Book shelf

Book shelf

Image (cropped) by Jessica Ruscello under CC0 1.0 licence

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

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The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France
Constant Mews; translated by Neville Chiavaroli (Clare 1997)

An examination of a collection of Latin love letters preserved in a fifteenth-century manuscript of Clairvaux, which the main author argues may derive from the original correspondence of Abelard and Heloise. The complete Latin text is reproduced with an annotated translation by Neville Chiavaroli and Constant Mews.

Politics of Art: The Creation Society and the Practice of Theoretical Struggle in Revolutionary China
Zhiguang Yin (King's 2007)

In Politics of Art Zhiguang Yin investigates members of the Creation Society and their social network while in Japan. The study contextualises the Chinese left-wing intellectual movements and their political engagements in relation with the early 20th century international political events and trends in both East Asia and Europe.

Volunteer Voices: Key Insights from International Development Experiences
Edited By Duncan McNicholl (Hughes Hall 2014)

Volunteer Voices is a guide for the critically minded volunteer and early career development worker. It is designed to help aspiring young changemakers engage with the complicated environment of international volunteering from a hands-on perspective that can help them to benefit and contribute as much as possible from the experience. By sharing stories, mistakes, and learning this book guides readers to reflect on their own work and how their own practice might improve, which is crucial to the development of an effective volunteer.

Kings & Queens in Their Castles
Tom Atwood (Pembroke 1995)

Kings & Queens in Their Castles has been called the most ambitious photo series ever conducted of the LGBTQ experience in the USA.

Over 15 years, Tom Atwood photographed more than 350 subjects at home nationwide (with over 160 in the book), including nearly 100 celebrities (with about 60 in the book). With individuals from 30 states, Atwood offers a window into the lives and homes of some of America's most intriguing and eccentric personalities.

Drawn from Life: Selected Essays of Michel de Montaigne, introduced by Tim Parks
Michel de Montaigne and Tim Parks

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, the 16th-century French philosopher, popularised the genre of the essay form, a versatile style of writing celebrated by independent publisher Notting Hill Editions.

Montaigne’s influence is seen in the works of some of the greatest essayists of all time including Hazlitt, Bacon, Descartes, Asimov and possibly even Shakespeare. Montaigne would come to be recognised as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt that began to emerge at that time.

The Star of the Nomadess: in Harmony between the East and the West (Russian edition)
Esuna Dugarova (Churchill 2005)

A Buryat girl from an indigenous people near Lake Baikal in Siberia shares her experience of earning a doctoral degree from Cambridge University. She reflects upon the peculiarities of English society from the perspective of her Buryat cultural heritage. The book describes how her upbringing in the Soviet system affected her integration into the Western society, how her Asian mentality perceived European norms and values, and how Buddhist philosophy helped her understand the Christian society.

Shakespeare in Modern English
Hugh Macdonald (Pembroke 1958)

Shakespeare in Modern English breaks the taboo about Shakespeare’s texts, which have long been regarded as sacred and untouchable while being widely and freely translated into foreign languages. It is designed to make Shakespeare more easily understood in the theatre without dumbing down or simplifying the content.

Light after Dark I
Charles Francis (Jesus 1975)

Light After Dark 1 is a collection of well-established, but up-to-date, science, both from theory and observation, including material from Charles Francis’ published papers. Francis considers arguments, both for and against, two of the most controversial ideas in modern cosmology. Based on established physics, he suggests that unobserved and exotic substances, cold dark matter and dark energy, can be replaced by an improved understanding of the creation of large scale structure following the Big Bang.

Light after Dark II
Charles Francis (Jesus 1975)

In Light after Dark II: The Large and the Small, Dr Francis explores the physics and the philosophy pertinent to the conceptual foundations of modern physical theory, avoiding equations and with sufficient explanation to be accessible to general readers.

A comprehensive rationale is described for the theories of Einstein, Heisenberg, Dirac, von Neumann, Feynman, and others. Spacetime curvature is elucidated. The meanings of Schrödinger’s cat, Bell’s theorem and Bertlmann’s socks are explained. Implications for determinism, free will, and the nature of space and time are examined.

Agent 110, An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
Scott Miller (Darwin 1993)

In November 1942, American spymaster Allen Dulles slipped into Switzerland just before Nazi forces sealed the border. His mission: to report on the inner workings of the Third Reich. Code-named Agent 110 by the OSS, he was astounded to find a network of Germans – industrialists, students, diplomats and generals -- conspiring to overthrow Hitler and negotiate a surrender to end World War II. On back roads, in bedrooms, and high in the Alps, Dulles plotted with his ring of renegades who were risking and losing their lives. Yet Dulles was much more than a spy.

The Outside Lands
Hannah Kohler (Corpus 1998)

Jeannie is nineteen when the world changes, Kip only fourteen. The sudden accident that robs them of their mother leaves them adrift, with only their father to guide them. Jeannie seeks escape in work and later marriage to a man whose social connections propel her into an unfamiliar world of wealth and politics. Ill-equipped and unprepared, Jeannie finds comfort where she can. Meanwhile Kip's descent into a life of petty crime is halted only when he volunteers for the Marines.

Sharks & Rays of the Arabian/Persian Gulf
Dareen Almojil (Lucy Cavendish 2011), Alec Moore and William White

The Gulf has a unique diversity of sharks and rays, but for many years their correct identification has been problematic. This fully illustrated book - the first of its kind to focus on the Gulf - brings together the latest research and years of work by the authors to provide a clear and comprehensive guidebook. For each species known to occur in the Gulf, colour images, identification features, and notes on distribution, abundance, ecology and conservation status are provided.

Rethinking Reputational Risk: How to Manage the Risks that can Ruin Your Business, Your Reputation and You
Anthony Fitzsimmons (Pembroke 1969) and Derek Atkins

From ringside seats, I saw three decades' worth of crises as they unfolded, damaging organisations, their leaders, their reputations and their shareholders. But this lawyerly work left important questions unanswered: Why didn't insiders see what was coming? And were these crises 'predictable' only with hindsight?

It took time to uncover why predictable crises kept on happening but answers emerged from research spanning dozens of dissections as we dug in fields that included behavioural economics, anthropology and luck.

After the Final Whistle
Stephen Cooper (Trinity 1977)

When Britain’s Empire went to war in August 1914, rugby players were the first to volunteer: they led from the front and paid a disproportionate price. When Armistice came after four long years, their war game was over; even as the echo of the last guns of November faded, it was time to play rugby again. As Allied troops of all nations waited to return home, sport occupied their minds and bodies.

Modern Social Thought: An Introduction
Anthony Thomson (King's 1977)

This text provides an accessible survey of Western social thought from the early twentieth century to today by tracing the emergence, evolution, and consequence of ideas expressed by recognized social and political theorists as well as poets, novelists, and visual artists. A contextualizing approach helps place theory in broad, practical terms by linking key ideas to specific social, historical, cultural, and political developments.

Berber and Arabic in Siwa (Egypt)
Lameen Souag (Caius 2000)

Siwi is the easternmost Berber language, one of the few surviving representatives of the languages spoken in the eastern Sahara before the arrival of Bedouin Arab groups in the 11th century – although this apparent continuity conceals a history of migration, as this book argues based on loanwords and intra-Berber relationships.  The effects of contact upon the grammar are far more far-reaching than in better documented westerly Berber languages, extending to non-concatenative templatic morphology and some pronominal endings, as well as prominent calquing.

The Making of Social Theory: Order, Reason, and Desire (Second Edition)
Anthony Thomson (King's 1977)

The Making of Social Theory: Order, Reason, and Desire, second edition, chronicles the development of Western ideas about society, politics, and social life from the medieval period through to the rise of modern sociology in the early twentieth century. Theories are examined within a historical social context to provide understanding of the social circumstances in which various sociological ideologies arose. The first edition was published in 2006.

Glimpses Over The Edge
Alexander Treves (King's 1992)

A photobook documenting refugee stories in 12 different countries: photographed in Burma, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey. The images, of refugees from a dozen countries, are accompanied by a personal account which sets the individuals’ lives into the context of a vast global problem.

'Janiform Novels' and Other Literary Essays
Cedric Watts (Pembroke 1958)

Previously published in a diversity of magazines and books, these conveniently-gathered literary discussions deal with such authors as Sophocles, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Milton, Defoe, Richardson, Jane Austen, Conrad, Hemingway, Graham Greene, William Golding, Samuel Beckett and Chinua Achebe. Topics include covert plotting, the conceit of the conceit, the fallacies of structuralist and post-structuralist literary theory, delayed decoding, Shakespeare's scepticism, Conrad' s opposition to racism and imperialism, and Hemingway's profoundly ambiguous style.

Curiocity: In Pursuit of London
Henry Eliot (Magdalene 2004) and Matt Lloyd-Rose (Magdalene 2003)

Curiocity is a new guide to the capital that weaves the city’s stories together with practical ideas and itineraries. Londonist called it ‘the greatest book about London published in modern times’ and Philip Pullman described it as ‘the most ingenious, insightful, inspiring, intoxicating, and simply interesting guide to the great city that I have ever seen.’ It has 26 large maps drawn by artists including the children’s laureate Chris Riddell and the graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg.

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