Top 10 Books for Economics
Suitable for LV students interested in studying economics.
Suitable for LVI and MVI economics students.
Suitable for LVI and MVI economics students interested in studying an economics related degree
course.
1
The Undercover Economist
Tim Harford
Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the morning at Waterloo
Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from
laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don't? Who really benefits from immigration? How can China, in
just fifty years, go from the world's worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of all time,
lifting a million people out of poverty a month?
Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, The Undercover Economist is a fresh explanation of
the fundamental principles of the modern economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to
the booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges. Leaving behind textbook jargon and
equations, Tim Harford will reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength and battles of
wit that drive not only the economy at large but the everyday choices we make.
2
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is the cult bestseller that will show
you a totally new way of seeing the world.
 What do estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?
 Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?
 What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
 How can your name affect how well you do in life?
The answer: Freakonomics. It's at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from
sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it's all about using information
about the world around us to get to the heart of what's really happening under the surface of everyday life.
Steven Levitt, the man with 'the most interesting mind in America' (Malcolm Gladwell), is the rogue
economist whose controversial ideas have caused a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. In Freakonomics
he joins forces with Stephen Dubner, New York Times and New Yorker journalist and bestselling author of
Turbulent Souls and Confessions of a Hero Worshipper, to create a gripping, revolutionary new take on the
world.
3
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It.
Paul Collier
In this elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and
poverty, economist Paul Collier writes persuasively that although nearly five billion of the world's people are
beginning to climb from desperate poverty and to benefit from globalization's reach to developing countries,
there is a "bottom billion" of the world's poor whose countries, largely immune to the forces of global
economy, are falling farther behind and are in danger of falling apart, separating permanently and tragically
from the rest of the world.
Collier identifies and explains the four traps that prevent the homelands of the world's billion poorest
people from growing and receiving the benefits of globalization - civil war, the discovery and export of natural
resources in otherwise unstable economies, being landlocked and therefore unable to participate in the global
economy without great cost, and finally, ineffective governance. As he demonstrates that these billion people
are quite likely in danger of being irretrievably left behind, Collier argues that we cannot take a "headless
heart" approach to these seemingly intractable problems; rather, that we must harness our despair and our
moral outrage at these inequities to a reasoned and thorough understanding of the complex and
interconnected problems that the world's poorest people face.
4
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang
A masterful debunking of some of the myths of capitalism ... Witty, iconoclastic and uncommonly
commonsensical ... this book will be invaluable (Observer)
Myth-busting and nicely-written . the best economists are those who look around at our man-made world and
ask themselves "why?". Chang is one (Independent)
In 23 lucid, sometimes breezily didactic chapters, Chang takes apart the stricken ideology of neoliberalism.
Chang's method is not to engage with the neoliberals but to knock them down with assertions. (Paul Mason,
Economics Editor, BBC Newsnight Guardian)
Ha-Joon Chang is a formidable critic...and a true exponent of the art of political economy (Michael Lind
Prospect)
Chang's...iconoclastic attitude has won him fans such as Bob Geldof and Noam Chomsky. (Rachel Shields The
Independent on Sunday)
For anyone who wants to understand capitalism not as economists or politicians have pictured it, but as it
actually operates, this book will be invaluable. (John Gray Observer)
5
End This Depression Now
Paul Krugman
The Great Recession is more than five years old - and counting. Yet, as Nobel Prize winning author
Paul Krugman argues in this powerful new book, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge - all the
ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all - remain in a state of intense pain."
In End This Depression Now! Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an
increasingly out-of-control financial system positioned the United States and the world as a whole, for the
greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. Decrying the tepid response thus far, he lays out the steps that must
be taken to free ourselves and turn around a world economy stagnating in deep recession. His is a powerful
message: a strong recovery is only one step away, if our leaders find the intellectual clarity and political will to
see it through.
6
New Ideas From Dead Economists: An Introduction To Modern Economic Thought
Todd G. Buchholz
New Ideas From Dead Economists offers an introduction to modern economic thought. This book
shows how the ideas of some of the great economic thinkers throughout history apply to the modern world. It
includes chapters, each centred around one economist. It combines historical anecdotes with explanations of
how particular economists influenced the way we think about the world.
7
The Price of Inequality
Joseph Stiglitz
America currently has the most inequality, and the least equality of opportunity, among the advanced
countries. While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces.
In this best-selling book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz exposes the efforts of wellheeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way
he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice.
Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with
characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete
program to achieve that vision.
8
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
John Maynard Keynes
This definitive edition contains all Keynes's published writings, including less accessible articles and
letters to the press, as well as previously unpublished speeches, government memoranda and minutes, drafts
and economic correspondence.
No other writer in this century has done more than Maynard Keynes to change the ways in which
economics is taught. No other economist has done more to change the ways in which nations conduct their
economic and financial affairs. The Collected Writings are indispensable to all economists. They are a vital
reference work for students, academics and professionals alike.
9
Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics
Nicholas Wapshott
As the crash of 1929 plunged the world economy into turmoil, two men emerged with competing
claims on how to restore balance. John Maynard Keynes, the mercurial Cambridge economist, believed that
government had a duty to spend. He met his opposite in a little-known Austrian economics professor, Friedrich
Hayek, who considered attempts to intervene pointless and potentially dangerous.
From their first face-to-face encounter to the heated arguments between their ardent disciples,
Nicholas Wapshott unearths the contemporary relevance of Keynes and Hayek, as present-day arguments over
the virtues of the free market and government intervention rage with the same ferocity as they did in the
1930s.
10
Capitalism and Freedom
Milton Friedman
How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual
freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential
economic philosophy; one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic
freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over
half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming
more and more influential as time goes on.
Top 10 Books for English Literature
Suitable for LV students interested in studying English Literature.
Suitable for LVI and MVI English Literature students.
Suitable for LVI and MVI English Literature students interested in
studying an English Literature related degree course.
1.
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating
his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies'
themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores
with girls using sickly-sweet affection.
Written with the clarity of a boy leaving childhood behind, The Catcher in the Rye explores the world with
disarming frankness and a warm, affecting charisma which has made this novel a universally loved classic of
twentieth-century literature.
2.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of
the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’.
Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the
mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but
wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that surrounds him.
3.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams
to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story
abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe
Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Haversham and her beautiful ward Estella,
Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth
behind his own ‘great expectations’ in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the
convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most
important discovery of all - the truth about himself.
4.
1984, George Orwell
'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past'
George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book
of the twentieth century, making famous Big Brother, newspeak and Room 101.
Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the
past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which
demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big
Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a
fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.
5.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
Set in Hardy's Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A
Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral
and pessimistic.
It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be
descended from the ancient family of d'Urbeville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly,
and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy. It explores Tess's relationships with two very
different men, her struggle against the social mores of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the
hypocrisy of the age.
In addressing the double standards of the time, Hardy's masterly evocation of a world which we have lost,
provides one of the most compelling stories in the canon of English literature, whose appeal today defies the
judgement of Hardy's contemporary critics.
6.
Beloved, Toni Morrison
It is the mid-1800s. At Sweet Home in Kentucky, an era is ending as slavery comes under attack from the
abolitionists. The worlds of Halle and Paul D. are to be destroyed in a cataclysm of torment and agony. The
world of Sethe, however, is to turn from one of love to one of violence and death - the death of Sethe's baby
daughter Beloved, whose name is the single word on the tombstone, who died at her mother's hands, and
who will return to claim retribution.
7.
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Since its publication in 1897, Dracula continues to terrify readers with its depiction of a vampire with an
insatiable thirst for blood.
8.
How to read Literature, Terry Eagleton
What makes a work of literature good or bad? How freely can the reader interpret it? Could a nursery rhyme
like Baa Baa Black Sheep be full of concealed loathing, resentment, and aggression? In this accessible,
delightfully entertaining book, Terry Eagleton addresses these intriguing questions and a host of others. "How
to Read Literature" is the book of choice for students new to the study of literature and for all other readers
interested in deepening their understanding and enriching their reading experience. In a series of brilliant
analyses, Eagleton shows how to read with due attention to tone, rhythm, texture, syntax, allusion, ambiguity,
and other formal aspects of literary works. He also examines broader questions of character, plot, narrative,
the creative imagination, the meaning of fictionality, and the tension between what works of literature say and
what they show. Unfailingly authoritative and cheerfully opinionated, the author provides useful
commentaries on classicism, Romanticism, modernism, and postmodernism along with spellbinding insights
into a huge range of authors, from Shakespeare and Jane Austen to Samuel Beckett and J. K. Rowling
9.
Dubliners, James Joyce
James Joyce's Dubliners is an enthralling collection of modernist short stories which create a vivid picture of
the day-to-day experience of Dublin life. Joyce's first major work, written when he was only twenty-five,
brought his city to the world for the first time. His stories are rooted in the rich detail of Dublin life, portraying
ordinary, often defeated lives with unflinching realism. From 'The Sisters', a vivid portrait of childhood faith
and guilt, to 'Araby', a timeless evocation of the inexplicable yearnings of adolescence, to 'The Dead', in which
Gabriel Conroy is gradually brought to a painful epiphany regarding the nature of his existence, Joyce draws a
realistic and memorable cast of Dubliners together in an powerful exploration of overarching themes. Writing
of social decline, sexual desire and exploitation, corruption and personal failure, he creates a brilliantly
compelling, unique vision of the world and of human experience.
10.
Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift's classic satirical narrative was first published in 1726, seven years after Defoe's Robinson
Crusoe (one of its few rivals in fame and breadth of appeal). As a parody travel-memoir it reports on
extraordinary lands and societies, whose names have entered the English language: notably the minute
inhabitants of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, and the Yahoos in Houyhnhnmland, where talking horses are
the dominant species.
It spares no vested interest from its irreverent wit, and its attack on political and financial corruption, as well
as abuses in science, continue to resonate in our own times.
Top 10 Books for the study of Government and Politics
Suitable for LV students interested in studying Government and Politics.
Suitable for LVI and MVI Government and Politics students.
Suitable for LVI and MVI Government and Politics students interested in studying a Politics-related
degree course.
1
Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell
In Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell follows a penniless British writer through two great European
cities as he works seventeen-hour workdays in the squalid kitchens of trendy Parisian restaurants. After
working himself ragged and never getting ahead, he tries his luck in London where he lives the life of a
vagrant, sleeping in lodging houses and taking charity tea at the Salvation Army. Through these scenes,
Orwell explores one of the classic themes in most of his writing – that of man pitted against society.
2
Philosophy: The Classics (3rd edition)
Philosophy: The Classics, Third Edition is a brisk and invigorating tour through the great books of western
philosophy. It explores the works of Plato, Aristotle, Boethius, Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke,
Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Schopenhauer, Mill, Kierkegaard, Marx and Engels, Nietzsche, Russell, Ayer, Sartre,
Wittgenstein and Rawls. In his exemplary clear style, Warburton introduces and assesses twenty-seven
philosophical classics from Plato's Republic to Rawl's A Theory of Justice. Offering twenty-five guidebooks for
the price of one, not only is this great value, it's one of the most comprehensive introduction to philosophers
and their texts currently available.
3
The Globalisation of World Politics (5th edition)
John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens
Working from a unique non-U.S. perspective, this market-leading text provides a coherent, accessible, and
engaging introduction to the globalization of world politics. Now in its fifth edition, this internationally
successful text has been fully revised and updated in light of recent developments in world politics. New
chapters on post colonialism and post structuralism as well as increased emphasis on the global financial crisis,
forced migration, diplomacy and religion ensure The Globalization of World Politics remains the most
comprehensive introduction to international relations available. Expert contributors provide accessible but
stimulating insights into the history, theory, structures and key issues in IR, which are ideally suited to those
coming to the subject for the first time. This exceptional text is ideal for students who intend to study
international relations at undergraduate level.
4
Bring Home the Revolution
Jonathan Freedland
On a switchback ride through the USA, riding pillion with America's founding fathers, Jonathan Freedland
searches out the qualities that made America the land at the end of his childhood rainbow, the place his
grandfather and he conspired to run off to because of its open promise and unbounded potential. Noisy, crass,
greedy, riddled with crime, riven by race, obsessed by money: America, exporter of junk to the UK. Or is it?
From Lesbianville in New Hampshire to Tent City in Arizona, from the high kitsch celebration of Liberace to the
Bible Belt austerity of Iowa, from the paranoid militia of rural Montana to Florida's Condo Canyon, this is a
journey to the heart of modern America to Normal, Illinois. On his travels Freedland reveals how Americans
control of their own lives, shape their own communities and vibrantly assert their rights. And there's even a
twist: the spirit that inspires the American secret is actually our own a British revolutionary fervour mislaid
across the Atlantic. It's time Britain shared the vitality: time to reclaim the revolution and bring it home.
5
Utopia
Thomas More
Controversial, contradictory, and mysterious, Utopia by Sir Thomas More has engaged scholars and intrigued
readers since its initial publication in the century. More’s imagining of utopia presents a solution to many of
the social ills discussed in the first part of the text, yet seems also to embody a rejection of More’s own welldocumented Catholic beliefs. Through the voice of the mysterious traveler Raphael Hythloday, More describes
a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's
rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary
nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and political theory.
The novel popularized the concept of utopian societies in literary works, and can even be credited with the
first introduction of the Greek term “utopia” into the English language.
6
Using Political Ideas (5th edition)
Barbara Goodwin
Using Political Ideas is a unique blend of political philosophy, political theory and history of political thought. It
combines a critique of the major ideologies of recent and contemporary society with an analysis of the ideas
that form the very stuff of political debate. By exposing the interplay between ideas and ideologies, it shows
why political opponents often speak at cross-purposes and why rational agreement is so hard to achieve in
politics.
The fifth edition of this well respected and widely known text will be welcomed by all those interested in
questions such as:



Is equality more important than personal freedom?
Does the majority have the right to dictate to the minority in multicultural society?
Is nationalism a progressive force in the world?
With a new chapter on the political ideologies of the twenty-first century, and greater emphasis on
contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, citizenship and identity throughout the book, this new edition is
the ideal starting point for students and anyone else who needs an introduction to political thought.
7
The Origins of Political Order
Francis Fukuyama
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political
institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all
citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these
institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today's developing countries
– with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world. Francis Fukuyama, author of the bestselling
The End of History and the Last Man and one of our most important contemporary political thinkers, provides
a sweeping account of how today's basic political institutions developed. The first of a major two-volume work,
The Origins of Political Order begins with politics among our primate ancestors and follows the story through
the emergence of tribal societies, the growth of the first modern state in China, the beginning of the rule of
law in India and the Middle East, and the development of political accountability in Europe up until the eve of
the French Revolution. Drawing on a vast body of knowledge--history, evolutionary biology, archaeology, and
economics – Fukuyama has produced a provocative work that offers fresh insights on the origins of democratic
societies and raises essential questions about the nature of politics and its discontents.
8
The Blunders of Our Governments
Anthony King and Ivor Crewe
There are a handful of cock-ups that we remember all too well, from the poll tax to the Millennium Dome.
However, the list is longer than most of us realize and it’s growing. With unrivalled political savvy and a keen
sense of irony, distinguished political scientists Anthony King and Ivor Crewe open our eyes to the worst
government horror stories and explain why the British political system is quite so prone to appalling mistakes.
You will discover why:



The government wasted up to £20 billion pounds in a failed scheme to update London s Underground
system.
Tens of thousands of single mothers were left in poverty without financial support from absent
fathers.
Tony Blair committed the NHS to the biggest civilian IT project the world has ever seen, despite
knowing next to nothing about computing.
Informed by years of research and interviews with senior cabinet ministers and civil servants, this razor-sharp
diagnosis of flawed government is required reading for every UK citizen. With its spirited prescriptions for
more fool-proof policymaking, it will prove to be one of the most important political books of the decade.
9
Democracy and Public Space: The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance
John R. Parkinson
In an online, interconnected world, democracy is increasingly made up of wikis and blogs, pokes and tweets.
Citizens have become accidental journalists thanks to their handheld devices, politicians are increasingly
working online, and the traditional sites of democracy – assemblies, public galleries, and plazas – are becoming
less and less relevant with every new technology. And yet, this book argues, such views are leading us to
confuse the medium with the message, focusing on electronic transmission when often what cyber citizens
transmit is pictures and narratives of real democratic action in physical space. Democratic citizens are
embodied, take up space, battle over access to physical resources, and perform democracy on physical stages
at least as much as they engage with ideas in virtual space. Combining conceptual analysis with interviews and
observation in capital cities on every continent, John Parkinson argues that democracy requires physical public
space; that some kinds of space are better for performing some democratic roles than others; and that some
of the most valuable kinds of space are under attack in developed democracies. He argues that accidental
publics like shoppers and lunchtime crowds are increasingly valued over purposive, active publics, over citizens
with a point to make or an argument to listen to. The book offers an alternative vision for democratic public
space, and evaluates 11 cities - from London to Tokyo - against that ideal.
10
A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
This is a book that speaks of many things, of ticks and quilts and fuzzy sub-sets and noology (the study and
organisation of everything that has to do with knowing and knowledge), as well as political economy. It is
difficult to know how to approach it. What do you do with a book that dedicates an entire chapter to music
and animal behaviour – and then claims that it isn't a chapter? That presents itself as a network of "plateaus"
that are precisely dated, but can be read in any order? That deploys a complex technical vocabulary drawn
from a wide range of disciplines in the sciences, mathematics, and the humanities, but whose authors
recommend that you read it as you would listen to a record? A Thousand Plateaus provides a compelling
analysis of social phenomena and offers fresh alternatives for thinking about philosophy and culture. Its radical
perspective provides a toolbox for 'nomadic thought' and has had a galvanizing influence on today's anticapitalist movement.
Top Ten Background Reading for Religious Studies A Level
The following are useful reads for students of Religious Studies. They complement the course and will help
students to develop their knowledge, understanding and ability to critically analyse ethical and philosophical
issues.
1.
Jostein Gaardner: Sophie’s World
Who are you? Where does the world come from? These are two questions that Sophie
receives in her mailbox one day from an unknown stranger. So begins a mysterious
adventure for Sophie as she becomes the student of a philosopher who proceeds to
teach her the history of philosophy. This is excellent background reading for any budding
philosopher.
2.
Dialogue: a Journal of Religion and Philosophy
Dialogue has now been going for over 20 years and has been a useful support to
students of A Level Religious Studies during that time.
Dialogue covers a variety of different philosophical issues including arguments for and
against God, the problem of evil and religious language. Highly recommended for
students who are aiming at A*.
3.
Peter Vardy: The Puzzle of God
Peter Vardy has been doing A Level student conferences and writing books for the last 20
plus years. He has written several books in his ‘Puzzle’ series including ‘The Puzzle of Evil’
and ‘The Puzzle of Ethics’. ‘The Puzzle of God’ is a very good introduction to Philosophy of
Religion and covers many of the topics that students will be doing at A Level.
4.
Bertrand Russell: A History of Western Philosophy
A classic philosophical ‘grand oeuvre’, Bertrand Russell’s book is full of
insight and commentary. It does not need to be read from cover to cover, but serves as a
companion to Philosophy that can be either dipped in and out of, or used as a reference
book to complement a student’s knowledge and understanding. All serious philosophers
have a copy.
5.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
A classic read for anyone interested in themes such as good and evil, innocence and
corruption, and atonement.
When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed
irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places
him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him
to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family's rifts; and the shadowy
figure of their illegitimate half-brother Smerdyakov.
6.
Malala Yousafzai: I am Malala
An essential read for students who wish to better understand a dominant issue of our
current time: the battle between those who wish to control and indoctrinate, and those
who stand up for equality and freedom. At the age of 15, Malala was shot in the head by
the Taliban for speaking out in favour of girls’ education – she is a remarkable young
person who has become one of the most inspirational and respected people in the world
today.
7.
C S Lewis: Mere Christianity
One of the most popular introductions to the concept of faith ever written, ‘Mere
Christianity’ has sold millions of copies worldwide.
The book brings together C.S. Lewis’s famous radio broadcasts during the war years, in
which he set out simply to ‘explain and defend the belief that has been common to
nearly all Christians at all times’.
Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity’s many denominations, ‘Mere
Christianity’ provides an opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to absorb a
powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.
8.
Chaim Potok: My name is Asher Lev
The book charts Asher Lev’s life growing up in a Hassidic community. Asher Lev is the
artist who painted the fascinating 'Brooklyn Crucifixion.' Into it he poured all the
anguish and torment a Jewish person can feel when torn between the faith of his
fathers and the calling of his art. Here Asher Lev plunges back into his childhood and
recounts the story of love and conflict which dragged him to this crossroads.
9.
Graham Greene: The Power and the Glory
The title is an allusion to the doxology often added to the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For
thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen." During a
vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico, a worldly priest is on the run. With the
police closing in, his routes of escape are being shut off and his chances of survival are
getting fewer.
10. Shusaku Endo: Silence
A Japanese Catholic, Endo tells the story of two seventeenth-century missionaries
attempting to shore up the oppressed Japanese Christian movement. Father Rodrigues
has come to Japan to find the truth behind unthinkable rumours that his famous
teacher Ferreira has renounced his faith. After his arrival he discovers that the only way
to help the brutally persecuted Christians may be to apostatize himself.
Spanish – here are some recommendations for Spanish students
In English
Motorcycle Diaries – Che Guevara
The Ghosts of Spain – Giles Tremlett
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning- Laurie Lee
The Shadow of the Wind - Ruiz Zafón
In Spanish
Requiém por un Campesino Español – Ramón Sender
Three Plays (Bodas de sangre, Yerma, La casa de Bernarda Alba) – Federico García Lorca
El amor en los tiempos de cólera – Gabriel García Márquez
Crónica de una muerte anunciada - Gabriel García Márquez
Como agua para chocolate – Laura Esquivel
‘Laberintos’ – Jorge Luis Borges (my favourite from this collection of his poems and short stories is La muerte y
la brújula)
Geography – here are some recommendations for geography students
John Berger [2000]: Lilac and Flag - Bloomsbury Publishing [and the others in the trilogy]
Tim Butcher [2008]: Blood River - Vintage
Joseph Conrad [2007]: Heart of Darkness - Penguin
Ma Jian [2002]: Red Dust -Vintage
Patrick French [2011]: India. A Portrait - Allen Lane
Ma Jian [2009]: Beijing Coma - Vintage
Eric Schlosser [2002]: Fast Food Nation: What the All American Meal is Doing to the World - Penguin
Duncan Hewitt [2007}: Getting Rich First - Chatto & Windus
Jung Chiang [2004]: Wild Swans - Harper Perennial
Tony Parsons [2008]: My Favourite Wife - Harper
Dave Gorman [2008]: America Unchained - Ebury Press
P D James [2010]: Children of Men - Faber & Faber
Jonathan Watts [2010]: When a Billion Chinese Jump - Faber & Faber
Joe Bennett [2010]: Where Underpants Come From: From Checkout to Cotton Field - Travels Through the New
China Profile Books.
Khaled Hosseini [2008]: A Thousand Splendid Suns - Bloomsbury Press
Khaled Hosseini [2004]: The Kite Runner - Bloomsbury Press
John Le Carre [2006]: The Constant Gardener - Sceptre
Mark Edwards [2009]: Hard Rain - Hardrainproject
Richard Wrangham [2010]: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Profile Books
Fred Pearce [2009]: Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Travels to Where My Stuff Comes From - Eden Project Books
Fred Pearce [2007]: When the Rivers Run Dry: What happens When Our Water Runs Out? - Eden Project Books
Fred Pearce [2010] People Quake: Mass Migration, Ageing nations and the Coming Population Crash - Eden
Project
Mike Berners-Lee [2010]: How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything - Profile Books
Charles Clover [2005]: The End of the Line. How Overfishing is Changing The World and What We Eat - Ebury
Press.
Michael Braungart [2009]: Cradle to Cradle - Vintage
Stewart Lee Allen [2003]: In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food - Ballantine Books.
Richard Girling [2005]: Rubbish! Dirt on Our Hands and Crisis Ahead - Eden Project Books
Mark Kurlansky [2009]: The Last Fish Tale - Jonathan Cape
Nicolas Stern: [2009]: A Blueprint for a Safer Planet - Bodley Head