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!

Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them

Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them

Seema Yasmin (Hughes Hall 2005)

Can your zip code predict when you will die? Should you space out childhood vaccines? Does talcum powder cause cancer? Why do some doctors recommend e-cigarettes while other doctors recommend you stay away from them? Health information―and misinformation―is all around us, and it can be hard to separate the two. A long history of unethical medical experiments and medical mistakes, along with a host of celebrities spewing anti-science beliefs, has left many wary of science and the scientists who say they should be trusted.

Finding the 'Ring of Truth'

Finding the 'Ring of Truth'

Richard Lyon (Fitzwilliam 1967) and Jean-Yves Le Lan

F/O Ernest Russell Lyon, aged just 21, was shot down in his Spitfire near Ploemeur in France in July 1944 and buried by the Germans in an unidentified grave in Guidel Cemetery.

This is the story of research by Richard Lyon, decades later, aided by local research by French civilians, to establish that the grave was indeed that of F/O Lyon, in the process changing the Standard of Proof (in existence since the end of WW1) required by the authorities for formal grave recognition from “Beyond all Reasonable Doubt” to “By Clear and Convincing Evidence”.

Sacred Music by Women Composers Volume 3: Advent to Candlemas

Sacred Music by Women Composers Volume 3: Advent to Candlemas

Series Editor: Louise Stewart; Editor: Olivia Sparkhall (Homerton 1998)

The third anthology in the Multitude of Voyces Sacred Music by Women Composers series, this book contains 26 choral pieces for Christmastide. Traditional carols and familiar texts rub shoulders with exciting, new tunes and poetry in this unique volume of music for the festive season. Featuring music composed from the sixteenth century onwards, nine composers are historical, whilst the remaining two-thirds are contemporary, bringing the number of different women composers in the Multitude of Voyces series to 63.

The Regeneration Promise: The Facts behind Stem Cell Therapies

The Regeneration Promise: The Facts behind Stem Cell Therapies

Peter Hollands (Churchill 1983)

The Regeneration Promise is a reader-friendly guide to the world of regenerative medicine and stem cell technology. Most people have heard of stem cells but few understand what stem cells can and cannot do. The book covers the history of stem cell technology as a general introduction to the subject and then continues with a description of the many known types of stem cells and how these can potentially be used to treat disease.

The COVID-19 Cookbook

The COVID-19 Cookbook

Trevor Underwood (Clare 1962)

This is a survival guide written by a 77-year-old scientist who is currently living alone in his house in Fort Lauderdale and who normally eats dinner in local restaurants every evening.

Chasing Butterflies in the Sunlight

Chasing Butterflies in the Sunlight

Morenike Euba Oyenusi (Jesus 1985)

“Chasing Butterflies in the Sunlight" describes the joys and innocence of childhood experienced by Ronke, growing up in a beautiful, culturally and racially diverse world on a university campus in Nigeria.

Sidnie Manton; Letters and Diaries Expedition to the Great Barrier Reef 1928-1929

Sidnie Manton; Letters and Diaries Expedition to the Great Barrier Reef 1928-1929

Sidnie Manton (Girton 1921)

Sidnie Manton was a woman of great determination and academic brilliance. At the age of 26 she became a member of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition. This was the first such scientific study of a coral reef anywhere in the world: an eminent and intrepid group of biologists, geographers and oceanographers examined the structure and ecology of the surrounding reef. They were based on Low Isle near Port Douglas but also sailed small boats to study nearby small islands and the mouth of the Daintree River, often sleeping on board or setting up tents.

For Her Good Estate The Life of Elizabeth De Burgh, Lady of Clare

For Her Good Estate The Life of Elizabeth De Burgh, Lady of Clare

Frances Underhill, Jennifer Ward, Margaret Smith (Clare Hall 1977), Jacqueline Tasioulas, Paul Binski, Claire Barnes (Clare 1976)

Elizabeth de Burgh showed feisty spirit in adversity and imprisonment, war and plague – and she and her friends were influential patrons of books and all arts while English craftsmanship was at its finest. Her legacy includes Clare College and Clare Hall in the University of Cambridge, and a treasure trove of records illuminating the contrasting reigns of her uncle Edward II and cousin Edward III.

Intimations Six Essays

Intimations Six Essays

Zadie Smith (King's 1994)

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time

Ireland and the Great War A Social and Political History

Ireland and the Great War A Social and Political History

Niamh Gallagher (University Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History)

On 4 August 1914 following the outbreak of European hostilities, large sections of Irish Protestants and Catholics rallied to support the British and Allied war efforts. Yet less than two years later, the Easter Rising of 1916 allegedly put a stop to the Catholic commitment in exchange for a re-emphasis on the national question.

When Peace Kills Politics International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans

When Peace Kills Politics International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans

Sharath Srinivasan (David and Elaine Potter Lecturer in Governance and Human Rights in the Department of Politics and International Studies)

Why do war and coercion still dominate the political realm in the Sudans, over a decade since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and despite a litany of conflict resolution efforts? This book explains the paradoxical role of international peacemaking in the reproduction of violence and political authoritarianism in Sudan and South Sudan.

Double Lives A History of Working Motherhood in Modern Britain

Double Lives A History of Working Motherhood in Modern Britain

Helen McCarthy (University Lecturer in Modern British History, since c. 1800)

A groundbreaking history of mothers who worked for pay that will change the way we think about gender, work and equality in modern Britain.

Waves Across the South A New History of Revolution and Empire

Waves Across the South A New History of Revolution and Empire

Sujit Sivasundaram (Professor of World History, Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies)

This is a story of tides and coastlines, winds and waves, islands and beaches. It is also a retelling of indigenous creativity, agency, and resistance in the face of unprecedented globalization and violence. Waves Across the South shifts the  narrative of the Age of Revolutions and the origins of the British Empire; it foregrounds a vast southern zone that ranges from the Arabian Sea and southwest Indian Ocean across to the Bay of Bengal, and onward to the South Pacific and the Tasman Sea.

Greenery Journeys in Springtime

Greenery Journeys in Springtime

Tim Dee (Selwyn 1980)

One December, in midsummer South Africa, Tim Dee was watching swallows. They were at home there, but the same birds would soon begin journeying north to Europe, where their arrival marks the beginning of spring. Between the winter and the summer solstice in Europe, spring moves north at about the speed of swallow flight. That is also close to human walking pace.

Taking Up Space

Taking Up Space

Chelsea Kwakye (Homerton 2015), Ore Ogunbiyi (Jesus 2015)

As a minority in a predominantly white institution, taking up space is an act of resistance. Recent Cambridge grads Chelsea and Ore experienced this first-hand, and wrote Taking Up Space as a guide and a manifesto for change.

FOR BLACK GIRLS:

Understand that your journey is unique. Use this book as a guide. Our wish for you is that you read this and feel empowered, comforted and validated in every emotion you experience, or decision that you make.

FOR EVERYONE ELSE:

Not Quite Behaving

Not Quite Behaving

Michael Dawes (Queens' 1966)

In the “Roaring Twenties” three young ladies, Penrose, Clara and Tamora are preparing to be presented as débutantes for the London Season. There they meet Noel, Daniel and Neville (a Queens’ undergraduate). Society requires that débutantes and their families be of impeccable character and background. Will their dreams be shattered when Clara’s father befriends a night club hostess who is later found murdered, and Tamora’s mother becomes unhappy with the state of her marriage? And their own  antics may just cause a few problems.

The Faces

The Faces

A A Khan (Clare 2018)

At Cambridge University, we follow the adventures of Elio Husseini who wakes up to strange goings on at night, while dealing with his tumultuous teenage years. In FantaBridge - Fantasy Cambridge - darkness is home to the spectres and phantoms of Cambridge's finest fellows, past and present, who roam the streets. When the 700th anniversary party is disrupted, and an evil plot by power-hungry people to turn the university upside down and cause havoc is discovered, Elio must race against time to save his world from ruin.

Bauble, Me and the Family Tree

Bauble, Me and the Family Tree

Jennifer Moore (Selwyn 1994)

Noel is used to his unusual family set-up: him, Mum, super-brainy little sister Bauble, and his gay uncles (both called Mike) next door. But when Bauble spots Mum kissing Santa Claus—in August—everything Noel thought he knew about his family is turned upside-down...

Who’s the mysterious ‘F’ sending Mum romantic postcards? Why has she started taking weird photos of people in food bikinis? And, even though he’s clearly not Santa, might Dad still be alive after all?

The Pale Tiger

The Pale Tiger

Michael Harrison

What is 'The Pale Tiger'? A myth? An almost forgotten sheet of A4 gathering dust in the vaults beneath Beijing? Or a ruthlessly audacious plan to wreak deadly revenge on America with breath-taking historical symmetry? From the steaming jungles of Hong Kong to the hard-edged clamour of New York and the Autumn chill of the grey streets of London, 'The Pale Tiger' is a piece of contemporary fiction that shines the light on some of the existential challenges facing the world today.

A Rainbow Palate How Chemical Dyes Changed the West's Relationship with Food

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.

Pages

Want to see your book here?

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

Submit your book