual adventure of one of our country’s most important scientists in a rigorous yet hugely enjoyable way. It is a pioneering work of research that reveals details of the history of the Zoo and the city of Barcelona through the letters sent and received by Sabater during the almost thirty years that he spent in Africa, where he lived from 1940 to 1969, and the way he managed to revolutionise certain aspects of human knowledge.
The fascinating life of Sabater i Pi makes the book read rather like an adventure novel – you can access a taster by clicking on this link.