Richard Hammond, the television presenter who came close to death last year after a 300mph accident in a jet-powered dragster, has won one of the world’s most prestigious science writing prizes for a children’s physics book called Can You Feel The Force?

The star of Top Gear and Brainiac, who returned to television in January just four months after he crashed while filming for the motoring series, was named last night as the winner of the junior version of the Royal Society prize for science books.

His book, which uses physics to answer questions such as “Can you lie on a bed of nails?” and “Can you walk on custard?”, was chosen from a shortlist of six by a panel of almost 1,000 children drawn from school and youth groups.

Eleanor Updale, who chaired the shortlisting judges, said: “This instantly appealing book traces the roots of physics to the dawn of civilisation, but concentrates on the way physical forces are at work in all our lives. With clear illustrations, practical experiments and well-paced text it makes an interest in science look like fun – and above all, normal.”

Both the junior and general versions of the science book prize are worth £10,000, making them the richest of their kind. The equal esteem and prize money given to writers whose work is aimed at children reflects the critical importance of science education, the Royal Society said.

Past winners of the junior prize include Lord Winston, the fertility specialist. The general prize, which was formerly known as the Aventis Prize and the Rhône-Poulenc Prize, is regarded as the scientific equivalent of the Booker, and has been won previously by Stephen Hawking, Bill Bryson, Jared Diamond and Steve Jones.

The general prize has been awarded this year to Daniel Gilbert for Stumbling on Happiness, which had been the bookmakers’ 2-1 favourite.

It uses psychology, neuro-science and personal experience to explore the ways in which people try to make themselves happy, showing that this is not always achieved in conventional fashion.

Other shortlisted entries for the general award included the Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, for In Search of Memory, and Professor Chris Stringer, for Homo Britannicus.

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