Book shelf

Book shelf

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

To have your book considered for inclusion, please submit your publication's details

Please note: to have your book considered for inclusion, its publication date must be either upcoming or it must have been published during the last 12 months. Unfortunately, we cannot include any details of books published prior to this time.

CAMCard discounts

Get up to 20% off when you use your CAMCard in selected book shops!

What's Left Of Me Is Yours

What's Left Of Me Is Yours

Stephanie Scott (Pembroke 2005)

A gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.

Mindscape and Melody

Mindscape and Melody

Ian Stockton (Selwyn 1969)

This collection of poetry written over a thirty year period reflects the diverse landscapes in which the author has lived and worked. Here are poems set in areas as diverse as industrial North Staffordshire, rural Galloway, Northeast England, Lincolnshire and Lancashire., as well as in places briefly visited. visited briefly. These landscapes and the people associated with them have lingered long in the poet's mind and memory; they are part of his mindscape.

These Are the Hands: Poems from the Heart of the NHS

These Are the Hands: Poems from the Heart of the NHS

Edited by Katie Amiel (Clare 1997) and Deborah Alma

There has been a dramatic growth in the popularity and sales figures for both poetry and medical memoirs and this anthology is unique in combining both of these. In addition, it is the first poetry anthology to give a voice to NHS staff at a critically important time for the NHS and its future.

All proceeds from book sales will be going to NHS Charities Together which supports over 140 official NHS charities all over the UK e.g. Great Ormond St, Royal Marsden etc.

Seven Climbs: finding the finest climb on each continent

Seven Climbs: finding the finest climb on each continent

Charles Sherwood (Sidney Sussex 1978)

'Even the most casual reader among you will by now have worked out that the whole thing is little more than a delightful ruse for having a very good time.'

Experienced climber Charles Sherwood is on a quest to find the best climb on each continent. He eschews the traditional Seven Summits, where height alone is the determining factor, and instead considers mountaineering challenge, natural beauty and historical context, aiming to capture the diverse character of each continent and the sheer variety of climbing in all its forms.

Well-kept Secrets: The Story of William Wordsworth

Well-kept Secrets: The Story of William Wordsworth

Andrew Wordsworth (Jesus 1974)

This insightful biography closely studies the great Romantic poet's work to understand more fully his deeply private and often elusive personality, and it observes the artist's life to better grasp the meaning hidden behind the often deceptively immediate verses.

The Trail

The Trail

James Ellson (Christ's 1990)

Manchester. DCI Rick Castle is inspecting his bees when his boss phones. A minor cannabis dealer has been reported missing. His father’s a war hero. Rick flies to Nepal, and heads up the trail. Through villages of staring children and fluttering prayer-flags. Brilliant blue skies, and snow-capped mountains. He finds a dead body. Then a second. Nothing in this world was ever straightforward. Nothing. Finally, he puts himself in the firing line, and has a decision to make. Is it the right one? The moral one?

‘An intelligent and pacy thriller’ (Paula Hawkins)

Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food

Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food

Gina Rae La Cerva (Churchill 2010)

In Feasting Wild, an awardwinning writer and environmental anthropologist searches for the last wild foods. The book is part environmental history—tracing the relationship between "wild food" and environmental conservation—and part narrative non-fiction as La Cerva forages for wild onions in a Danish cemetery, tracks the trade in illegal bush meat from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Europe, sips elusive bird’s nest soup in Borneo, and smuggles Swedish "heartbreak" moose meat home in her suitcase.

Frank Ramsey, A Sheer Excess of Powers

Frank Ramsey, A Sheer Excess of Powers

Cheryl Misak

Frank Ramsey was 26 when he died.  If we include his undergraduate years, he was an academic for just 10 years and yet, despite this, he made indelible marks on up to seven disciplines, depending on how you count: philosophy, economics, pure mathematics, mathematical logic, the foundations of mathematics, probability theory, and decision theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein treated as an equal. Had he lived, he might have become recognised as the most brilliant thinker of the twentieth century.

The Shadow People

The Shadow People

Phillip Brown (St John's 1979)

This book is the third in a loose fiction trilogy dealing with contemporary controversial issues in politics (The Mirror Men), education (The Treadmillers), religion (The Shadow People). The Reverend Sedley, newly appointed incumbent of St Mary's, believes that the Christian Church is in danger of irreversible decline, since it is threatened by a burgeoning secularity, internal and external distrust, and competition from alternative religions seeking to fill the vacuum the Church is leaving behind.

The Doctor's Communication Handbook 8th Edition

The Doctor's Communication Handbook 8th Edition

Dr Peter Tate and Dr Francesca Frame (John's 2000)

This is a revised and updated edition of the Doctor's Communication Handbook, a book on the communication skills involved in a consultation between a doctor and their patient. This book was originally written 25 years ago, but has been brought up to date for the modern world of medicine. It is a written reflection on the fundamental basis of the doctor-patient consultation and the subtle nuances involved, with a view to helping doctors think about why they do what they do.

Still the Best Loved Game?

Still the Best Loved Game?

Neil Cole

"A thoughtful take on the English game before it embarks on a new era with The Hundred... a worthy read for those interested in debating the enduring legacy of the game". The Cricketer Magazine, August 2019.

Makes "the broader point that cricket's landscape changes like the weather." Wisden, November 2019.

Agent Starling: Operation Baked Beans

Agent Starling: Operation Baked Beans

Jennifer Moore (née Parton) Selwyn 1994

Baked Beans might seem harmless enough but, in the wrong hands and the wrong millennium, they can do a surprising amount of damage.

11-year-old Oliver Starling thinks Romans are ancient history... until he teams up with Agent Owl to stop evil mastermind, Dr Midnight, from conquering Roman Britain with baked beans and nappy pins. Armed with only a photo booth time machine and a pocket history guide, can Oliver and Owl keep Dr Midnight from changing the course of history forever?

Where to Place the Grace Note? Conversations on Classical Piano Music with Yu Chun Yee

Where to Place the Grace Note? Conversations on Classical Piano Music with Yu Chun Yee

Lin Li (Queens' 2012)

Where to Place the Grace Note? offers a glimpse into the world of classical piano music through a series of conversations between Lin Li, an amateur pianist and English Literature scholar, and her piano teacher Yu Chun Yee, who was Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music for thirty years. Starting from the seemingly straightforward question in the book's title, their conversations meander through a series of general issues pertaining to phrasing, musical interpretation, teaching, technique, injury and performance anxiety.

Grease Is the Word': Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon

Grease Is the Word': Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon

Alexander Ross (Girton 1981) et al. edited by Oliver Gruner & Peter Krämer

Bringing together a group of international scholars, ‘Grease Is the Word’ offers fresh insight into the impact and legacy of the cultural phenomenon that is ‘Grease’.

The Surface Temperature of the Earth

The Surface Temperature of the Earth

Trevor Underwood (Clare 1962)

This monograph comprises six papers on climate science written by Trevor Underwood, who studied theoretical physics at Cambridge University in the 1960s and returned to scientific research in 2008. This research originated from a chance encounter in a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale in December 2015 with a consulting engineer who had been involved in the 1973 construction of a sewage outfall through the coral reef off Hillsboro Inlet in Broward County, Florida.  The author was kindly provided with a typewritten copy of a survey of the reef that was conducted before the trench was refilled.

A Left for Itself

A Left for Itself

David Swift (Girton 2006)

In the first full length analysis of the rise of left-wing hobbyists, performative radicals and the 'Identity Left', A Left for Itself interrogates the connection between socio-economic realities and politico-cultural views and boldly asks what is a worthy politics, one for the follower count or one for effecting change.

Sacred Music by Women Composers Volume 1: SATB Anthems

Sacred Music by Women Composers Volume 1: SATB Anthems

Louise Stewart; Co-editor: Olivia Sparkhall (Homerton 1998)

The first of its kind, Sacred Music by Women Composers contains 22 anthems for mixed-voice choirs, accompanied and unaccompanied, in a beautifully presented anthology. The collection includes both biographical information and commentaries, showcasing the very best established and new names in choral composition. Launched at Selwyn College on 17 November 2019, this book contains exciting repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day, providing choirs with a much-needed resource for performing superb compositions by women.

Days of My China Dragon

Days of My China Dragon

Chandrahas Choudhury (Trinity 2000)

The Bombay restaurateur Jigar Pala has three, great, overlapping passions: food, people and banter. And he shakes and stirs them to great effect in his hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant, The China Dragon, set up with great ambitions on the foundation of a place previously set up by his father. Join Jigar as he shows you the arts of fried rice ("Self-fried rice is the right and duty of every human being") and Dragon Chicken, and portrays and narrates the stories of customers, waiters, chefs, ghosts and dragons (not to mention himself).

Drinkology. The Science of What We Drink and What It Does to Us, from Milks to Martinis

Drinkology. The Science of What We Drink and What It Does to Us, from Milks to Martinis

Alexis Willett (Darwin 2001)

Do you really know what you are drinking? Are you sure?

We consume many drinks every day and they all have an impact of some kind on our body. Maybe we're just thirsty, maybe we need something to wake us up, maybe we want something to relax us at the end of the day. But have you ever stopped to wonder what exactly is in your chai latte or just what those added electrolytes in your bottled water are supposed to do?

Love is the Drug: The Chemical Future of Our Relationships

Love is the Drug: The Chemical Future of Our Relationships

Brian Earp (Trinity 2013) and Julian Savulescu

What if there were a pill for love? Or an anti-love drug, designed to help us break up?

This controversial and timely new book argues that recent medical advances have brought chemical control of our romantic lives well within our grasp. Substances affecting love and relationships, whether prescribed by doctors or even illicitly administered, are not some far-off speculation - indeed our most intimate connections are already being influenced by pills we take for other purposes, such as antidepressants.

Pages

Want to see your book here?

Submit your book's details for consideration using our webform.

Submit your book