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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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A Rainbow Palate How Chemical Dyes Changed the West's Relationship with Food
Carolyn Cobbold (Darwin 2011)

Aniline and ado dyes were the first of many novel substances that chemists began to synthesise on an industrial scale, and by the 1900s, a wave of bright coal tar dyes had begun to transform the Western world. Originally intended for textiles, the new dyes soon permeated daily life in unexpected ways, and by the time risks and uncertainties began to surface, they were being used in everything including food.  A Rainbow Palate examines how chemists in Europe and the US manoeuvered themselves to become instrumental players in new regimes of food production, regulation and quality testing.

Monologues from the Makom: Intertwined Narratives of Sexuality, Gender, Body Image, and Jewish Identity
Rivka Cohen, Naima Hirsch, Sara Rozner Lawrence, Sarah J. Ricklan (Jesus 2017), and Rebecca Zimilover, editors

The book is an anthology featuring 32 first-person narratives, exploring a wide range of themes relating to Jewish feminism. Through this book, we aim to amplify observant Jewish women’s voices in a way that they haven't been amplified before, subverting the community’s taboo against open discussion of female sexuality and related topics. Themes relating to the #MeToo movement and sexual assault emerge prominently throughout the book.

The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy is the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.
Arik Kershenbaum

We are unprepared for the greatest discovery of modern science. Scientists are confident that there is alien life across the universe yet we have not moved beyond our perception of 'aliens' as Hollywood stereotypes. The time has come to abandon our fixation on alien monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.

BEYOND: The Frozen Future
Ema Cory

Beyond is an immersive, uniquely dynamic and fast paced novel launched in 2020. The story takes the readers on a journey to 2279, where 30% of the population elect for Body Freezing yet there is no solution for waking anyone up. Populist pressure to wake up a previous US president to solve global turmoil is met with political and monetary resistance to keep those frozen in a world of limited resource. It’s up to the female leaders at Life Beyond - a London-based company – to tackle these issues in the face of scientific complications, strained egos, and personal struggles.

The Adventures of Ellie & Boo
Millie Kerr (Fitzwilliam 2015)

In this middle grade novel, Ellie Caldwell — a Cambridge graduate student and wildlife conservationist—adopts a kitten named Boo. Between lectures, Ellie heads to the countryside for camping trips, her Instagram-anointed 'adventure cat' in tow. On rocky trails, Boo discovers that, like Ellie, she has a passion for the natural world, and because she's able to communicate with all animals, she can relate their challenges back to Ellie.

Business and Community in Medieval England. The Cambridge Hundred Rolls Source Volume
Catherine Casson, Mark Casson, John Lee (Corpus 1997) and Katie Phillips

One of the most important manuscripts surviving from thirteenth-century England, the corpus of documents known as the Hundred Rolls for Cambridge have been incomplete until the recent discovery of an additional roll.

This invaluable volume replaces the previous inaccurate transcription by the Record Commission of 1818 and provides new translations and additional appendices.

Shedding new light on important facets of business activity in thirteenth-century Cambridge, this volume makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of the early phases of capitalism.

Compassionate Capitalism. Business and Community in Medieval England
Catherine Casson, Mark Casson, John Lee (Corpus 1997) and Katie Phillips

It may seem like a recent trend, but businesses have been practising compassionate capitalism for nearly a thousand years.

Based on the newly discovered historical documents on Cambridge’s sophisticated urban property market during the Commercial Revolution in the thirteenth century, this book explores how successful entrepreneurs employed the wealth they had accumulated to the benefit of the community.

Fukushin and Kampo: Abdominaal Diagnosis in Traditional Japanese and Chinese Medicine
Nigel Dawes (Fitzwilliam 1978)

From an internationally known expert in the teaching and practice of Fukushin, this is a unique book defining the therapeutic and diagnostic significance of the abdomen in East Asian medicine. Nigel Dawes provides a comprehensive description of the history, development and practical application of abdominal palpation in clinical settings, as well as offering hands-on descriptions of the precise methodology of the abdominal exam with supporting visual aids.

FightBack Now: Leveraging Your Assets to Shape the New Normal
Felix Staeritz and Sven Jungmann

This second book in the FightBack collection responds to the question: what could the 'new normal' look like? Felix Staeritz and Sven Jungmann believe that business leaders and organizations have have formidable tools at their disposal - not just to cope with this situation, but to recreate the world so they come out of this stronger and more inventive. As entrepreneurs, Staeritz and Jungmann are passionate about solving challenges through continuous experimentation, in search of the solutions that will define and shape the new normal.

The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery
Sebastian Falk (Homerton 2011)

An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk.

The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky.

Somewhere Near to History: The Wartime Diaries of Reginald Hibbert, SOE Officer in Albania 1943-1944
Edited by Jane Nicolov (nee Hibbert, Newnham 1968)

In July 1943, a twenty-one-year-old British officer, Reg Hibbert, answered a call inviting volunteers for mysterious ‘parachute duties’. The call was part of a recruitment drive by Special Operations Executive, SOE, to attract likely young officers for clandestine work in the German-occupied Balkans. By December of that year, he had been parachuted into the centre of British efforts to encourage armed resistance in northern Albania.

Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia
Ben Bland (Magdalene 2001)

From a riverside shack to the presidential palace, Joko Widodo surged to the top of Indonesian politics on a wave of hope for change. However, six years into his presidency, the former furniture maker is struggling to deliver the reforms that Indonesia desperately needs. Despite promising to build Indonesia into an Asian powerhouse, Jokowi, as he is known, has faltered in the face of crises, from COVID-19 to an Islamist mass movement.

The Water and the Wine
Tamar Nicholls (Homerton 1982)

The novel is set in the sixties on the island of Hydra where there was an artistic community. The author lived there as a child as her parent were involved. The main focus, however, is on Leonard Cohen: his writing, his music and his relationship with his lover and muse Marianne. There is passion,creativity, infidelity and conflict. The San Francisco  Review of Books called this novel 'a very fine tresure' and the film-maker Nick Brooomfield called it 'beautifully written. Highly recommended.'

The Rules
Tracy Darnton (née Hobbs, Jesus 1986)

Amber’s an expert when it comes to staying hidden – she’s been trained her whole life for it. But what happens when the person you’re hiding from taught you everything you know?

When a letter from her dad arrives, Amber knows she’s got to move – and fast. He’s managed to find her and she knows he’ll stop at nothing to draw her back into his extreme prepper way of life. Now the Rules she’s spent so long trying to escape are the ones keeping her safe. But for how long?

The Age of Ageing Better? A Manifesto For Our Future
Anna Dixon (Trinity Hall 1991)

The Age of Ageing Better? takes a radically different view of what our ageing society means. Dr Anna Dixon turns the misleading and depressing narrative of burden and massive extra cost of people living longer on its head and shows how our society could thrive if we started thinking differently.

Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Postwar Global Role
Adrian Brettle (Pembroke 1991)

My book explores the Confederacy’s expansionist plans during the American Civil War and will break much new ground in placing the Confederacy, and the war in a broader sense, within a transnational context. It aims to describe what happened and what arguments were in play as to the Confederate future.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book
James Raven (Clare 1978)

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book reveals the history of books in all their various forms, from the ancient world to the digital present.

The Lonely Century
Noreena Hertz

Even before a global pandemic introduced us to terms like social distancing, loneliness was well on its way to becoming the defining condition of the twenty-first century.

Combining a decade of research with first-hand reporting, Noreena Hertz takes us from ‘renting a friend’ in New York to Belgian far right festivals replete with face-painting and bouncy castles, from elderly women knitting bonnets for their robot caregivers in Japan to isolated remote workers in London during lockdown.

 The Big Book of Wisdom
Larry Culliford (St Catharine's 1968)

The Big Book of Wisdom describes how to grow through adversity towards maturity, and so make an enduring personal contribution towards a safer, more peaceful, cleaner, happier world. Appealing uniquely to both spiritual and secular-minded people, combining scientific findings with logical and intuitive reasoning, this short book takes engaged readers are taken on a fulfilling journey towards wisdom by looking at: What is it? Why we need it... And how to get it. If short, why 'big'? Because there are ideas here for everyone that cover more or less everything.

Matisse: The Books
Louise Rogers Lalaurie (Queens' 1982)

Generously illustrated with archival images and new photography, Matisse: The Books offers an unprecedented insight into the experience of reading – and looking at – Matisse’s books and brings new clarity to a controversial period in the artist’s life.

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