Craig Childs has won the 2013 Orion Book Award for his book, Apocalyptic Planet. Read free samples of all the finalists below…
The prize honors both nonfiction and fiction, producing a unique mix of authors. Here’s more from the judges:
Childs’s perspective is humbling, his position one of awe and respect for the powers of nature that humans have only partially come to understand. And his writing is rich in scientific thinking but also lifted to a level of literary grace, which, coupled with his sheer exuberance, ensures that the reader is never left behind. Concerning humans’ place amid the small and large catastrophes explored in Apocalyptic Planet, Childs is neither alarmist nor complacent, as he considers the human effect on the planet in a context many times greater than our day-to-day lives.
Free Samples of the 2013 Orion Book Award Finalists
Apocalyptic Planet by Craig Childs (Pantheon Books)
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper)
Things That Are by Amy Leach (Milkweed Editions)
The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane (Viking)
The Mountain and the Fathers by Joe Wilkins (Counterpoint)
If you want more free book samples, we made similar literary mixtapes linking to free samples of the most overlooked books of the year, the ALA Youth Media Award winners, the 2012 Man Booker Longlist, the Best Horror Novels of the Year, the LA Times Book Prize nominees, and the Nebula Award nominees.