Pre-reading:

You don’t need to do a lot of preparation before you come, but it would be very useful if you could familiarise yourself with some introductory information on cell structure, protein composition, DNA/RNA and the flow of information in cells. The best place to explore that information is from the following website: https://portlandpress.com/essaysbiochem/pages/understanding_biochemistry.

From this website, there are five articles we would like you to read:

Enzymes; Membranes; Essential Chemistry for Biochemists*; Structure and Function of Nucleic Acids; Uncovering Protein Structure.

*This article in particular is important to read.

You might not be able to fully grasp all of this – this is fine. We hope, though, that it will give a nice bridge into the course and give some idea of the topics that you will be studying in detail during the first year at Oxford.

Pre-course Maths resources:

All undergraduates on the Biochemistry course do a Quantitative Biochemistry course in their first year, comprising lectures and departmentally organised problems classes and computing workshops. To help students prepare for these, we have produced a set of Maths resources for you to work through before arriving in Oxford. The lectures and problems classes will assume that you are familiar with all of this material. Please see the letter emailed to you for a link to access this material.

While there is absolutely no requirement for you to do any reading in advance of starting your degree, incoming students often ask for suggestions of books to read before coming up to Oxford, to broaden and deepen their biological knowledge and understanding.

If you do want to do some reading, here are some suggestions for entertaining and interesting books to buy or borrow. Not all the books below are in print, but many should be available in libraries or second-hand from suppliers such as abebooks.co.uk.

All parts of the Oxford Biology course have a strong underpinning in the study of evolution. Our current undergraduates agreed that Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene is an important read, and you could also try some of his other evolution books. Other recommended evolution books include The Art of Genes (Enrico Coen), Almost Like a Whale (Steve Jones), How to Clone a Mammoth (Beth Shapiro) and Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal (Lucy Cooke).

The first two terms will also have plenty of microbial and disease biology. For thought-provoking reads on these topics, you could try Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds (Merlin Sheldrake), Spillover (David Quammen), I Contain Multitudes (Ed Yong) or The Rules of Contagion (Adam Kucharski).

To reiterate, we are not expecting you to read all (or indeed any) of these books; none of them are required for your degree.

Textbooks

In general, it’s best to buy these after you come to Oxford, when you may be able to purchase them second hand and you have discovered which books suit your own tastes. Freshers have a £50 book allowance when they enrol, so remember to show your College ID card to get a 10% discount if you are buying them in Oxford.

There are three general texts which you will certainly use during the first year:

• Organic Chemistry, Clayden, Greeves, and Warren (OUP, 2nd ed, 2012)
• Inorganic Chemistry, Weller, Overton, Rourke, and Armstrong, (OUP, 8th ed, 2018)
• Atkins’ Physical Chemistry, Atkins, de Paula, and Keeler (OUP, 12th ed, 2022)

Reading

In order to give you a good background to some of the topics you will encounter in the first year, we recommend that you read the following Oxford Chemistry Primers in advance of your arrival:

• #9, Foundations of Organic Chemistry, Hornby & Peach (OUP)
• #94, Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry, Winter & Andrew (OUP)
• #40, Foundations of Physical Chemistry, Lawrence, Rodger & Compton (OUP)
• #93, Foundations of Physics for Chemists, Ritchie & Sivia (OUP)
• (and #37, Introduction to Quantum Theory and Atomic Structure, Cox (OUP) if you have time)

These can often be found cheaply on second-hand book sites (such as AbeBooks, eBay, World of Books etc.).

Mathematics

At the end of the first year, you will take the Physical Sciences preliminary examination which will consist of a paper in each of the three branches of Chemistry and one in Mathematics. For study in Mathematics, it will be helpful to do some revision in this subject. You will receive a booklet of problems to attempt via email. The recommended textbook is:

• Mathematical Methods for Science Students, Stephenson (Dover, 2nd ed, 2020)

The course you’re about to embark upon is hard work, and wouldn’t be nearly as stimulating, or fun, if it weren’t. So now is a good time to start preparing for an intense and unforgettable year. Below are some suggestions for introductory reading, which you should get stuck into as much as possible – but it’s not an exhaustive list, so do feel free to go beyond it…

It’s important to limber up so that you can hit the ground running, especially for your first paper, ‘Aristocracy and Democracy’.  The best way to do this is by reading some ancient texts, from which everything else starts, and on which all modern interpretations, including yours, will rely:

Above all, Herodotos’ Histories (try to get hold of a copy of the Landmark edition; if not, World’s Classics)
The Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Aristotle (Penguin edition)

Also useful for orienting yourself for this paper are:

Jonathan Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World (Oxford, 2006)
Simon Hornblower, The Greek World, 479-323 BC3 (London & New York, 2002)
John Camp, The Archaeology of Athens (New Haven, 2002); for a more up-to-date account bringing together history and archaeology, see Jennifer Neils & Dylan Rogers (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Classical Athens (Cambridge, 2021)

But, Greece is more than just Athens, and you should browse Christopher Mee, Greek Archaeology.  A Thematic Approach (Malden, MA & Chichester, 2011), a recent look at the wider picture and current trends.

Other stimulating reads, which will give you an idea of what CAAH is about, include:

Simon Price & Peter Thonemann, The Birth of Classical Europe.  A History from Troy to Augustine (London, 2010)
Mary Beard & John Henderson, Classics: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2000)
Keith Hopkins & Mary Beard, The Colosseum (London, 2005)
Mary Beard, SPQR (London, 2015) (in fact, anything by Mary Beard is recommended!)
Peter Parsons, City of the Sharp-nosed Fish (London, 2007)

Other good introductions to different aspects of the ancient world:

Paul Cartledge, The Greeks. A Portrait of Self and Others (Oxford, 2002); for a different, exciting, take on the same period, see James Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes (London, 1997)
Greg Woolf, Rome. An Empire’s Story (Oxford, 2012)
Susan Alcock & Robin Osborne (eds), Classical Archaeology (Oxford, 2007) – covers many aspects of the discipline
J Quinn, In Search of the Phoenicians (Princeton, 2018) and How the World made the West (2023)

The Shorter Oxford History of Europe is aimed at the general reader or first-year undergraduate: Classical Greece is edited by Robin Osborne, and very accessible; there is a companion book called Roman Europe; the series as a whole is very worthwhile.

The course you’ll be embarking on is hard work, and wouldn’t be nearly as stimulating and interesting if it weren’t. So now would be a good time to start preparing for an intense and unforgettable four years. Can I suggest that you limber up with Homer’s Odyssey (the Oxford World Classics translation by Verity is most useful), plus, perhaps, Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Melville, also Oxford World Classics).

Reading some ancient philosophy is a good idea, too, and Plato’s Apology (translated by Grube, revised by Cooper) is a good place to start. Other stimulating reads, which will give you an idea what kinds of things Classics at university involves, might include M. Beard and J. Henderson, Classics: a very short introduction; K. Hopkins and M. Beard, The Colosseum; and P. J. Parsons, City of the Sharp-nosed Fish. Robert Harris’ novels Pompeii and Imperium do a good job of remaining historically plausible and being page-turners.

The online Classics magazine Antigone Journal is full of interesting articles on a huge range of topics from Indo-European languages to Ovid and to the Arabic reception of Greek philosophy.

Please see the list published on the Department’s website: Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford.

Economics

The Economics you will be studying, in your first three terms, consists of:

1. Introductory Microeconomics: consumer theory; producer theory; market equilibrium with perfect competition, monopoly and simple oligopoly models; factor markets; general equilibrium, welfare and externalities
2. Introductory Macroeconomics: national income and expenditure; consumption; investment; international trade; the demand for money; banks and the supply of money; inflation; unemployment; business cycles; monetary and fiscal policy; and the financial crisis
3. Elementary Mathematical Economics: applications of functions and graphs, differentiation, partial differentiation, maxima and minima, optimisation subject to constraints.
4. Probability and Statistics

Lectures, tutorials and classes in Michaelmas Term will focus on Microeconomics and on Mathematical Economics.

For Microeconomics we will draw on material from the CORE textbook The Economy, which is available for free online and that you can start exploring. However, much of the analytical and mathematical content – both in the lectures and in the tutorials – will require a more in-depth treatment, of the sort found in more ‘traditional’ textbooks. We recommend using: Frank, R. (or Frank, R. and R. Cartwright), Microeconomics and Behaviour, McGraw-Hill. For Macroeconomics, the textbook is C.I. Jones, Macroeconomics, W.W. Norton. It may be helpful for you to have a look at these in advance (reading the first few chapters), or similar introductory books.

No less importantly though, we encourage some general background reading in Economics and related fields according to your interest.

Management

In Management, there is no textbook and your first year will be taken up by eight different subjects taught over sixteen weeks. These subjects are, in no particular order, Accounting, Employment Relations, Finance, Information Management, Marketing, Organisation Behaviour, Strategic Management, and Technology & Operations Management. There is no expectation of any prior knowledge in any of these management topics.

More than preparing these particular subjects, it is useful for you to do some general background reading.  The most useful reading is the business press in publications such as The Economist and the Financial Times.  These will allow you to follow the current economy and to provide yourself with case studies of managerial behaviour.

While they are not required, we also suggest several books, some of which are classics that were written decades ago but remain relevant today, and some of which are more recent.  These are:

• Michael Lewis, Liar’s Poker
• Marc Levinson, The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
• Chris Miller, Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

Please see the email sent 21/08, containing a welcome letter and an induction pack – thank you!

Please note:

All English and Joint Schools offer holders should have received their reading lists from Prof. Eltis and Prof. Palfrey. Below is the (optional) advance reading for the Approaches to Literature and Language papers.

——–

Language:

• Ronald Carter and Walter Nash, Seeing through language : a guide to styles of English writing (Oxford : Basil Blackwell, 1990)
• Jonathan Culpeper, History of English (London: Routledge, 2005)
• The Language, Society, and Power Reader  ed., Annabelle Mooney et.al (London: Routledge, 2011).

Literature:

• Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2009), 4th.edn.
• John Lennard, The Poetry Handbook: a guide to reading poetry for pleasure and practical criticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
• Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan (editors), Literary theory: an anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002)

You may also find the following books very useful: 

• Jonathon Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (1997)
• R.Selden, Practising Theory and Reading Literature: An Introduction (1989)
• M.Short, Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose (1996)
• J.Wolfreys, Glossolalia: An Alphabet of Critical Keywords (2003)
• Clare Connors, Literary Theory: a beginner’s guide (2010)
• David Calder, Literature in the Modern World (1990)
• John Lennard and Mary Luckhurst, The Drama Handbook: a guide to reading plays (2005)
• David Lodge, ed., Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader (2nd edn revd. Nigel Wood, 2000)
• —————–, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism: A Reader (1988)
• Martin Meisel, How Plays Work (2007)
• M.Montgomery, Ways of Reading (2000)
• Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics (1983, rept. 1996)

These are not set texts: they are just suggestions of books that contemporary art students often find useful or stimulating. You are not expected to have read them all before commencing your studies. We do encourage Freshers to read about and look at contemporary art before and throughout their studies.

• Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida (Vintage, 1993)
• Alice Correia (ed.), What is Black Art? (Penguin, 2022)
• Maja Fowkes and Reuben Fowkes, Art and Climate Change (Thames & Hudson, 2022)
• Dan Hicks, Every Monument Will Fall: A Story of Remembering and Forgetting (Penguin, 2026)
• Linda Nochlin, Why have there been no great women artists? 50th anniversary edition (Thames & Hudson, 2021)
• Alice Proctor, The Whole Picture: the colonial story of the art in our museums and why we need to talk about it (Cassell, 2020)
• Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto (Verso, 2020)
• Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art? (Chicago, 2009)
• Susan Sontag, On Photography (Penguin, 1979)
• Julian Stallabrass, Contemporary Art, 2nd edition (Oxford, 2020)
• Hito Steyerl, Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat (Verso, 2025)
• Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World (Princeton, 2021)

We also recommend books that are published in these two series (here you might like to follow your own interests and chose one artwork or theme to explore in more depth):

• Afterall’s One Work
• Whitechapel/MIT’s Documents of Contemporary Art

It is also very rewarding to read art magazines such as Frieze, Art Monthly, and e-flux. The Tate Modern website has links to articles and videos on contemporary art and artists.

French

Many students begin the course without having had the opportunity to undertake much formal study of French literature. Both literature papers require you to undertake a close reading in the original French of a range of literary texts selected from different periods and different genres so that you will gradually build up your reading speed and learn how to write critical commentaries and essays. This will provide a sure grounding for the literary study you will do from the second year onwards.

It is imperative to have read at least all of the texts for study in Michaelmas term (marked MT) BEFORE you arrive at College. It is also a good idea to read more widely around these set books: find other texts by the same authors, and novels, poems or plays written at the same times as those set, in French or English (or your other language).

Paper III Short Texts (Note that if you are doing French as part of the Joint School of European and Middle Eastern Languages, you do not take this paper):
This paper will introduce you to the techniques of close reading through the study of four short works. You will certainly need to show that you know the texts well by establishing the context of the passages, but the skill is to show that you can comment pertinently and in detail on the words and ideas in front of you. When commenting on texts written in verse, you are required to show an awareness of the author’s use of versification.

• (i) Montaigne, ‘Des Cannibales’ from Essais, vol. 1 (recommended edition: Essais: ‘Des cannibales’ et ‘Des coches’, ed. by Tarpinian, Éditions Ellipses, 1994) MT
• (ii) Racine, Phèdre (recommended edition by Raymond Picard, Gallimard ‘Folio’, 2015) MT
• (iii) Verlaine, Romances sans paroles (recommended edition by Arnaud Bernadet, GF-Flammarion, 2018 [2012]. MT
• (iv) NDiaye, Papa doit manger (recommended edition Éditions de Minuit, 2003) HT

Paper IV French Narrative Fiction

This paper introduces you to four narrative texts written between the Middle Ages and the twentieth century:

• Anon, La Chastelaine de Vergy in Nouvelles courtoises, ed. S. Méjean-Thiolier and M-F. Notz-Grob, Paris: Livre de Poche, 1997. [ISBN 2-253-066613] HT
• Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses, éd. Pomeau, Paris: Flammarion, 1996. HT
• George Sand, Indiana, ed. Flammarion, Folio Classique, 1984. HT
• Maryse Condé, Traversée de la mangrove TT

French Sole (only applicable to those studying BA French)

Paper XI Introduction to French Film Studies

Introductory reading:

• Michael Temple and Michael Witt (eds), The French Cinema Book (British Film Institute, 2004). A detailed introduction to French cinema as an industry.
• David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, An Introduction (McGraw Hill, various editions). A very useful introduction explaining all the technical terms that are used to analyse a film.

This paper will introduce you to four twentieth- and twenty-first century French film directors. We discuss the concepts of realism, documentary and avant-garde cinema and introduce the basic tools of film analysis.

In your essay writing, you will be able to engage with the directors’ ideas and with their particular way of realising them. The films under discussion involve a wide range of themes such as love, power, gender relations and autobiography. Each director has a different style of filmmaking. The focus of the course is the question of how the film medium represents contemporary reality. We will look at the way each of these directors uses devices of storytelling to present a particular point of view upon the world we live in. You will be encouraged to watch more films by each of these directors.

The prescribed films are:

• Jean-Luc Godard: Pierrot le fou (1965)
• Maurice Pialat: À nos amours (1983)
• Claire Denis: Beau Travail (1999)
• Céline Sciamma: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019)

The teaching for this paper takes place in Michaelmas Term (first term), with seminars on the prescribed films in weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. You will be required to submit to your seminar tutor an essay on three of the films and to do a seminar presentation on the fourth. [Normally the three-hour examination in Trinity Term (third term) requires you to answer three questions, each on a different film. There will be a choice of two questions on each film.] In 2026-7, this paper will not be formally examined, but instead certified on the basis of the submission of one of the essays written as part of the course.

In addition to the seminars you must follow the modern languages lecture-series entitled Introduction to Film Studies in weeks 1, 3, 5 and 7 in Michaelmas Term. These lectures present basic concepts of film analysis – montage, story, self-reference, and spectatorship – in four lectures devoted to four international films. These films are used simply as illustrations for the lectures and are not treated as set texts for examination purposes. The films are: Sergei Eisenstein: Potemkin (1925); Alfred Hitchcock: 39 Steps (1935); Michelangelo Antonioni (1967): Blow-up; Claire Denis: Beau Travail (1999).

Please note that in Canvas there is a reading list for this part of the course which includes links to online access or digitized versions of many of the texts. Students in the past have sometimes not understood that the links can be used to access the documents. If you find this complicated, there are some explanations here: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/reading-lists

Paper XII Introduction to French Literary Theory

This paper will introduce you to four twentieth-century literary critics. In your essay writing you will be able to engage with their ideas about literature and with their particular way of expressing them. You will be encouraged to apply these ideas to your own reading of texts.

The prescribed authors (note the recommended editions) are:

• Paul Valéry, ‘Questions de poésie’ and ‘Poésie et pensée abstraite’, in Théorie poétique et esthétique, part of Variété: Oeuvres, vol. I (Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade) [both essays are available electronically on Canvas, accessible via Single Sign-On once you get to Oxford]
• Jean-Paul Sartre, Qu’est-ce que la littérature? (Folio) [Sections I and II only]
• Roland Barthes, Critique et vérité (Seuil)
• Hélène Cixous, ‘Le rire de la Méduse’ in Le rire de la Méduse et autres ironies, ed. by Frédéric Regard (Galilée). [essay available electronically on Canvas, accessible via Single Sign-On]

The teaching for this paper takes place in Hilary Term (second term), in weeks 5-8 and Trinity Term weeks 1-4, in a combination of lectures and seminars. You will be required to submit to your seminar tutor an essay on three of the authors, and to do a seminar presentation on the fourth. The three-hour examination in Trinity Term requires you to answer three questions, each on a different author. There will be a choice of two essay questions on each author.

Paper XIII Key Texts in French Thought

This paper will introduce you to four thinkers from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. In both essay and commentary writing you will be able to engage with their ideas and with their particular way of expressing them.

The prescribed texts (note the recommended editions) are:

• René Descartes, Discours de la méthode, edited by Laurence Renault (Garnier-Flammarion)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité (Folio)
• Simone de Beauvoir, Le Deuxième Sexe (Folio), vol. I, ‘Introduction’; ‘Mythes’; II, ‘La femme mariée’; ‘La mère’. (NB Both the French ‘Idées’ collection and the English translation have sections missing and cannot be relied upon)
• Aimé Césaire, Discours sur le colonialisme, suivi de Discours sur la Négritude (Présence Africaine).

The teaching for this paper takes place in Michaelmas Term weeks 5-8 and Hilary Term weeks 1-4 in a combination of lectures and seminars. You will be required to submit to your seminar tutor an essay or commentary on three of the authors, and to do a seminar presentation on the fourth. Written work should include at least one essay and at least one commentary. The three-hour examination in Trinity Term requires you to answer three questions, each on a different text, one a commentary, the other two essays. There will be a choice of one commentary passage from each text and one essay question on each text.

We enclose a book list for the first-year geography course that might help you prepare in advance of your arrival. Whilst the reading list is quite long, don’t be afraid of it. Read any sections that are of interest to you, make short notes, note down any areas of interest, and get a ‘feel’ for the topic. Whilst it might seem expedient to look to a large language model like ChatGPT to summarise readings, we would advise against it at this stage. Just try and give the readings a go with your own knowledge and understanding. It’s normal to find some of it hard – if you knew everything already you wouldn’t need to go to university! You would benefit most if you read as much as you can, follow your curiosities on anything that opens up questions, and see the gaps in your understanding as opportunities for exploration when you get here. Think how the ideas in these books might relate to environments and issues that you are already familiar with.

In addition, we enclose a list of key books for the course entitled ‘Geographical Controversies’. During the first year this course entails reading two of the books on this list and writing a critical review of them. Before the start of term it would be beneficial for you to consider which of the books you would like to study and to complete the reading of one of them. Towards the end of term, you will be required to submit your first critical review. You will receive an email from the College regarding a book-buying scheme that allots £50 for any books you want to buy ahead of term. It may be a good idea to use this to purchase the two books you want to work on for ‘Controversies’. Further information on the first year course can be found on this website:  https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course-structure.html

Try ABE Books for cheap second hand copies:

Reference Books

Clifford, N. J., French, S. & Valentine, G. (eds.) 2010. Key Methods in Geography. London: Sage.

Gregory, D. et al (eds.) 2009. The Dictionary of Human Geography, 5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell.

Clifford, N.J., Holloway, S.L., Rice, S.P. & Valentine, G. (eds.) 2009. Key Concepts in Geography. London: Sage.

Thomas, D.S.G. (ed). 2016. The Dictionary of Physical Geography, 4th ed. Wiley-Blackwell.

Physical Geography

Barry, R.G. and Chorley, R.J. (2009). Atmosphere, Weather and Climate. Routledge.

Ruddiman, W. F. (2014) Earth’s Climate: Past and Future. W.H. Freeman.

Huggett, R.J. and Shuttleworth, E. (2023). Fundamentals of Geomorphology. Routledge.

Townsend, C.R., Begon, M. and Harper, J.L. (2008). Essentials of Ecology. Blackwell Publishing.

Human Geography

Aitken, S., Valentine, G. (2015) Approaches to Human Geography: Philosophies, Theories, People and Practices. London: Sage.

Daley, Patricia, and Ian Klinke. (2025). Human Geography: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Mamadouh, Virginie, et al. (2025). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Geography. 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Massey, Doreen B (2005). For Space. Sage Publications.

Johnston, R., Sidaway, J. (eds.) (2016) Geography and Geographers: Anglo-American Human Geography since 1945. New York: Routledge

Techniques and Statistics

A. Lovell, S. E. Coen, & M. W. Rosenberg (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Methodologies in Human Geography (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 61–69). Routledge

Rogerson, P. (2020). Statistical Methods for Geography: A Student’s Guide. SAGE Publications.

Flowerdew, R. and Martin, D. (2005) Methods in Human Geography – A guide for students doing a research project. Pearson, Harlow.

Montello, D.R. & Sutton, P. (2006). An Introduction to Scientific Research Methods in Geography, Sage Publications.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTROVERSIES

LIST OF SET BOOKS 2026-27

Carson, R. A. (1962/2000) Silent Spring

Widely available as a Penguin Modern Classic edition and for Kindle

Hickel, J. (2021) Less is More: How De-growth Will Save the World.

Widely available in paperback and Kindle

Kimmerer, R. W. (2020) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.

Widely available in paperback and Kindle

Malm, A., 2018. The Progress of This Storm: Nature and Society in a Warming World.Verso Books.

Monbiot, G. (2022) Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet.

Widely available in paperback and Kindle

Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action

      Cambridge: University Press

Stainforth, D. (2023) Predicting Our Climate Future: What we know, What We Don’t Know And What We Can’t Know

Oxford University Press

Trouet, V (2020) Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings

Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore

Wang, X. (2020) Blockchain Chicken Farm: and Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside.

Widely available in paperback and Kindle

SET BOOKS SUMMARIES

Silent Spring  

Rachel Carson

1962, Houghton Mifflin; 2000 Penguin Modern Classics 

Rachel Carson’s ground-breaking book, Silent Spring, remains a landmark work in environmental literature. Published in 1962, it sounded the alarm on the widespread use of pesticides and its devastating impact on ecosystems. Carson’s eloquent prose and meticulous research highlighted the far-reaching consequences of indiscriminate chemical spraying, raising awareness about the fragile balance of nature and the urgent need for environmental stewardship. Despite its immense influence, Silent Spring ignited significant controversy, challenging entrenched interests and initiating a broader public debate on the costs and benefits of industrialization and chemical-intensive agriculture.

Silent Spring begins by presenting a vivid portrait of a world silenced by pesticides, where birds no longer sing and once-thriving ecosystems lay barren. Carson’s engaging storytelling captivates readers from the outset, demonstrating the intricate connections between living organisms and their environment. Drawing on a wide range of scientific studies, she meticulously documents the devastating impacts of pesticides on wildlife, particularly birds, and the long-term consequences for human health. Carson’s eloquent plea for a re-evaluation of the indiscriminate use of chemicals in agriculture and public health interventions sent shockwaves through the scientific community and challenged the powerful chemical industry.

Controversy erupted in response to Silent Spring’s publication, with critics questioning Carson’s credentials and accusing her of emotionalism and exaggeration. The book’s indictment of the chemical industry, its regulators, and the government’s role in protecting public health collided with vested interests and established narratives. However, Carson’s meticulous research and evidence-based arguments stood firm against the onslaught of criticism. While some of her specific claims have been refined over time, Silent Spring’s central message—that humanity’s actions have profound and often unintended consequences on the environment—continues to resonate, spurring ongoing research and advocacy in the field of environmental science.

Less is More: How De-growth Will Save the World

Jason Hickel 

2021, Penguin 

In “Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World,” Jason Hickel presents a provocative and controversial argument challenging the prevailing paradigm of relentless economic growth. Hickel argues that the pursuit of perpetual expansion is driving ecological devastation, exacerbating inequality, and failing to deliver true well-being. Drawing on a wide range of data, the author advocates for a radical shift towards a degrowth model that prioritizes sufficiency, social justice, and ecological sustainability. While Hickel’s book has garnered attention and sparked vigorous debates, its bold proposals have faced criticism for their feasibility and potential consequences.

The book’s central contention, that degrowth is the key to a sustainable and just future, has generated considerable controversy. Critics argue that scaling down economic activity could lead to job losses, economic stagnation, and a decline in living standards. Hickel counters these concerns by challenging the assumption that growth is the only path to prosperity, emphasizing that degrowth entails a redistribution of resources and reimagining of societal values. However, some readers may find his proposals insufficiently detailed or dismiss them as idealistic.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants   

Robin Wall Kimmerer 

2020, Penguin 

In “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,” author Robin Wall Kimmerer weaves an intricate narrative that challenges the dominant scientific paradigm while illuminating the profound wisdom of Indigenous cultures. This ground-breaking work has sparked both admiration and controversy, igniting heated debates about the intersection of traditional knowledge and modern science.

Kimmerer, a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, embarks on a journey to bridge the gap between two seemingly incompatible worldviews: the Western scientific perspective and the rich ecological wisdom passed down through generations of Indigenous peoples. Drawing from her personal experiences and Indigenous teachings, she advocates for a new ecological ethic that celebrates reciprocity and respect for the natural world. One of the most controversial aspects of the book lies in Kimmerer’s insistence on elevating Indigenous knowledge systems to the same level as Western science. She challenges the notion that scientific knowledge is the only valid way of understanding the natural world. Instead, she argues for a more inclusive approach that embraces Indigenous ways of knowing, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all living beings. Whether viewed as a ground-breaking manifesto or a threat to established norms, Kimmerer’s blend of memoir, scientific inquiry, and Indigenous storytelling undeniably demands attention and invites readers to reconsider their relationship with the natural world

The Progress of This Storm: Nature and Society in a Warming World

Andreas Malm

2018 Verso Books 

Malm is a Professor of Human Ecology at Lund University who has written extensively about “Fossil Capital’, arguing that the central role of fossil fuels in the emerging capitalist economy of 18th and 19th centuries laid the roots of global warming. In this book, Malm presents a philosophical challenge to fashionable academic theories which he believes fail to explain the crisis effectively and may be hindering attempts to respond to the crisis. In particular, he challenges those theories such as posthumanism and new materialism which blur the distinction between nature and society by treating humans and non-human entities as possessing similar forms of agency. Malm is critical of several key thinkers on the human-environment relationship, particularly Bruno Latour, and argues that perspectives which do not recognize the distinctiveness of human agency make it difficult to identify responsibility for environmental destruction and thus weaken the basis for meaningful political action.

In the context of environmental crises, Malm believes that understanding the distinction between the social and the natural is more essential than ever to provide an analytical framework to identify the sites at which the social and natural combine. He focuses particularly on the burning of fossil fuels which brings together capital, fossil fuels and labour in a way which he considers is at the root of our contemporary ecological crisis. In the face of this crisis, Malm believes that “militant climate realism” is required to mobilise effective political action.

Regenesis 

George Monbiot

2022 Allen Lane  

George Monbiot is a journalist, environmentalist and political activist. He studied zoology at Oxford, and currently lives in the city. He writes a column in the Guardian, and has published a number of polemical books including Captive State, The Age of Consent, Heat, and Feral.

In Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet, George Monbiot focuses on what he considers ‘the most important of all environmental questions’: the question of land use. In a critical examination of global food systems, he focuses on farming which in his view ‘is the world’s greatest cause of habitat destruction, the greatest cause of the global loss of wildlife, and the greatest cause of the global extinction crisis’. He explores the way in which standardisation has occurred in both diets and farming practices. He discusses the emergence of a Global Standard Diet which has reduced the global diversity of diets and led to an increase in the livestock population. He describes how food is being produced on what he calls the Global Standard Farm, dominated by agribusiness with four companies now controlling 90% of the global grain trade. He explores the effects of these standardised farming practices, focusing a whole chapter, ‘What lies beneath’, on soil and the effects of farming on the complex ecosystem of soil.

As a response to the destructive effects of contemporary farming, Monbiot explores the potential of alternative farming practices through a series of examples of farmers using regenerative practices including no-till farming, agroecology, and diverse cropping systems that prioritize soil regeneration. Monbiot argues a case for a diet free from animals and devotes a chapter, ‘Farmfree’, to exploring the potential of new technologies, including precision fermentation, to produce meat identical proteins and fats. Fermentation in vats would take minimal land and free up farmland for restoration. As the sub-title of the book indicates, Monbiot considers the search for ways to feed the world ‘without devouring the planet’ to be one of society’s most urgent challenges.

Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action

Ostrom, E.

1990 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.   

Fifteen years ago, in 2009, Elinor Ostrom became the first person to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for work related to the environment. She is the first woman ever to have received the award. Ostrom’s work challenged the prevailing assumption that common-pool resources, such as fisheries, forests, and water systems, are best managed either through privatization or government regulation to prevent overuse and depletion. Instead, Ostrom demonstrated through extensive fieldwork and empirical studies that local communities can effectively self-organize and govern these resources sustainably. She identified key principles that enable successful management of the commons, such as clearly defined boundaries, rules suited to local conditions, collective decision-making, effective monitoring, and graduated sanctions for rule violations. Her research provided valuable insights into how economic and social institutions function and how communities can collaborate to manage shared resources without leading to the “tragedy of the commons.” This work has had profound implications for environmental geography, economics, political science, and public policy, highlighting the importance of trust, communication, and cooperation in resource management. Ostrom’s contributions have significantly advanced our understanding of economic governance and collective action.

Predicting Our Climate Future: What We Know, What We Don’t Know, And What We Can’t Know

Stainforth, D.

2023 Oxford University Press: Oxford   

Climate change poses basic challenges that make us rethink what we know and how we study it. This is especially important for geographers because climate change impacts society greatly, and the science is still developing. Historical precedents show that scientific understanding often undergoes significant revisions before reaching consensus. This book investigates the complexities of climate science. Which conclusions about climate change are reliable and which should be approached with skepticism? The author, David Stainforth, is a well-known climate modeller. Here he addresses the core issues of climate change, illustrating how traditional research methods are often inadequate for this complex subject. Effective responses to climate change depend on a shared understanding of the foundational scientific knowledge, yet current academic structures often fail to distinguish between robust findings and more questionable claims. He advocates for innovative approaches that span the physical sciences, social sciences, economics, and policy.

Tree Story: the History of the World Written in Rings.

Trouet, V.

2020 Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.  

In this first-hand account of life as a researcher in the field of paleoenvironmental reconstruction, Valerie Trouet explores the science of dendrochronology — the study of tree rings — to uncover the history of our planet. The book reveals how tree rings provide precise records of climatic conditions over centuries and millennia, offering insights into historical events, environmental changes, and the impact of human activities.

Trouet integrates narratives from her own research with other scientific studies to illustrate how tree rings have been utilized to understand phenomena such as droughts, volcanic eruptions, and the rise and fall of civilizations. The book emphasizes the significance of trees as natural archives and highlights their crucial role in enhancing our understanding of the past and informing our preparedness for the future. Readers of this work will appreciate its focus not just on what can be learned about past environmental but will come to see how such knowledge is often contested and is rarely arrived at without controversy.

Blockchain Chicken Farm: and Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside

Xiaowei Wang

2020, Farrar, Straus and Giroux   

In their thought-provoking and controversial book, “Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside,” Xiaowei Wang dives into the intriguing intersection between technology and rural life in China. Wang presents a vivid exploration of the impact of digital advancements on traditional farming practices and uncovers the complex consequences that arise when new technologies collide with age-old traditions. Through a series of captivating stories, the author sheds light on the innovative ways in which blockchain, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence are reshaping the agricultural landscape. However, it is precisely this convergence of technology and rural life that renders the book so curious, as Wang critically examines the potential social, economic, and environmental repercussions that emerge from these developments.

At the heart of the controversy lies Wang’s incisive analysis of the consequences of technology on rural communities. By delving into the stories of blockchain-tracked chickens, livestreamed pig farming, and e-commerce platforms connecting farmers directly with urban consumers, the author explores how technological innovations disrupt traditional power dynamics and social structures. Wang investigates the implications of these changes, revealing the economic inequalities that arise and the potential erosion of community and cultural practices. By questioning the sustainability and long-term viability of these new technological approaches, “Blockchain Chicken Farm” challenges the prevailing narrative of progress and calls for a critical examination of the costs and benefits associated with the tech-driven transformation of agriculture.

Please refer to the letter sent on 14th August from Prof. D. Groiser.

Please refer to the email from admissions@bnc.ox.ac.uk sent the day after A Level results, Friday 14th August. Please confirm your modules choices by Monday 24th August at the latest.

Language

For all students:

• Soluzioni: A Practical Grammar of Contemporary Italian, by Denise De Rome (Routledge, 2015), fourth edition.

Those who applied to Beginners Italian should consider purchasing also a copy of:

• The Ultimate Italian Review. Review and Practice, by David M. Stillman (McGraw-Hill, 2013).

At a more Advanced level, we also recommend the following reference books:

• A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian, by Martin Maiden and Cecilia Robustelli (Routledge, 2007; second edition).
• Using Italian Vocabulary, by Marcel Danesi (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

You are strongly advised to acquire a good-sized bilingual dictionary (such as Oxford-Paravia, Zanichelli, Collins), also available in libraries. You may also use the following online dictionaries, but we recommend you always write down the word or expression you’ve looked up in your own vocabulary notebook.

Literature and Cinema

Each of the two papers, studied in the first year, has a set of prescribed texts:

Modern Italian Narrative and Cinema (Paper IV)

Prescribed texts (any edition of the following, in Italian):

1. Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo [1947] (Einaudi or other publisher)
2. Italo Calvino, Il cavaliere inesistente [1959] (Einaudi)
3. Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare [1963] (Einaudi)
4. Igiaba Scego, La mia casa è dove sono [2010] (Rizzoli or other publisher)

Prescribed film:

1. Marco Tullio Giordana (director), I cento passi [2000], available on DVD (Medusa, 2001)

N.B. This paper will be studied in the first term, and therefore at least the first three novels must have been read (either in the original Italian or in translation) by the time you come up in October.

They should be read preferably in the order of publication as stated above. The fourth novel, by Igiaba Scego, does not have an English translation and for this reason it will be studied later in the year. The prescribed film, too, will be studied later and does not require any prior preparation.

Background Reading:
A very useful introduction to Italian history and culture is Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge UP, 1994). An excellent introduction to modern Italian literature is Robert Gordon, Introduction to Twentieth-Century Italian Literature (Duckworth, 2005). For film studies, you might want to familiarise yourself with the subject through the following: David Bordwell and Kirstin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction (London: McGraw Hill, 2008, 8th ed).

Lyric Poetry (Paper III)

This is an anthology of lyric poems, which span the period from the Middle Ages to the present day and include a range of poets, styles, and metrical forms. The lyric anthology will allow you to trace several thematic developments across texts and time periods, studying both language and form in depth, while learning about the history of Italian literature and the history of ideas, knowledge which will help you make more informed choices about the later part of your Italian course. The Lyric anthology is produced by the Italian Sub-Faculty and a copy will be available at the Faculty Office or on Canvas.

N.B. This paper will be studied in the second term, starting in January, and it requires no preparatory reading at this stage.

It would be useful for you to do some preparatory reading before arrival and there are two things on which you should concentrate. First, we find that students sometimes struggle to write correct English when they arrive in Oxford. It is therefore vital that you brush up on the basics of grammar, style and punctuation. One suggested title to look at (there are many more) is: Williams & Bizup, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (13th ed, 2021) – You don’t need the most up-to-date edition of this book. Older versions are fine.

The other thing you need to do is to start exploring how lawyers think, though this of course will take up the whole of your degree. However, there is no harm in making a start before you come. Although it is primarily aimed at a US audience, we recommend: Schauer, Thinking Like A Lawyer (2012) – second hand copies are available – try ABE books.

In your first two terms in Oxford, you will be preparing for Law Moderations, a university examination, which you will take the following March. The examination consists of three papers: Criminal Law; Constitutional Law; and A Roman Introduction to Private Law. Law is not an easy subject for the beginner; you will need to acquire rapidly a range of new skills. We do not advise you to go very deeply into any of the three Moderations subjects at this stage, but you should at least read the following before arriving:

Constitutional Law – The main textbook for this course is Mark Elliott and Robert Thomas, Public Law (5th ed, 2024). Please read and think about chapters 1-3 before the beginning of term. Online access can be purchased through OUP website (https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/public-law-9780192862631?Cc=gb&lang=en& or look for a second hand copy of the 5th edition)

It is also worth reading Martin Louglin’s A Very Short Introduction to the British Constitution (OUP 2013) before you arrive.

Criminal Law – J C N Horder, Ashworth’s Principles of Criminal Law (10th ed, 2022), chapters 1-5. This book is not sufficiently detailed to serve as the main textbook for the course, but it is an excellent introduction to the basic building blocks of criminal law, and to the standards against which criminal laws are judged.

A Roman Introduction to Private Law – Barry Nicholas, An Introduction to Roman Law (1975), pp 1-54, 98-107, 158-167, 207-211. You will use this book regularly during the course, so it may be worth buying it now. Second-hand editions are readily available on ABE and it does not matter if you obtain an older edition.

Not yet finalised.

Not yet finalised.

We hope you are looking forward to starting the medical course. You will probably be in need of a good break before you start, but if you can make time for a little gentle reading, you will find it helpful to lay some foundations for your studies here.

The following books provide a useful broad introduction to some of the topics you will be studying here. You should aim to read at least two of the titles listed below. Please note the ISBNs refer to paperback editions, but they are also available as e-books.

• Andrew Dilnot & Michael Blastland, The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing Through a World of Numbers (Profile books 2008. ISBN: 9781846681110). A general overview of how to interpret (and misinterpret) numerical data. Strongly recommended.
• Fran Ashcroft, The Spark of Life (Penguin, 2013. ISBN: 9780141046532). An informal and very gentle introduction to the neurophysiology that you will be studying in the first term.
• Lewis Wolpert, “How We Live and Why We Die: the secret lives of cells” (Faber & Faber; ISBN-13:978-0571239122).
• Denis Noble, “Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity”. (Cambridge University Press; ISBN-13:978-1107176249#)
• Martin Wehling, “Principles of Translational Science in Medicine: From Bench to Bedside” ISBN: 9780128204931, eBook ISBN: 9780323999625

You will receive some additional material from the Medical Faculty Office, including advice about more specific and more technical preparatory reading.

We hope that you will enjoy reading some of these books. Please remember this reading is not essential, so only read what time and resources allow for.

Please read the relevant section below, as well as the initial overview. 

The textbook for the logic component of the first-year course which will be the main part of our philosophy work in Michaelmas Term will be Volker Halbach’s The Logic Manual.  This can be purchased from Amazon and elsewhere, and you will need your own copy for the course.  You are very strongly advised to get hold of this in advance and to start working through it; this is where we will start, and you need to ‘hit the ground running’!  You might well find working through the (older, rather more informal) text ‘Logic’ by Wilfrid Hodges in preparation for this part of the course helpful as well; local libraries might have copies of this, should you have access to them.

In addition to a selection of the books mentioned below, an excellent resource for guidance in philosophical thinking, reading and writing, well worth a look (but honestly not worth £20!), is

Clare Saunders, et al   Doing Philosophy: A practical guide for students (Continuum/Bloomsbury)

There are second-hand copies on the World of Books website (https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb)  at the moment; a rather different good book with the same title by our colleague Tim Williamson is also available there, though it’s not directly designed to help you write essays and read philosophy, and it’s the Clare Saunders one you want for that purpose.

Take time to read some of the following carefully.  Don’t try more than three at most, do spend time reflecting and thinking as you go, and please don’t spend lots of money on them.  You’ll be able to get the items that are on-line for free (and may not need to move much beyond those) and borrowing from libraries is fine where this is possible.  But you will need to own a copy of the book ‘The Logic Manual’ by Volker Halbach at some point before too long.  The list’s in alphabetical order by author surname, not of ‘importance’ (about which even your tutors may disagree).

For a general overview, and not at all a substitute for the books above,

Nigel Warburton         Philosophy: The Basics (Routledge), any edition; I think the latest is the 4th, also his Philosophy: The Classics (Routledge)

The Warburton books direct you to further reading.  There’s a large selection of philosophical texts to explore, with a small amount of commentary (including some of them texts suggested by Warburton) on the excellent website by the late Jonathan Bennett at: http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/.

The Descartes and the Mill, mentioned above, are both sufficiently represented on that site for this introductory purpose, so, with the Russell available too, you really can do quite a bit of reading without needing to buy any books at all.

Particular suggestions for PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics)

In addition to the suggested philosophy reading, for politics you might like to look at

Robert A Caro, Working (Vintage Press, 2021)

Caro has written what might reasonably be called legendary books, particularly on and around the political career of Lyndon B Johnson; but this (much, much shorter) book will appeal to those whose interests in the course are in various ways focused on empirical politics and the narrating of it.  On political theory, there’s

Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (OUP, various editions)

Available second-hand quite cheaply at the moment from World of Books and elsewhere; you really shouldn’t need to spend £30 on a new copy, and any edition will be helpful.

There are also a number of works worth looking at on the website of the Institute for Economics Affairs.  They are apologists for a free market approach to economics and ideas, though of a kind which on most issues still sees a role for government and regulatory bodies.  There’s a paper from this May on the ‘space economy’ (that is, the economy of the space industry), as well as another on the use of space in a different sense (planning law); there’s a collection of papers on Hayek’s receipt of the Nobel prize 50 years ago.  Lots of things to think about, anyway.  The website is here: http://www.iea.org.uk/.

Look under ‘research’ and for any item that takes your fancy you may need to spool to the end of the article under the link to find the download option, but these really are often substantial and argumentative works.

Particular suggestions for PPL (Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics) and for PML (Philosophy and Modern Languages)

The Logic book by Hodges contains a good deal of interesting material on the boundaries of logic, language and linguistic analysis, and Philosophy and Linguistics applicants might be especially interested in that.

For Psychology and Philosophy applicants, two books may be particularly interesting.  Sir Roger Penrose is one of Oxford’s Nobel Laureates; Sir Roger is a mathematician, and his

Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind (Oxford University Press, 1989 and later versions)  is a discussion of the possibilities and limits of a science of the mind.

Then another Oxford figure, Iain McGilchrist of All Souls College, has written an ambitious work which slightly defies classification,

Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Yale University Press, 2019 second edition)

You can probably find enough about them by skimming reviews on Amazon or the like to find out if either of these is actually of any interest to you.  But they might be; what attracted you to the subject may well be the kinds of very big questions being addressed by books such as these, and the patient topic-by-topic foundation-laying which you will meet with in your termtime studies may feel a long way away from these kinds of work.  You will not be ready to write a work like these for many years – you may well never be!  But it’s not a bad thing to acknowledge that there are big questions worth thinking and talking about, and to see where the laying of foundations can lead you to.

Particular suggestions for Physics and Philosophy

It is unlikely that you will study anything in the area of ethics in your degree, so the John Stuart Mill suggestions for vacation reading will not be as relevant to you as they will to those studying PPE, PPL and Philosophy & Modern Languages.  A book which might provide a more useful preparation for the Physics and Philosophy course, including a more historical approach than you may meet with in tutorials, is

John Losee, A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (Oxford University Press)

This exists in four editions, the earliest from the 1970s, the latest from 2002; the 2002 edition, at around £28, is greatly over-priced, especially as once you are in Oxford you can read it for free online, but there are cheap second-hand copies of earlier editions available through various sellers if you search for it on bookinder.com, and a copy of (say) the 1993 third edition for £3.50 or less might well be worth the price.

Particular suggestions for Mathematics and Philosophy

The more technical aspects of philosophy introduced in some of the books listed above will serve well for M&P; like those studying Physics and Philosophy it’s not likely that ethics or political theory will play much part in your degree.  If you have looked at and worked through the logic books by (perhaps) Hodges and (certainly) Halbach you would like to extend your reading and thinking about logic into more mathematical territory, this book:

David Bostock, Intermediate Logic (Oxford University Press, 1997) is designed to let you do that.  Working through it will serve to anticipate some of the logical work you are likely to be doing in the second term of your first year, and will be good background for some second-year mathematical work too.

The list is divided into three parts covering Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Philosophy

Please see above (under Philosophy including PPE and all Joint Schools).

Politics

Not yet finalised.

Economics

Please see above (under Economics and Management).

Please see the email sent 24/08 – thank you!

Not yet finalised.