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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Mechatronics Experiments with Machine Vision

John Billingsley (Trinity Hall 1957)

This book is an interactive guide that blends hands-on experimentation with modern learning approaches. Instead of traditional instruction, the book presents a series of quests—practical challenges that encourage readers to explore, simulate, and build real-world mechatronic systems. From JavaScript-based simulations to sensor integration and video feedback control, each chapter builds technical skills through discovery and problem-solving.

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Moederland: Nine Daughters of South Africa

Cato Pedder (Robinson College 1991)

Winner of the Historical Writers Association non-fiction Crown 2024, Moederland takes us on an eye-opening journey across four centuries, tracing the country’s turbulent past and the rise and fall of apartheid (and her family’s charged legacy) through the lives of nine very different women.

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Doing Learning Development in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for New and Early Career Learning Developers

Joy Igiebor (Wolfson 2014)

Doing Learning Development in Higher Education is an essential introductory companion for those new to working in this emerging and exciting field. Filled with actionable tips, real-world advice and illuminating anecdotes, this book will help readers navigate the challenges and opportunities of helping students unlock their full academic potential, whilst highlighting the important role that Learning Developers have.

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Chicken Soup with Tears

Alan Walters (Hughes Hall 1980)

Set against the haunting landscapes of the Łódź Ghetto—Poland’s second largest—and Chelmno nad Nerem, the first Nazi extermination camp, Chicken Soup with Tears explores the brutal realities of life and death in the dark shadow of Auschwitz. Amid rising global anti-Semitism, it offers a timely reminder of the unique suffering endured by the Jewish people.

Told through two separate yet parallel narratives, the story examines a world where cruelty and isolation are met with resilience, sacrifice, and rare moments of kindness.

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Songs of Idleness

B.J.Sadiq (Hughes Hall 2005)

If you are morally sensitive, aesthetically inclined, and look for poetry peppered with old metrical rhythm and an Edwardian air; then this edition might just be the ideal donum for you. It offers you the range of what B.J.Sadiq can do with a pen fidgeting in his fingers.

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Whipster

Susan Grossey (Murray Edwards 1984)

This is the third book in the Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries series.

With the University preparing for Michaelmas term in 1827, Cambridge is alive with promises of fortunes to be made. University constable Gregory Hardiman has neither the appetite nor the funds to invest, but many others are tempted by the gleam of Bolivian silver. On patrol one evening Gregory is called to a violent incident at an inn, and before long his enquiries lead him to several of the town’s best-known figures – including the Master of St Clement’s College.

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An Archaeology of the Bantu Expansion: Early Settlers South of the Congo Rainforest

Peter R. Coutros, Jessamy H. Doman (Homerton 2003), Igor Matonda Sakala, and Koen Bostoen

The Bantu Expansion is one of the most intriguing issues in African history. Based on extensive fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and laboratory analysis, this book provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and multi-proxy account of the first Bantu speakers south of the Congo rainforest.

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The Portrait

P R Brown (St John's 1972)

Unlike a standard biography, The Portrait has no clear chronology but consists of memories of the author's father as a role model and as a man to whom the author still owes an immeasurable debt.

The book is as much about the author himself as it is about his father and could not, he says, have been written otherwise.  It is as much about the continuing influence or power of a parental role-model as it is a study in grief, for more than six decades have passed since his father's demise.

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This Might Surprise You: A Breast Cancer Story

Hayley Gullen (Peterhouse 2003)

'It's as if Hayley has been inside my head and captured every thought I had during treatment . . . an honest, brave, no-holds barred account'. Liz O'Riordan, surgeon and breast cancer survivor.

'Hilarious, complex, honest and profound. Every page made me laugh. Most of them also made me cry.' Ian Dunt, political journalist and broadcaster

This is a cancer story you'll actually want to read. With humour and honesty, it details Hayley Gullen's fight for individuality during the toughest time of her life.

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The Disorderly Latin Riddles of Symphosius

James Hatfield (St John's 1968)

This book exposes the modus operandi behind the Symphosius Aenigmata, a collection of 100 short Latin riddles preserved from the 5th century CE. These were riddles prepared in connection with annual celebrations for the Roman feast of Saturnalia.

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The Maiden Faust

Conor Farrington (King's 2004)

A literary novel presenting a female-led retelling of the Faust legend made famous by Marlowe, Goethe and Mann, set in 1840s/1870s Cambridge. Described as "atmospheric, strange, and addictive" by Louis de Bernières and as a "stunning achievement" by Janice Hallett.

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Navigating the Intersection of AI Policy, Technology, and Governance

Ayse Arslan (Wolfson 2015), Alaa Youssef (Stanford University)

Navigating the intersection of AI policy, technology, and governance presents both a challenge and an opportunity in today’s evolving digital landscape. As AI becomes more integrated in society, policymakers, engineers, and business owners must collaborate to ensure ethical, transparent, and equitable deployment. This intersection raises questions about data privacy, accountability, algorithmic bias, and the balance between innovation and regulation.

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The Surfacing

Claire Ackroyd (Trinity 1998)

  It’s twelve years since teenager Peter Ferguson drowned in Loch Ness—on the same night that Stephanie, her mother and her sister, Aurelie, were camping on its shores. In the shocking aftermath, their family and life as they knew it fell apart, and the sisters no longer speak. But now Aurelie is getting married, and Stephanie realises that a reunion might finally bring the truth about that fateful night to the surface…

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Blood Caste

Shylashri Shankar (Newnham 1987)

Is Jack the Ripper at large on the streets of Victorian India?

Hyderabad, India. 1895. When three bodies are discovered, with mutilations bearing an eerie resemblance to the Ripper’s Whitechapel victims, Chief Inspector Soobramania – known as Soob – is summoned to investigate.

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Jewad Selim: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings and Sculptures

Nima Sagharchi and Zaineb Jewad Selim (Churchill 1973)

Jewad Selim is one of the defining figures of twentieth century Middle Eastern visual culture and the key protagonist of Iraqi Modernism. In the 1950’s, Selim forged a distinctive movement which sought to express modern Iraqi identity by combining traditional, local forms of artistic expression with the visual language of the European avant-garde. This volume brings together, for the first time, a comprehensive Catalogue raisonné of the artist's paintings and sculptures, beginning with his early teenage artistic exercises and culminating in his iconic mature work.
 

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Race, Law and Hypercriminality

Sarah Corbett-Batson (King's 1990)

In a world of fake news and virtual reality, where social media posts seem more real that the materiality of racial capitalism, this book develops the idea of 'hypercriminality', as a means of exploring how racial disproportionalities in the criminal legal system persist, despite discourses of a post-racial meritocracy.

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The Cyber Ciphers of Eartha Quicksmith

Loris Owen (Clare 1993)

Kip, Albert, Leela and Timmi are back, and the riddles are trickier than ever. A fresh trail of puzzles leads to a lost craft called The Salamander and onwards to new wonders. With guardian android Incognita they take off for the beautiful but deadly Molten Ocean, where unlikely allies emerge from the depths. The race is on to find the Futurescope’s eyepiece and shut down the Grittleshank’s smoulderstone mine before the world as we know it is torn apart.

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Inclusive Practice for Learning Support Assistants

Zoe Hosier

Inclusive Practice for Learning Support Assistants explores the role of the LSA and, drawing from first-hand interviews, sheds light on a variety of LSA experiences and perspectives, detailing the (often hidden) aspects of their work to support the learning of special educational needs and neurodivergent students.

Covering key areas including wellbeing support, challenging behaviour and student independence, chapters:

- Provide LSAs with practical tips and reflective insights to improve their work supporting children and young people in schools

Two sisters, one in a pram, under an umbrella

My Sister is a Treasure

Tracy Darnton (1986)

Following on from My Brother is an Avocado, this picture book is a humorous look at what happens when a new baby joins the family.

"Dad says my sister is a treasure. I can't wait until we play pirates together and dig holes to look for more. I'll be the captain and wear the hat because I'm the oldest."

A girl takes the terms of endearment her family use at face value when she wonders what it would be like if her new baby sister really was a treasure or a ray of sunshine or a dimply dumpling in this adorable new picture book.

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How To Be Moderately Successful: Career Acceleration For Realists

Matthias Mahr (Robinson 1994)

Define your own version of success and get there faster. Whether you're starting out, stuck in the middle, or ready for a career change: this is your smart, hands-on guide to steady progression and a healthy work-life balance. Drawing on 25 years of experience at Boston Consulting Group, eBay, Eurostar and Trainline, and hundreds of coaching conversations, it offers straightforward advice with clear takeaways using fun, relatable stories.

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