A University of Wisconsin professor has been honored with a nomination for the competitive National Book Award for his work that collects stories from evolutionary scientists over the past two centuries.

Sean Carroll, a genetics professor at the UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, authored “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species.”

The book was selected as one of five finalists in the nonfiction category from 481 other entries, according to the National Book Foundation’s website.

“It means a great deal to me because this is great recognition from the literary world,” Carroll said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. “Maybe, just maybe, I am getting the hang of telling a good story.”

His book details the explorations of many researchers over two centuries to investigate elements of science and evolution, and the tremendous breakthroughs these individuals made for the scientific community.

“These are stories that will last forever,” Carroll said. “Whole epic adventures that led to these discoveries, such as journeys across deserts, that became milestones in science.”

Written because the scientific voyages were great tales of adventure, daring and discovery, the stories peel back the exterior of the facts and show the passion the individuals had to explore an unknown world and to understand it, according to Carroll.

He added the stories in the book make the scientific enterprise interesting and understandable to any person who is curious from any walk of life, and his hope is the stories will inspire people just as much as they entertain.

The book is very enjoyable, according to Mara McDonald, assistant administrator of the laboratory of genetics and of the evolution initiative. She attends a reading group comprised of individuals who are interested in evolution and read Carroll’s book last summer.

She was not surprised by the nomination of the book for the award because she thought the book was extremely readable, very well written and brought out information about the biologists that is not readily available to the general population.

“The book is meant for general audiences because it puts evolutionary biology in context,” McDonald said. “Sean talks about the various biologists who were important to science, but also involved their personal lives into the stories of what they did for science.”

The book dives into the adventures of biologists such as the famous Charles Darwin and the not as famous Alfred Wallace, and it illustrates how both these scientists explored tropical regions at nearly the same time and published the same theory, according to McDonald.

She added this book will show people the many different areas included in the field of evolutionary biology and will help people understand this field was and still is very exciting.

“People like stories because they are more memorable and they stick,” Carroll said. “This book is about science, but it’s told in the form of stories.”