Sixth Form Reading List
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Sixth Form Reading List
Art
Books:
Modern Art: A History from Impressionism to Today (Hans Werner Holzwarth) Most art historians agree that the modern art adventure first developed in the 1860s in Paris. A circle of painters, whom we now know as Impressionists, began painting pictures with rapid, loose brushwork. This overview traces the restless energy of modern art with a year-by-year succession of the ground- breaking artworks that shook standards and broke down barriers. Introductory essays outline the most significant and influential movements alongside explanatory texts for each major work and its artist.
Modern Art in Detail: 75 Masterpieces (Susie Hodge) This book looks at the themes and external and personal factors influencing the creation of an artwork – everything from global political events, to ground breaking movements such as Cubism, Futurism and Primitivism, and even scientific and mathematical theories, which are often of great relevance. The book examines 75 works of modern art, from Vincent van Gogh’s The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), to Paula Rego’sVisions (2015), charting the shift from the supremacy of artistic technique to the more recent dominance of the idea (or concept) behind the artwork itself.
Smart Phone Smart Photography: Simple techniques for taking incredible pictures with iPhone and Android (Jo Bradford) Covering simple techniques that will allow you to get the image that you see every single time. Get to know your camera phone and the rules behind taking the perfect shot. The Book explains the key disciplines of photography – portrait, abstraction, macro, still life and plenty more. The Post-production chapter demonstrates how to use apps to edit and enhance your images and create incredible prints for display.
Modern Printmaking: A Guide to Traditional and Digital Techniques (Sylvie Covey) A fully-illustrated instructional printmaking book presenting step-by-step examples alongside representative works from 30 top contemporary printmaking artists. Printmaking is flourishing in the digital age, appealing to both traditional artists as well as those interested in graphic design and digital technique. Featuring instruction, interviews, example images and philosophy, this beautiful book provides a truly modern look at printmaking today, in all its forms.
Sculpture Today (Judith Collins) This book is a comprehensive overview of developments in the world of sculpture during the past fifty years. Judith Collins’s authoritative yet accessible text explores the various subjects, materials and styles utilized by sculptors and offers a fascinating insight into this versatile and wide-ranging art form.
Websites:
www.tate.org.uk (for Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives) ysp.org.uk (for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park) www.scienceandandmediamuseum.org.uk (for Bradford museum of photography)
Biology
Books:
The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins) One of the most popular and celebrated books, this is a must-read for any biologist. This book looks at evolution not from the view of an organism, but from the view of a gene itself; covering bullying, altruism (and actually coining the word meme!) Dawkins presents a fantastic view of the process of Evolution.
Genome (Matt Ridley) There’s no coincidence that this book has 23 chapters. looking at our relationship to other owners of the gene, from bacteria to great apes, spanning from the earliest forms of life to the genes that could be responsible for intelligence and language, this is a great read!
Bad Science (Ben Goldacre) Would you take advice from a Doctor? What if that Doctor was a Cat? This book looks at how statistics, the scientific method and real evidence is distorted, twisted and modelled in the popular media and how what you read should always be questioned.
Inheritance (Sharon Moalem) Challenging everything you thought you knew about genetics, this book looks at how your family, friends and even the food you eat is remodelling and shaping your genes and the DNA you pass on to your children.
Deadly Companions (Dorothy Crawford) Across history, our lives have been constantly linked to microbes. From the great pandemics that wiped out millions, to the gut that live in our bacteria, this book looks at how humans are linked to microbes, and how the study of one cannot be understood without the other.
Films:
Food, Inc. Available on Netflix, this film looks at something we don’t often think of; where out food comes from. Looking at how the production of our food has changed, and who drives it, this eye-opening documentary relates to the digestive and nutrient cycle topics in the A-level specification.
Contagion Although a thriller movie, this film is a smart and well-written movie about how someone with an innocuous cod (or so they think) can lead to something much deadlier, and the efforts to prevent it.
The God Cells: A Fetal Stem Cell Journey Currently on Prime, this looks at the types, use and controversies surrounding the use of Stem Cells in science, and how many of the therapies that could cure mankinds’ diseases will never see the light of day…
The Fantastical World of Hormones Professor John Wass, a leading endocrinologist and eccentric character, tells the story of hormones throughout history. From the earliest experiments, sewing testicles into cockerels through to some of the greatest medical crimes and frauds of the century. Available on Prime!
The Gut: Our Second Brain A lot of people are accused of letting their stomach rule their lives. Well it might be true! This documentary looks at the colonies that live in our stomach, its role in much more than digestion, and how we really can be ruled by our gut!
Business and Economics
Books:
The Limits of the Market: The Pendulum between Government and Market (Paul De Grauwe) The old discussion of 'Market or State' is obsolete. There will always have to be a mix of market and state. The only relevant question is what that mix should look like. How far do we have to let the market go its own way in order to create as much welfare as possible for everyone? What is the responsibility of the government in creating welfare? These are difficult questions. But they are also interesting questions and Paul De Grauwe analyses them in this book.
Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy (Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake) The first comprehensive account of the growing dominance of the intangible economy Early in the twenty-first century, a quiet revolution occurred. For the first time, the major developed economies began to invest more in intangible assets, like design, branding, R&D, or software, than in tangible assets, like machinery, buildings, and computers. For all sorts of businesses, from tech firms and pharma companies to coffee shops and gyms, the ability to deploy assets that one can neither see nor touch is increasingly the main source of long-term success. But this is not just a familiar story of the so-called new economy. Capitalism without Capital shows that the growing importance of intangible assets has also played a role in some of the big economic changes of the last decade.
Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society (Will Hutton) The suddenness and depth of the recession has raised questions about the workability of capitalism not seen since the 1930s. One of the constraints on recovery is the growing belief that if the old model did not work there is no new one on offer. This book sets out to provide one, arguing that reconstructing a bust financial system is not just a technical question. It cannot be done without a wholescale revision of the wider system and values on which it is based. And fairness must be placed at the heart of the new capitalism if our society is to recover its values.
The World We’re In (Will Hutton) The State We’re In, Will Hutton's explosive analysis of British society was the biggest selling politico-economic work since the Second World War. Now, as the world realigns itself in the wake of September 11, Hutton turns his attention to the global picture, and the ways in which the new world
should be ordered.
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist (Kate Raworth) Trapped by its own powerful but outdated myths, mainstream economics is profoundly unfit for tackling 21st-century challenges – from financial instability to climate change and widening inequality. It’s time for Doughnut Economics, a new model which debunks these old myths, replacing them with seven new insights.
Chemistry
Books:
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape our Man-Made World (Mark Miodownik) In Stuff Matters Miodownik entertainingly examines the materials he encounters in a typical morning, from the steel in his razor and the graphite in his pencil to the foam in his sneakers and the concrete in a nearby skyscraper. He offers a compendium of the most astounding histories and marvellous scientific breakthroughs in the material world, including: The imprisoned alchemist who saved himself from execution by creating the first European porcelain. The hidden gem of the Milky Way, a planet five times the size of Earth, made entirely of diamond. Graphene, the thinnest, strongest, stiffest material in existence only a single atom thick that could be used to make entire buildings sensitive to touch. From the teacup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants, our lives are overflowing with materials. Full of enthralling tales of the miracles of engineering that permeate our lives, Stuff Matters will make you see stuff in a whole new way.
Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements (Hugh Aldersey-Williams) Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning. Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table. Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colourful pasts, Periodic Tales is a voyage of wonder and discovery, showing that their stories are our stories, and their lives are inextricable from our own.
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History (Penny Le Couteur) Though many factors have been proposed to explain the failure of Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign it has also been linked to something as small as a button, a tin button the kind that fastened everything from the greatcoats of Napoleon's officers to the trousers of his foot soldiers. When temperature drops below 56°F tin crumbles into powder. Were the soldiers of the Grande Armée fatally weakened by cold because the buttons of their uniforms fell apart? How different our world might be if tin did not disintegrate at low temperature and the French had continued their eastward expansion! This fascinating book tells the stories of seventeen molecules that like the tin of those buttons greatly influenced the course of history. NAPOLEON'S BUTTONS offers a novel way to understand how our contemporary world works and how our civilization has been shaped over time.
The Disappearing Spoon (Sam Kean) Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
Uncle Tungsten Oliver Sacks Oliver Sacks tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy's adventures and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.
Classics
Books:
Love, Sex and Tragedy (Simon Goldhill) Goldhill is Professor of Classics at Cambridge, and in this book (aimed at the layman) he lifts the veil on the modern inheritance of classical traditions and reveals the Greek and Roman roots of more or less everything: from the mania for 'hard bodies' to current political systems.
A History of the World in 100 Objects (Neil MacGregor) MacGregor is the former Director of the British Museum, and in this book he explores world history from 2 million years ago to the present – through objects, all of which are in the British Museum. The items include an Egyptian sarcophagus, a jade hand-axe, and the first ever banknote from Ming China.
Iliad and Odyssey (Homer) Homer's epic poems are on the Classical Civilisation syllabus because of their incredible skill and their historic depth. In the Iliad, Achilles withdraws from the Trojan War in its last year in a bid to regain his offended honour; in the Odyssey, Odysseus faces a 10-year journey back to his kingdom, his wife, and his son.
Aeneid (Virgil) The Aeneid was Virgil's epic poem, modelled on Homer but meant to espouse the new Roman values of the Emperor Augustus. Aeneas must first face a difficult journey to the fated land of Italy; and once there, he must fight a war for the hand of his destined bride.
Design
Books:
The Sustainable Design Book (Rebecca Proctor) The Sustainable Design Book updates the reader on the latest products and developments in the field of green design and features 265 of the most exciting new products around. Q&As with leading designers give insight into trends and key techniques used within the industry, while handy icons highlight each product's sustainability credentials at a glance.
Great Design (Philip Wilkinson) Featuring DK's signature lush, visual style, Great Design provides a fascinating overview of the dynamic history of design from the 1860s onwards. It traces the development of modern design from all corners of the world, including product design, furniture, graphics, industrial design, and textiles.
Masterpieces of British Design (Charlotte and Peter Fiell) From the visually seductive E-Type Jaguar to Giles Gilbert Scott's iconic red telephone boxes, British design is distinguished by a combination of casual elegance with practical functionality, with often a touch of British eccentricity thrown in for good measure. Masterpieces of British Design surveys in detail one hundred landmark designs spanning a period of 250 years.
Design Secrets: Products and Design Secrets: Products 2 (International Designers Society of America) Each project includes complete text describing the designer's insights and inspirations, as well as the evolution of the project illustrated. Working drawings, sketches, process books, computer visuals, storyboards and colour photographs show the story behind the design. [out of print: needs to be borrowed from a library]
English
Doing English (Robert Eaglestone) This guide to ‘doing English’ offers the ideal introduction to studying Literature.
[Year 13]
My Ántonia (Willa Cather) The novel tells the story of an orphaned boy from Virginia and a family of migrants from Bohemia as they are brought to be pioneers in Nebraska.
[Year 13]
The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton) The novel centres on an upper class couple’s impending marriage and the bride’s cousin, plagued by scandal, whose presence threatens to disrupt their happiness.
[Year 13]
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) Follow Huck and escaped slave, Jim as they journey up the Mississipi.
[Year 12]
Gothic (Fred Botting) A guide to Gothic literature.
Women and Power (Mary Beard) This manifesto, this cry for women to have a voice, examines the theme of women’s power (or lack of it) across time and throughout popular culture.
For Pleasure:
The Power (Naomi Alderman) This stunning novel imagines a world that becomes matriarchal rather than patriarchal. What would power look like at the hand of women?
Enduring Love (Ian McEwan) Enduring Love masterfully experiments with structure, form and perspective offering a clever and unsettling exploration of the impact of a traumatic event.
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) Never more relevant than now, The Handmaid’s Tale establishes a dystopian world in which women are restricted and repressed. This is a horrifyingly prescient work of fiction.
Films:
[Year 12]
Dracula
Frankenstein
Beloved
[Year 13]
The Big Country
Gone with the Wind
Lincoln
Age of Innocence
French
Books:
La Vie Devant Soi (Romain Gary) The Life Before Us is the story of an orphaned Arab boy, Momo, and his devotion to Madame Rosa, a dying, 68-year-old, 220-lb. survivor of Auschwitz and retired “lady of the night.”
Les Rivières Pourpres (Jean Christophe Grangé) Two French policemen, one investigating a grisly murder at a remote mountain college, the other working on the desecration of a young girl's grave by skinheads, are brought together by the clues from their respective cases
Vendredi et la Vie Sauvage (Michel Tournier) Cette histoire se déroule en 1759 au large des côtes du Chili, à bord de la Virginie. La Virginie tombe dans une terrible tempête. Aucun des hommes du navire ne survit sauf Robinson. Robinson se réveille sur une île inhabitée. Il essaye de survivre.
Coule la Seine (Fred Vargas) The heroes of this collection of short stories are outsiders; lost, lonely, hopelessly vulnerable; tramps and drunks. And then there is Commissaire Adamsberg
Geography
Books:
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World (Tim Marshall) The award-winning journalist uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain the geo-political strategies of the world powers. Maps have a mysterious hold over us. Whether ancient, crumbling parchments or generated by Google, maps tell us things we want to know, not only about our current location or where we are going but about the world in general. And yet, when it comes to geo-politics, much of what we are told is generated by analysts and other experts who have neglected to refer to a map of the place in question. All leaders of nations are constrained by geography. Tim Marshall examines Russia, China, the US, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Greenland and the Arctic--their weather, seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, and borders--to provide a context often missing from our political reportage: how the physical characteristics of these countries affect their strengths and vulnerabilities and the decisions made by their leaders.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari) 100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us.
The Making of the British Landscape (Nicholas Crane) The British landscape has been continuously occupied by humans for 12,000 years, from the end of the Ice Age until the twenty-first century. It has been transformed from a European peninsula of glacier and tundra to an island of glittering cities and exquisite countryside. In this geographical journey through time, we discover the ancient relationship between people and place and the deep-rooted tensions between town and countryside. The twin drivers of landscape change - climate and population - have arguably wielded as much influence on our habitat as monarchs and politics. From tsunamis and farming to Roman debacles and industrial cataclysms, from henge to high-rise and hamlet to metropolis, this is a book about change and adaptation. As Britain lurches from an exploitative past towards a more sustainable future, this is the story of our age.
The Revenge of Gaia (James Lovelock) 'Despite all our efforts to retreat sustainably, we may be unable to prevent a global decline into a chaotic world ruled by brutal warlords on a devastated Earth...' For thousands of years, humans have exploited the planet without counting the cost. Now Gaia, the living Earth, is fighting back. As the polar icecaps shrink and the global temperature rises, we approach the point of no return. Sustainable development, Lovelock argues, is no longer possible, and the only open to us may be a 'sustainable retreat'. This is the one book you must read to find out what is happening, how bad it will get - and how we can survive.
Hungry City (Carolyn Steel) The relationship between food and cities is fundamental to our every day lives. The gargantuan effort necessary to feed cities arguably has a greater social and physical impact on us and our planet than anything else we do. Yet we rarely stop to wonder how food reaches our plates.
German
Books:
Alone in Berlin (Hans Fallada) English translation of Jeder Stirbt Allein, Alone in Berlin is a 1947 novel by German author Hans Fallada. It is based on the true story of a working class husband and wife who, acting alone, became part of the German Resistance. They were eventually discovered, denounced, arrested, tried and executed. Fallada's book was one of the first anti-Nazi novels to be published by a German after World War.
Emil und die Detektive (Erich Kästner) A classic children’s story. Emil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.
The Marquis of O— and Other Stories (Heinrich von Kleist) English Translation. Heinrich von Kleist – amazing short stories. From The Marquis of O--, in which a woman is made pregnant without her knowledge, to the vivid and inexplicable suffering portrayed in 'The Earthquake in Chile', his stories are captivating. Kleist sees human nature as irrational, ambiguous and baffling. It is this loss of faith, together with his vulnerability and disequilibrium, his pronounced sense of evil, his desperate challenge to established values and beliefs, that carries Kleist across the gap between the eighteenth century and today.
Die Physiker (Friedrich Dürenmatt) In German. A black comedy. This play is about three physicists in a mental hospital. At the start of the play, two of the three physicists have killed nurses, but, since they're insane, nobody can do much with them. One of the physicists believes he is Isaac Newton, another believes he is Einstein, and the third believes he is Mobius. As the play progresses, it is revealed that none of the physicists are insane: two are spies and the third is a genius physicist whose discoveries could change (and possibly destroy) the world.
Films:
Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) Probably in my top five films of all time. What happens when a ruthless member of the German secret police is sent to spy on a young playwright and his actress girlfriend? Will he revert to stereotype and discover their non-allegiance to East Germany and have them arrested and imprisoned or will his humanity come to the fore? Ulrich Mühe won the Oscar for his magnificent performance as Wiesler and the film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film – both totally deserved as far as I am concerned.
History
Books:
Mussolini and Fascist Italy (Martin Blinkhorn) In this book, Blinkhorn explains the significance of the man, the movement and the regime which dominated Italian life between 1922 and the closing stages of the Second World War. The book examines aspects of post-Risorgimento Italy, intervention in the First World War, the rise of Fascism and the establishment of dictatorship and the demise of the Fascist regime during the Second world War.
Mussolini and Italy (Edward Townley) This is part of a series of books produced especially for A Level students. Therefore, it includes all the information you need in sufficient depth. It is written in an accessible format and includes examination preparation and advice at the end of each section.
The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction (John Guy) The monarchs of the Tudor period are among some of the most well-known figures in British history. In this book, Guy presents a compelling and fascinating exploration of the Tudors. Looking at all aspects of the period, from beginning to end, he considers Tudor politics, religion, and economics, as well as issues relating to gender and minority rule, and the art, architecture, and social and material culture of the time. Introducing all of the key Tudor monarchs, Guy considers the impact the Tudor period had not only at the time, but also the historical legacy it left behind.
Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England (Thomas Penn) In his prize-winning book, Penn vividly recreates the dark and turbulent reign of Henry VII. He traces the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen. And at the book's heart is the tragic, magnetic figure of Henry VII - controlling, paranoid, avaricious, with a Machiavellian charm and will to power.
Films/Visual Sources:
[Component 1:
The Tudors] The Six Wives of Henry VIII (David Starkey)
A History of Britain (Simon Schama)
[Component 2:
Italy and Fascism] Italian Fascism in Colour
Mussolini – the History of Italian Fascism
Websites:
The Tudors: http://www.johnguy.co.uk/ http://www.history.ac.uk/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/history https://tudorhistory.org/
Italy and Fascism: https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/italy-1900-to-1939/life-in-fascist-italy/ http://www.world-war-2-diaries.com/mussolini-biography.html https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/euro-hist/mussolini-fascism/
Maths
Books:
Alan Turing, the Enigma (Andrew Hodges) Alan Turing (1912-54) was a British mathematician who made history. His breaking of the German U-boat Enigma cipher in World War II ensured Allied-American control of the Atlantic. But Turing's vision went far beyond the desperate wartime struggle. By 1945 he was a pioneer of electronic computer design. But Turing's true goal was the scientific understanding of the mind, brought out in the drama and wit of the famous "Turing test" for machine intelligence and in his prophecy for the twenty-first century. Drawn in to the cockpit of world events and the forefront of technological innovation, Alan Turing was also an innocent and unpretentious gay man trying to live in a society that criminalized him. His suicide in 1954 remains one of the many enigmas in an astonishing life story.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman! (Richard P. Feynman) Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is an autobiography of the late physicist, Richard P. Feynman—a very unconventional one. Rather than relating the story of his life in a traditional manner, Feynman gives us a collection of unconnected anecdotes loosely organized into this book. At the end of the book, the unconventionality of format makes perfect sense, since we know its author is not the kind of person who will do anything the way everybody else does it.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (R. Kanigel) At the heart of this absorbing biography is the story of a genius. At the age of twenty-five, Ramanujan was working as a clerk in a government accounting office in the South Indian city of Madras. A mathematical prodigy, he had failed to make an academic career for himself, in part because of his overwhelming passion for the world of numbers. What he craved above all was “leisure,” not idleness but freedom from economic necessity and time in which to pursue his pure mathematical investigations.
Journey Through Genius: Great Theorems of Mathematics (William Dunham) Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics is a survey of twelve great theorems selected by author William Dunham for the importance to the field of mathematics as well as for how they represent the prevailing ideas and ideals of the times in which they appear.
A History of Mathematics (Carl B. Boyer and Uta C. Merzbach) “Boyer and Merzbach distill thousands of years of mathematics into this fascinating chronicle. From the Greeks to Godel, the mathematics is brilliant; the cast of characters is distinguished; the ebb and flow of ideas is everywhere evident… Without doubt, this is––and will long remain––a classic one–volume history of mathematics and mathematicians who create it." ~ review by William Dunham, author of Journey Through Genius.
e: The Story of a Number (Eli Maor) People use the number “e” without a thought of why we use it and where it came from. This book reaches out to a broad audience and addresses the question, “where did e originate?” Eli Maor describes the history and long process it took to reach the invention of the number e in a manner that allows people with even a weak background in mathematics to understand.
An Imaginary Tale: The Story of the root of –1 (Paul Nahin) Paul Nahin tells the 2000-year-old history of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one, also known as i. He recreates the baffling mathematical problems that conjured it up, and the colorful characters who tried to solve them.
Prime Obsession (John Derbyshire) A historical book on mathematics by John Derbyshire, detailing the history of the Riemann hypothesis, named for Bernhard Riemann, and some of its applications. Cleverly, even-numbered chapters present historical elements related to the development of the conjecture, and odd-numbered chapters deal with the mathematical and technical aspects.
How to Study for a Mathematics Degree (Lara Alcock) A guide to studying Mathematics.
Films:
The Man Who Knew Infinity 2015 film version of the biography of a Maths genius from India.
The Imitation Game During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians.
A Beautiful Mind After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.
Physics
Books:
Surely you’re Joking and The Pleasure of Finding things out (Richard Feynman) Why we are Physicists; An insight into the mind of one of the 20th Centuries greatest Physicists. Some delightful Physics in amongst a wealth of anecdotes. Who says Physicists are boring.
Mr Tompkin in Wonderland (G Gamow) By taking extreme values of the fundamental constants, Gamow (one of the physics superstars of the 1930’s) explores the nature and physical significance of the ideas through a series of stories and dreams. An absolute classic of ‘modern’ physics. Don’t be put off by the absurdity of some of the situations. This writer developed some of the fundamental ideas of the 20th century.
The Quark and the Jaguar (Murray Gell-Mann) Adventures in the simple and the complex. A view of modern particle theory by one of the developers.
The New Science of Strong Materials (JE Gordon) A classic (despite its age) of materials science. It will help you with your A level, and any degree in Engineering.
What if? (Randall Munroe) Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions, by the creator of the brilliant cartoons ‘XKCD’. A light hearted application of Physics to a strange set of questions; well thought through answers, calculations clearly discussed.
The Flying Circus of Physics (Jearl Walker) An absolute must if you are going to apply to a top university to study a technical subject; Dip into these gems a few at a time, enjoy them before turning to the answers.
Films and a Play:
[Watch these to criticise (or not) the Physics!]
Interstellar With visual effects based upon theoretical physics calculations; the film won awards for its depiction of black holes; what you see is based upon Einstein’s general theory of relativity. It won praise from NASA amongst others. The story line is pretty basic though.
The Shadow Makers Recalling the events at Los Alamos, and the build-up to the first nuclear tests; Paul Newman plays Colonel Groves, who oversaw the efforts of a handpicked team of scientists (led by Oppenheimer) to solve the complex issues of building the first Fission Bombs.
Martian Created a stir amongst Physicists for its carefully calculated Momentum effects; almost universally correct. But think carefully about the split glove finger scene, can you spot the obvious mistake…
Hapgood A Play by Tom Stoppard If you did get the chance to see Hapgood by Tom Stoppard, then you won’t be disappointed; entwining a cold war thriller with modern quantum theory and the Heisenburg Uncertainty principle is bound to be good. On at the Hampstead Theatre, London.
Politics
Books:
British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Tony Wright) This excellent introduction to British Politics is organised into key themes, such as the constitution, which form part of the Government and Politics A Level course. Wright considers how the political system has recently changed and continues to do so, in light of the coalition government and the fall of New Labour, as well as the impact of the financial crisis and issues such as terrorism and immigration.
The Politics Book (Paul Kelly) An exciting and comprehensive guide to Politics with articles written in bite-size chunks. The information is clearly written, well-presented and contains useful illustrations. The book examines many of the political concepts and ideas which have helped to shape our political landscape.
Is the American Century Over? (Joseph S. Nye) Are we living in a post–American world? Will China′s rapid rise spark a new Cold War between the two titans? In this book, Joseph Nye, explains why the American century is far from over and what the US must do to retain its lead. America′s superpower status may well be tempered by its own domestic problems and China′s economic boom, but its military, economic and soft power capabilities will continue to outstrip those of its closest rivals for decades to come.
Brexit and British Politics (Geoffrey Evans and Anand Menon) This book explores the impact of Brexit. Brexit has changed everything – from our government, to our economy and principal trading relationship, to the organisation of our state. This watershed moment, which surprised most observers and mobilized previously apathetic sections of the electorate, is already transforming British politics in profound and lasting ways.
Visual Sources:
The Making of Modern Britain (Andrew Marr, BBC)
The Great Offices of State (Michael Cockerell, BBC)
Websites:
http://www.politics.co.uk/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics
https://www.parliament.uk/
Philosophy and Ethics
Books:
Philosophy
The Blind Watchmaker (Richard Dawkins) The Blind Watchmaker is a controversial book which argues that evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist?
The Question of God (Michael Palmer) This book focuses on a single problem: the existence of God. The author discusses six classic arguments for the existence of God: the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the argument from design, the argument from miracles, the moral argument and the pragmatic argument. Each chapter contains both a historical and a philosophical discussion of an argument and excerpts from a relevant philosophical literature.
Ethics
Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong (Louise Pojman) How do you know right from wrong? Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong shows you how history's greatest thinkers have understood ethics and gives you the tools to decide for yourself what's moral and immoral. And, of course, along the way you'll master the basics of ethical philosophy.
Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (J. L. Mackie) An insight into moral scepticism of the 20th century. The author argues that our every-day moral codes are an 'error theory' based on the presumption of moral facts which, he persuasively argues, don't exist. His refutation of such facts is based on their metaphysical 'queerness' and the observation of cultural relativity.
Spanish
Books:
Ella Imagina (Juan José Millas) Juan José Millas presents a work in constant search of the most subtle to articulate what is unreal with what is real, present and committed to represent the reality very effectively as possible, revealing their dark mechanisms and providing a sense of lacking
Los Doce Cuentos Peregrinos (Gabriel García Márquez) The book is a collection of twelve loosely related short stories by the Nobel Prize–winning Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez.
La hija de la Chuparrosa (La hija del colibrí) (Luis Alberto Urrea) This historical novel is based on Urrea’s real great-aunt Teresita, who had healing powers and was acclaimed as a saint. Urrea has researched historical accounts and family records for years to get an accurate story.
Cómo me hice monja (César Aira) This is a novel set in Rosario, Argentina, about a precocious six-year-old named César Aira. César the character, who claims to be, alternately, a boy and a girl (but mainly a girl), has a hyper-developed sense of reality, a plethora of hang-ups, and a casual relationship with the truth
El cuaderno de Maya (Isabel Allende) Vidal is sixteen when Popo, her beloved grandfather, dies and Nini, her grandmother, falls into a depression. Without the support of her family, Maya quickly falls in with the wrong crowd in her Berkeley, California, high school, joining a trio of naughty girls who call themselves The Vampires.
Theatre Studies
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. Shaffer was inspired to write Equus when he heard of a crime involving a 17-year-old who blinded six horses in a small town near Suffolk. He set out to construct a fictional account of what might have caused the incident, without knowing any of the details of the crime.
Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp Attempts to describe her? Attempts to destroy her? Or attempts to destroy herself? Is Anne the object of violence? Or its terrifying practitioner? Martin Crimps 17 scenarios for the theatre, shocking and hilarious by turn, are a rollercoaster of late 20th-century obsessions. From pornography and ethnic violence, to terrorism, its strange array of nameless characters attempt to invent the perfect story to encapsulate our time.
Woyzeck by George Buchner Woyzeck Is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. He left the work incomplete at his death, Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory. Büchner probably began writing the play between June and September 1836. It remained in a fragmentary state at the time of his early death in 1837. Woyzeck deals with the dehumanising effects of doctors and the military on a young man's life. It is often seen as 'working class' tragedy, though it can also be viewed as having another dimension, portraying the 'perennial tragedy of human jealousy'.
Stanislavski for Beginners Stanislavski was the first person to develop a cogent and practical system of acting. Throughout his life he sought the answers to such fundamental questions as: "What is great acting?" and "How can you find inspiration in every performance?" Stanislavski remains the most important influence on actor training today, and yet many of his ideas are little known, or even misunderstood.
Artaud for Beginners Artaud rejected the "acceptable" and palatable conventions of traditional theatre that serve to limit or mask the real torment of human suffering. A largely movement-based performance style, Theatre of Cruelty aimed to shock the senses of its audience, sometimes using violent and confronting images that appealed to the emotions. Text was given a reduced emphasis in Artaud’s theatre, as dance and gesture became just as powerful as the spoken word. Piercing sound and bright stage lights bombarded the audience during performances.
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