Book shelf

Book shelf

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

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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.

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Paradox Lost

Dr Victoria Ling (King's 2005)

The Fermi paradox isn’t a paradox. It’s an answer.

Repelled by humanity, not least the state of their post-1940s architecture, the rest of the cosmos decides to keep the little perishers at arm’s length, blackballing Earth from the intergalactic community. Only when a string of bizarre and unexplained deaths occur are two representatives of that reluctant universe forced back to investigate.

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Solving Procrastination: The Science of Why We Put Things Off and How to (Finally!) Stop

Itamar Shatz (Hughes Hall 2018)

Do you often put off things you intend to do, even though you know this is bad for you? Even though you’re guaranteeing yourself issues like failure, frustration, or guilt? Even though you repeatedly promised yourself that you wouldn’t, and that this time it would be different?

It doesn’t have to be like that. Based on hundreds of scientific studies, this definitive practical guide will take you step-by-step through everything you need to know to break free from the procrastination cycle, so you can get things done, without guilt or stress.

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The Lost Cohort: A Block Universe Novel

Ziggy Elster (Selwyn 2010)

A Cambridge student is haunted by visions of his own impending murder. He joins a controversial academic program in an attempt to change the future before it happens.

What begins as a campus-bound mystery widens across borders when events stop arriving in their expected order. Survival means abandoning the safety of foreknowledge and acting before the future closes in.

The Block Universe is a book series designed to be read out-of-order. Each volume reveals another piece of a larger puzzle about time, first contact, and the secrets buried inside fixed events.

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Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust

Dr Jeremy M. Levin (Darwin 1979)

Biotech in the Balance by Dr. Jeremy M. Levin shows why the next lifesaving medicines may not arrive on time, and what we can do about that in a period of political change. This is not a technical book. It is a bedside-to-boardroom story, told from inside the system, with a clear map of what has to change so that medicines keep arriving when people need them. When funding for research and development is politicized, trust in science erodes and the foundations of biotechnology weaken.

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Thinking AI: How Artificial Intelligence Emulates Human Understanding

John MacCormick (Corpus Christi 1990)

Can a computer program think like a human? To answer this question, you first need to understand how modern AI systems work. Then you can apply this knowledge to the philosophical question of whether computer programs can think.

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Political Ideologies and the Anthropocene Crisis

David West (Pembroke 1974)

Through a critical discussion of political ideologies, Political Ideologies and the Anthropocene Crisis seeks to extricate the values of contending traditions, freedom, equality, justice, community, tradition, welfare, family, happiness, sustainability, peace, regeneration of nature etc., from assumptions of inevitable progress.

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Reframing Aging

Melissa Melby (St John's 1992)

How do we age? Why do we age? How and why does menopause happen? Do different cultures have different approaches and attitudes to, and experiences of, aging and menopause?

Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese uses a biocultural framework to try to answer these questions, and gain insights on aging and menopause in Japan, the United States, and beyond.

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The Secrets of our DNA: How Genetics has Changed the World

Turi King (Jesus1993)

In this eye-opening book, Professor Turi King, the scientist who identified the remains of Richard III in a Leicester car park, uncovers how genetics is changing the way we understand the world. Through compelling real-life cases, she shows how DNA has solved crimes, rewritten history, and reshaped ideas of who we are.

From the O. J. Simpson trial to mistaken dinosaur DNA, from Dolly the sheep to Angelina Jolie’s BRCA1 gene, King brings genetics to life with fascinating examples that reveal what DNA can and can’t tell us about who we are.

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Endgame of Empire: Sultan Khan, Asia's First Grandmaster

Atiyab Sultan (St Edmund's 2010) and Ather Sultan

The definitive biography of a South Asian genius who conquered the international chess world on the eve of decolonization.

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The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows and Stars

Cathy Haynes (Clare

‘[G]orgeous and immersive’: Wall Street Journal.

‘A revelatory and utterly wonderful book': David Rooney, author of About Time.

‘Fascinating and enchanting!': Tristran Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree.

 ‘Full of beauty’: Katherine May, author of Wintering.

A journey into the forgotten art of marking time through signs in the world around us, from the slow sliding of sunbeams to the wheeling of the stars.

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Darwin's Invisible Friend From Barbados: Benjamin Bynoe, Surgeon-Naturalist, HMS Beagle

Liz Laidler (Trinity 1979)

The surgeon-naturalist of HMS Beagle, Benjamin Bynoe, R.N., FRCS, has remained invisible despite his role in helping his friend, Charles Darwin, to pin down the first solid evidence for the theory of evolution, and despite outstanding work as a naturalist in Australia. From lowly white creole roots in Barbados, through the trailblazing years of exploration on the Beagle, to subsequent assignments, his doctoring skills were valued by all under his care: his shipmates, his captain, convicts bound for Australia, Irish peasants during the Great Famine, and Darwin himself.

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The Book Chain

Rachael Wong (St Catharine's 1987)

 A story of friendship, loss, love and rediscovery.

Arriving in Ljubljana at the head of an invasion force in 1941, Alberto Amantelli finds its citizens passing books by hand through the streets to fill their new National Library. He makes a brave and unexpected decision which changes his own life irrevocably - and the lives of those he comes to love.

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Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China

Zheng Liu (Queen's 2012)

In recent decades, self-proclaimed “independent bookstores” have arisen across China. In the West, such retailers represent an alternative to corporations and chains. In China, by contrast, they differentiate themselves from not only the state-owned Xinhua Bookstore but also other privately owned shops through an emphasis on intellectual independence and the free exchange of ideas.

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Surviving and Thriving in Industry: Some Tips for Scientists and Engineers

Richard Pollard (St John's 1971)

In today's volatile corporate world, layoffs of scientists and engineers can occur at any time. Technical expertise alone is no longer enough: success depends on navigating organizational culture, building strong relationships, and making your contributions visible.

This book bridges the gap between classroom learning and the realities of the workplace. Drawing on real-world scenarios and practical exercises, it offers strategies for marketing your work, developing situational awareness, and thriving as part of a team in start-ups and multinational corporations alike.

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The Mabinogion Set: The Fractal Structure of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi

Natalia Petrovskaia (Peterhouse 2003)

The Mabinogion Set is a book about the most famous of medieval Welsh stories: the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. It is also a book about a mathematical phenomenon: fractals. Fractals are mathematical patterns that repeat at every scale, and this study argues that, like natural fractals (snowflakes, tree branches), the Four Branches of the Mabinogi have a repeating structure.

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Well Fragmented

Sarah Baloch (Fitzwilliam 2022)

Well Fragmented is an interconnected series of forty two narrative styled, long-form rhyming poems.

Acknowledging that nothing is monolithic, the book ranges from a Pakistani’s experience in Canada, USA and UK, life of local Pakistanis, every gem of a human on the margins of society, satire, politics, war, authoritarianism, colonialism, health, gender discrimination, spirituality or rather a take on it, chronic health conditions and love in all its forms, parental, platonic, romantic, and unrequited.

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Primacohedron: Adelic Spectral Geometry of the Primes

Sandi Setiawan (Clare Hall 1995)

The book explores a bold and interdisciplinary idea at the intersection of number theory, geometry, and theoretical physics. Rather than treating prime numbers as purely abstract objects, Primacohedron presents a framework in which primes function as fundamental oscillators shaping time, curvature, and information. In this vision, spacetime itself emerges as a coherent spectral structure rooted in arithmetic.

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Just Saying: Selected Poem from My Sixties and Seventies

Eugene Stelzig (King's 1966)

Just Saying: Selected Poems from My Sixties and Seventies [360 pages] ] is an older poet’s reactions to being-in-the world.

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The Fox Hunt

Caitlin Breeze (Emmanuel 2007)

The Guardian: “A richly imagined fantasy, elegantly marrying feminist fairytale with dark academia."

Kirkus starred review: “Smart, propulsive, and multi-layered, this deftly crafted fantasy thriller immerses readers in a narrative that recalls the wonder and horror of Grimms’ fairy tales in a darkly elegant academic setting. An absorbing novel that weaves an unforgettable tale of magic and subversion.”

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The Age Code

David Cox (Robinson 2013)

From the rising incidence of cancer in the under-50s to increased infertility rates, there are signs everywhere that growing numbers of us are ageing too quickly. Why? Many believe there’s one major culprit: our diet.

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