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Explore a selection of publications by alumni and academics, and books with a link to the University or Cambridge

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Immortalised to Death

Lyn Squire (Emmanuel 1968)

Debut author Lyn Squire kicks off his electrifying Dunston Burnett Trilogy with legendary Victorian novelist Charles Dickens dead at his desk, pen still in hand. The mystery unravels as Dickens’ nephew and unlikely detective Dunston Burnett, tries to find the solution of his uncles’ unfinished novel. Convinced that the identity of Dickens’ murderer lies in the book's missing conclusion, Dunston becomes obsessed with investigating those closest to Dickens.

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Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands

Nigel Fenner (Downing 1981)

“Fenner’s” is well known in Cambridge, even amongst those who know little about cricket, but being named after the University Cricket Ground is currently Frank Fenner’s only legacy. His hands had quite a reputation though, being described a few years before he died as 'worthy of preservation in a glass case in the pavilion at Lord’s, like Galileo’s at Florence, as trophies of his suffering and glory. Broken, distorted, mutilated, half-nailless, they resemble the hoof of a rhinoceros, almost as much as a human hand'. So how did a local tobacconist warrant such a comparison with Galileo?

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White Privilege In Transition

Choo Lak Yeow (Fitzwilliam 1961)

A former British subject from Singapore writes on his experiences of and exposure to white privilege. The white privilege phenomenon arguably began when European countries started to colonize Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. White privilege is built on the twin towers of European colonizers exploiting their colonies’ human resources and stealing their natural resources to build up their ill-gotten wealth. Structured into their system, white privilege perpetuates white supremacy.

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Cyber Threat Intelligence

Martin Lee (Fitzwilliam 1991)

Forewarned is forearmed. Protecting computer systems against cyber attack requires understanding the motivations of the attackers and how they will go about conducting their attacks. This book describes the intelligence techniques and models used within the nascent Cyber Threat Intelligence profession. Serving as a textbook for those who wish to learn more about the domain, particularly for anyone wishing to develop a career in intelligence, and as a reference for those already working in the area.

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More Lessons from History: Uncovering the colourful characters of the past

Alex Deane (Trinity 1997)

Welcome to another round of history’s most absurd stories and the timeless lessons that come with them. In More Lessons from History, Alex Deane has unearthed yet more bizarre tales that you certainly haven’t heard before. If you’re wondering how large, flightless birds might organise themselves against a military regiment, how you should respond to the glare of an international rugby player whose glass eye you just knocked out, exactly why carrots are orange, or whether the world’s worst-run battleship ever ceased firing upon her comrades-in-arms, then look no further.

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The Cedars of Beckenham

Peter Longley (St Catharine's 1963)

The Mystery of an Antique German Doll reunites members of a family torn apart during The Third Reich of Nazi Germany. This family saga, starting in the leafy suburb of Beckenham on the borders of Kent and London, begins in 1930 in the comfortable world of four British upper-middle-class families blind to the impending changes that are about to threaten not only their world but everyone else’s world, too.

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The 21st Century CLIL Resource Pack

Margaret Grieveson (Wolfson 1975) & Wendy Superfine

Designed to introduce new topics to young learners in a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) context using a cross-curricular approach. A bank of 60 motivating lessons with photocopiable activity sheets for the CLIL Classroom (8-12+) supported by teacher's notes and extensive digital resources including photos, songs, dialogues and news articles accessible online via a dedicated webpage. All the activities and resources focus on talking about the topics, with speaking and listening skills as the main function of each lesson.

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The Race Against Time: Adventures in Late-Life Running

Richard Askwith (Trinity 1977)

Part memoir, part guide, part exploration of a little-known sporting culture, The Race Against Time is a reportage-based study of a remarkable modern phenomenon: runners who pursue their sport far into old age. Described by The Observer as "inspirational", it tells a story of cold science and heart-warming resilience; of champions and also-rans; of sprinting centenarians and forty-something super-athletes barely touched by age. Its heroes are experts and enthusiasts – scientists, coaches, runners – from many countries, each with a different story to tell.

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Wavewalker: Breaking Free

Suzanne Heywood (King's 1990)

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her parents and brother on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling. No-one else knew where they were most of the time and no state showed any interest in what was happening to the children. Suzanne fought her parents, longing to return to England and to education and stability.

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The Glass Weaver's Tale and Other Stories

Guy Riddihough (King's 1984)

Science is at the core of most good science fiction. So it is with the seven stories in The Glass Weaver’s Tale And Other Stories. In 'The Patter of Tiny Feet', the consequences of the effects of continued human population growth are explored, to their ultimate limit. 'Needle and Groove' considers the power to change the past and whether and how such a genie could ever be put back into its bottle. A society trapped within the confines of a tiny microcosm is explored through the relationship of two brothers in 'The Boy Who Built A Rocket Ship'.

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An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!

Florence Hazrat (Lucy Cavendish 2008)

Love it or hate it, the exclamation mark has been with us from Beowulf to the spam email - an enthusiastic history for language lovers! Few punctuation marks elicit quite as much love or hate as the exclamation mark. It's bubbly and exuberant, an emotional amplifier whose flamboyantly dramatic gesture lets the reader know: here be feelings! Scott Fitzgerald famously stated exclamation marks are like laughing at your own joke; Terry Pratchett had a character say that multiple !!! are a 'sure sign of a diseased mind'. So what's the deal with ! ?

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Breaking the Cycle of Women’s Paid Domestic Work in Brazil: A Study of Mothers and Daughters

Anna Maria Del Fiorentino (Murray Edwards 2019)

Widening access to higher education has been a political issue in Brazil for a long time, but only in the early 2000s was the education system changed radically. Affirmative action policies were combined with the expansion of the network of federal universities and new funding programmes for higher education. This created a generation of people who are the first within their families to go to university.

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Deathday

Colin Philpott (Trinity 1976)

'Deathday' is a piece of speculative fiction set in 2045 England, a country where euthanasia is not just legal but compulsory. Severe economic depression in the wake of the Pandemic and Brexit, a collapse in the care system and inter-generational conflict had changed attitudes to death and old age. Ten years earlier, a right-wing Government, supported by the shadowy League of Youth, had won a majority in Parliament for the mandatory termination of life at the age of ninety.

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A Child of Two Nations

Ian Stockton (Selwyn 1969)

This evocative memoir recaptures with almost photographic recall the now-distant world of a 1950s childhood. Set largely in industrial North Staffordshire, it tells of a boy's first eleven years of life. Born to an Ayrshire mother and an English Gordon Highlander, he knows that he belongs to both nations. It is a captivating study of memory, identity, and belonging. The author's wonderfully detailed recollections of childhood are confirmed and supplemented by documentary evidence.

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Quantum Electrodynamics - annotated sources (Vols. I & II)

Trevor G. Underwood (Clare 1962)

This is not a sourcebook in the conventional sense. It is a working document that brings together annotated extracts from 107 primary sources, or translations of them, of the development of quantum electrodynamics, so that it is easier for a researcher to deal with the large volume of material. Links to internet copies of the primary documents or alternative sources are provided where available to enable these to be consulted. A summary is provided at the head of each paper and in the Contents.

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Argentum: The Adventures of a Silver Piece at Great Moments in History

James Leslie-Melville (Trinity 1979)

3000 BCE, east Mediterranean. A slave digs a silver nugget out of the ground at an Anatolian mine, launching it on a journey through the ages to the present day. Criss-crossing the globe, travelling into space and plunging to the seabed, it features in the stories of numerous well-known historical figures, including Alexander the Great, Judas Iscariot, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Ferdinand Magellan and Adolf Hitler, to name just a few.

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The Spiral Gospel: Intratextuality in Luke's Narrative

Rob James (Corpus Christi 2002)

How did the author of the Gospel of Luke intend it to be read? In The Spiral Gospel, Rob James shows that the assumptions many modern readers bring to the text – that it claims to be historically factual, or merely regurgitates existing stories – are not those of antiquity. Building on the central insight that it was written for a community who would have used it as their pre-eminent text, James argues convincingly for a continuous, cyclical reading of Luke’s narrative.

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Unearthing the Underworld – A Natural History of Rocks

Ken McNamara (Emeritus Fellow, Downing College)

People have had a long and often fraught relationship with rocks. They have been used and abused – blown up, dug up and turned into homes and places of worship for thousands of years. Yet these days most people simply ignore them, that is unless they make a home in your shoe. Unearthing the Underworld is a history of the Earth as told through rocks – keepers of secrets of past environments, of changing climates and the pulse of life over billions of years.

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Forbidden Wife The Life and Trials of Lady Augusta Murray

Julia Abel Smith (Selwyn 1978)

On the night of 4 April 1793, two lovers were planning a secret ceremony in Rome. The wedding of the son of King George III to the daughter of the Earl of Dunmore would not only be concealed, it would also be illegal. Lady Augusta Murray had known Prince Augustus Frederick, later the Duke of Sussex, for only three months but they had fallen deeply in love and were desperate to be married. However, the Royal Marriage Act forbade such a union without the King's permission and Augusta's life was changed forever.

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The Salt Is The Schedule

Alea D. Reeves (Hughes Hall 2018)

Did you know that salt was used as a currency to pay Roman soldiers, the Don Juan Pond is so salty that it does not freeze, and the word 'salt' is derived from “salarium” meaning salary? Where would the world be without salt? Too little salt or too much will cause imbalance. Salt is all around and used in many different ways. Salt plays a crucial role in many things such as the body, food, and on roads. Just as salt is crucial and necessary so is a schedule.

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