On Monday March 31, at 8 p.m., the FNAC Forum in l'Illa Diagonal, Barcelona (Av. Diagonal, 557) will host the presentation of the book "Tot el que cal saber per saber-ho tot" ("All You Need to Know, to Know It All") (Edicions Bromera), winner of the 2007 "Estudi General" European Award for Science Communication. This prize is awarded by the University of Valencia and the City of Alzira. The speakers will be the author; biologist Jesús Purroy, who is project manager at the Scientific Department of the Barcelona Science Park, and the meteorologist Mònica López, who is well-known locally for her participation in several shows on Catalan television. Mònica will talk about the need for science communication. Entrance is free.

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The award-winning book, which has initially been published in Catalan and will later be published in Spanish, offers the reader an “easy-going” –as the author himself describes it– look at the basis of scientific knowledge. The book encourages the reader to consider and reflect on the acquisition of knowledge, the scientific method, relationships between society and scientists, and the responsibilities associated with communicating in the field of science. It also adopts a more personal approach. The author describes everyday situations –related to medicine, food or the environment– in which we encounter claims with varying degrees of reliability, and which we have to assess, evaluate and be able to critically examine if we are to avoid making mistakes when it comes to taking decisions and choosing what is in our best interests.

The author, Jesús Purroy, says that he wrote the book in response “to the (maybe mistaken) idea that many people do not have a clear perception of what science is, its limits and the advantages that it offers compared to other analytical systems in the world that we live in. This misunderstanding is the basis for the lack of trust which scientific progress and its technical applications sometimes generate … My aim was to provide an easily-accessible presentation of the most important characteristics of science for all those who would like to gain a better understanding of this human activity which is so near to all of us and yet so isolated from many of us”.

Jesús Purroy (Barcelona, 1970) gained his PhD in biology from the University of Barcelona. He has carried out research into genetically-based human disease and neuroscience both in industry and at universities in England, the United States and Catalonia, Spain. Since publishing “La era del genoma” (The Age of the Genome) (Salvat, 2001) he has combined his research with science communication. He has worked on the journal “Mètode” and other humanities periodicals and has given lectures to a range of publics.