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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 Better World is Possible
Georgina Ferry

On 17 March 1967 the 26-year-old David Sainsbury (King's 1959) wrote out a cheque for £5 and established the trust which would become the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Gatsby's purpose was ambitious - to make the world a better place by taking on some of the social, economic and scientific challenges that face humanity.

Stress-Proof
Mithu Storoni (St John's 1996)

An extensively cited book, giving the reader an overview of the latest model of the neurobiology of stress and evidence-based actionable advice, taken from cutting-edge findings in psychology, psychiatry, physiology, neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and metabolic medicine research. The book is aimed at the discerning lay public, but may also be of interest to readers with a specialist background. 

Immune: How Your Body Defends and Protects You
Catherine Carver (Clare College 2003)

The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle, defended by billions of soldiers – some live for less than a day, others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war between our microscopic enemies and ourselves.

Marabi nights: Jazz, ‘race’ and society in early apartheid South Africa
Christopher Ballantine (St John's 1966)

This is an updated and substantially expanded second edition of Christopher Ballantine’s classic study of the triumphs and tragedies of South Africa’s marabi-jazz tradition.

Let There Be Justice: The Political Journey of Imran Khan
B. J. Sadiq (Hughes Hall 2005)

Pakistan has been labelled as one of the most controversial countries in the world. A country tainted with military dictatorships, tormented by religious extremists and fleeced by years of corrupt democratic rule. It is a place where an endemic culture of nepotism blooms with impunity. The biggest casualty of this political and social homicide are the ordinary citizens who are left to struggle with appalling economic conditions and a system sorely in need of repair. In a climate as unsettling as that, one noise exploded onto the scene with an unyielding aggression.

Nine Lessons
Nicola Upson (Downing 1988)

In the years before the Great War, M.R. James told ghost stories by candlelight to a handful of friends and scholars after the Christmas Eve carol service at King’s College. Now, twenty-five years later, those men are dying, killed off one by one...

Josephine Tey is in Cambridge, Christmas is approaching, but the town is gripped by fear and suspicion as a serial rapist stalks the streets, and in the shadow of King's College Chapel, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces some of the most horrific and audacious murders of his career.

Empty Justice: One Hundred Years of Law Literature and Philosophy
Melanie Williams (Murray Edwards 1985)

Utilising literature as a serious source of challenges to questions in philosophy and law, this book provides a fresh perspective not only upon the inculcation of the legal subject, but also upon the relationship between modernism, postmodernism and how such concepts might evolve in the construction of community ethics. The creation and role of the legal subject is just one aspect of jurisprudential enquiry now attracting much attention.
      

The Mountain Dwellers
Phillip Richard Brown (St John's 1972)

It is a common and enduring characteristic of what the author calls Mountain Dwellers that they lament the decline of what they define as civilisation, and express their regret by distancing themselves, if not geographically then morally or spiritually or intellectually, from all those whose ignorance of, or indifference to, such matters can only serve to hasten the decline of civilisation so defined.

Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm
Nishan Degnarain (Sidney Sussex 1998)

In this groundbreaking work, Nishan Degnarain and Gregory Stone set out not just how grave the problems facing our oceans are, but how solvable they can be. Weaving history, ecology, business and geopolitics together and leveraging their experience in oceans and some of the innovation hotspots around the world, they reveal the revolutionary tools and business models that could unleash trillions of dollars of new sustainable economic opportunities.

The Pinocchio Brief
Abi Silver (Girton 1986)

A 15-year-old schoolboy is accused of the murder of one of his teachers. His lawyers, the guarded veteran, Judith, and the energetic young solicitor, Constance, begin a desperate pursuit of the truth, revealing uncomfortable secrets about the teacher and the school. But Judith has her own secrets which she risks exposing when it is announced that a new lie-detecting device, nicknamed Pinocchio, will be used during the trial. And is the accused, a troubled boy who loves challenges, trying to help them or not?
 

The Long Shadow of the Past: Contemporary Austrian Literature, Film, and Culture
Katya Krylova (Churchill 2002)

The process of coming to terms with its National Socialist past has been a long and difficult one in Austria. It is only over the past thirty years that the country's view of its role during the Third Reich has shifted decisively from that of victimhood to complicity, prompted by the Waldheim affair of 1986-1988. Austria's writers, filmmakers, and artists have been at the center of this process, holding up a mirror to the country's present and drawing attention to a still disturbing past.

Confessions of a Briefless Barrister
Harry Mitchell (Corpus Christi 1950)

This is an autobiography with a difference. Harry has had a very varied career, first spending five years in the Colonial Service in Sierra Leone then in a variety of posts in different industries, including a spell as company secretary to a British-owned company in India. 

Berlin
Joseph Pearson (Trinity Hall 1996)

As Joseph Pearson poetically puts it in this rich look at one of Europe's most fascinating cities: Berlin is a party in a graveyard. Europe's youth capital, Berlin is also beset by sustained guilt for the atrocities that were ordered by its Nazi officers during the Third Reich. Built and rebuilt on the ruins of multiple regimes, Berlin in the twenty-first-century houses an extraordinary diversity of refugees, immigrants, and expats.

Six English Filmmakers
Paul Sutton (Wolfson 2000)

Paul Sutton in conversation with and about six of the most important English filmmakers of all time, from his correspondence with Lindsay Anderson (Sutton edited Anderson’s Diaries for publication); to a discussion with Kevin Brownlow in which they get to the heart of Chaplin’s genius. There are full-career discussions with Clive Donner, Mike Hodges and Michael Winner. Sutton talks with Vivian Pickles (Harold and Maude) and the Oscar-nominated sound engineer, Brian Simmons, about the films of Ken Russell.

Understanding Gary Numan: The Machine Quartet (1978-1981)
Paul Sutton (Wolfson 2000)

The popular analytical study of the pioneering English composer. The historian, Paul Sutton, takes the reader through a vastly entertaining potted history of rock music pioneers, tracing them all back to “a delta of Mississippi mud from where howled the first harmonica, and from where was heard the first blue plucking finger on string”, to show that popular music was strictly The Imitation Game until Gary Numan came along with his Machine Quartet, four albums that completely re-invigorated rock and roll.

Talking about Ken Russell
Paul Sutton (Wolfson 2000)

Over a period of ten years, Paul Sutton interviewed Ken Russell and hundreds of people who worked with him. This landmark book includes, for example, the first-hand testimonies of more than a dozen people who worked on Women in Love, and twenty-three members of the cast and crew of The Devils. Actors, editors, designers, continuity women, producers, assistants, special effects artists, composers, sound recordists, and the camera crews, all recall their working days with Ken Russell.

A Guide to the Classics or How to Pick the Derby Winner
Guy Griffith (Trinity Hall 1920) and Michael Oakeshott (Caius 1920)

First published in 1936 when the authors were fellows at Caius, this light-hearted manual is a quirky mix of philosophy and horse racing.
      
Oakeshott went on to become one of the greatest political philosophers of the 20th Century. Republished this year with a foreword by journalist Peter Oborne (Christ's 1975) and preface by racing journalist Sean Magee (St Johns 1969), this gem is now available for fans of philosophy and racing.

Data Localisation Laws and Policy The EU Data Protection International Transfers Restriction Through a Cloud Computing lens
W Kuan Hon (Trinity 1979)

Countries are increasingly introducing data localisation laws, threatening digital globalisation and inhibiting cloud computing adoption despite its acknowledged benefits. This multi-disciplinary book analyses the EU restriction (including the Privacy Shield and General Data Protection Regulation) through a cloud computing lens, covering historical objectives and practical problems, showing why the focus should move from physical data location to effective jurisdiction over those controlling access to intelligible data, and control of access to data through security.

Love and Loss and Other Important Stuff
Jonathan Pinnock (Clare 1974)

This entertaining and accessible debut poetry collection takes the reader on a journey through the entire panopoly of human experience, using humour and pathos to explore themes of love, loss and other important stuff such as nanotechnology, cloning, and Karl Ove Knausgaard’s beekeeping skills. It also contains one of the few love poems to have been inspired by an episode of Steptoe and Son, as well as a moving tribute to the first dog in space.

Travels of a Tourist
Paddy Rooney (Trinity 1950)

This is a collection of anecdotes and reminiscences of the author’s travels over many years and in many countries—from Uzbekistan to Peru, Yemen to India, Spain to China. It is in no sense intended as a guidebook, though it may give something of the character of the people encountered and the places visited. As the author explains in the foreword it is intended as entertainment rather than education in order to share with others his delight in foreign places.

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