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!

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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.

Twenty Thousand Miles Through South America
Kirk Wilson (Hughes Hall 2007)

In 2019 Kirk Wilson rode a 160cc Indian made motorcycle from Colombia to Venezuela, the long way round through ten countries, carrying only a backpack. He crossed frozen mountain roads on the equator in Ecuador, and the driest desert in the world in Chile. He broke down in torrential rain six hours into the Amazon Jungle in Peru, and ended up in a ditch underneath the bike on a dark night in Bolivia. To complete the journey he had to get himself and the motorcycle across the closed Venezuela-Colombia frontier, as the world tried to start a civil war.

The Myths We Live By: Adventures in Democracy, Free Speech and Other Liberal Inventions
Peter Cave (King's 1972)

 In this witty and mischievous book, philosopher Peter Cave dissects the most controversial disputes of today, using philosophical argument, thought experiments and taking the reasoning to where it leads.  He thus reveals the hidden complexities and muddles in the many cherished beliefs of our liberal democracies.

Untimely affects
Nadine Boljkovac (Newnham 2005)

Untimely affects: Gilles Deleuze and an Ethics of Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2013) examines screen affect, ethics and politics via works of screen and multimedia artist Chris Marker and filmmaker Alain Resnais, philosopher Gilles Deleuze and others, and was reissued in paperback in April 2015.

Out of the Third World
Ashok Sharma (Trinity Hall 1969)

Out of the Third World is a chronicle of the travails, tenacity, and grit against overwhelming odds and adversity faced by Ashok, a shy 18-year-old Indian student from East Africa, in gaining admission to a British Medical school during a tumultuous period in the British history triggered by an apocalyptic-sounding rhetorical speech, dubbed "The Rivers of Blood," delivered by Enoch Powell, a prominent British politician, on April 20, 1968, harshly denouncing the immigration of non-white people into Great Britain and demanding their repatriation.

Ways of Heaven. An Introduction to Chinese Thought
Roel Sterckx (Clare Hall 1992)

In Ways of Heaven, leading China scholar Roel Sterckx offers an engrossing introduction to classical China’s world of ideas. Drawing on evocative examples from philosophical texts, literature, and everyday life over centuries of Chinese history, Sterckx introduces major thinkers and traditions, illuminates key concepts like the dao, qi, yin, and yang, and examines questions of leadership, social order, death, nature, and more.

Chinese Thought. From Confucius to Cook Ding
Roel Sterckx (Clare Hall 1992)

We are often told that the twenty-first century is bound to become China's century. Never before has Chinese culture been so physically, digitally, economically or aesthetically present in everyday Western life. But how much do we really know about its origins and key beliefs? How did the ancient Chinese think about the world?      

The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney
Okechukwu Nzelu (Girton College 2007)

How do you begin to find yourself when you only know half of who you are?

As Nnenna Maloney approaches womanhood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.

Climate Change (A Ladybird Expert Book)
HRH The Prince of Wales, Tony Juniper and Dr Emily Shuckburgh OBE (Trinity College 1994)

Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Climate Change is a clear, simple and enlightening introduction to one of the most important issues facing our world today.

From HRH The Prince of Wales, environmentalist Tony Juniper and climate scientist Dr Emily Shuckburgh, it explains the history, dangers and challenges of global warming and explores possible solutions with which to reduce its impact.

Pages

Want to see your book here?

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

Submit your book