The shortlist for the *third annual Lane Anderson Award for Canadian-authored science writing was announced today. The contenders for two $10,000 prizes, which recognize both adult and young reader trade titles, run the gamut of scientific inquiry, touching on everything from Earth-bound life to the most distant solar systems.

The nominees are:

Adult trade

• Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana (HarperCollins Canada)
• Cascadia’s Fault: The Deadly Earthquake That Will Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson (HarperCollins Canada)
• The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History by Harry Thurston (Greystone Books)

Young reader trade

• What Does the Earth Sound Like? 159 Astounding Science Quizzes by Eva Everything (ECW Press)
• Totally Human: Why We Look and Act the Way We Do by Cynthia Pratt Nicolson (Kids Can Press)
• Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest by Caitlyn Vernon (Orca Book Publishers)

The Lane Anderson Award is funded by the Fitzhenry Family Foundation. Winners of the prize will be announced Sept. 27. Last year’s winners were The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma by John and Mary Theberge (McClelland & Stewart) and Evolution by Daniel Dixon (Kids Can Press).

Correction Aug. 22: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified 2012 as the second year of the Lane Anderson Award.