CHRISTMAS BOOKS FOR OXBRIDGE APPLICANTS

The best Christmas gifts for an Oxbridge hopeful will cement the student's relationship with academic ideas, or with an already chosen course. Key books doing this are listed in chapters 11 and 17 of OXBRIDGE ENTRANCE: THE REAL RULES.

Here are some extra ones, either less known or very new, enabling a student to explore different subject areas. English Lit. hopefuls will much enjoy 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro, which really brings the playwright to life. Lovers of poetry will grasp its academic side through a brilliant new guide, On Poetry by Glyn Maxwell.

Jerry Brotton’s History of the World in Twelve Maps is a route into academic geography. Future applicants, though, will also gain from Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum by Catherine Boo, or even a similarly-themed novel such as The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

William Doyle’s The French Revolution, which ends with reflections on its political and cultural legacy, is useful for Oxbridge history interviews. Sixth formers studying the Russian revolution may love the autobiographical Memoirs of a Revolutionary by Victor Serge.

Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy: the Moral Limits of Markets will expand the minds of potential philosophers and economists.

Science students can explore the new worlds of physics opened up by the Higgs boson through The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll. Genome by Matt Ridley remains a must for biology fans, but a new, critical perspective is added by Genes, Cells and Brains: Bioscience's Promethean Promises by Hilary and Steven Rose. Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements by Hugh Aldersey-Williams is for GCSE chemistry fans.  

Potential medics and vets, too, need to keep up with the sciences and will have their minds sharpened by Ben Goldacre’s books. A specialist work like Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen may further inspire them.  

A student faced with a long, daily commute may appreciate the audio version of a novel, explorer’s biography or short story collection in Spanish. Audible offers loads. Drama DVDs demystify the language of older plays, and DVDs of BBC science programmes appeal to pre-GCSE students. While downloads are fine for lighter books, an academic work stuffed with data is easier absorbed from print, perhaps because this is less tiring, or perhaps because an open book displays more text at once.

If you’d rather leave the choice to the student (or are a student yourself) Britain’s most university-oriented book chain, Blackwells, accepts book tokens, as do Waterstones and The London Review Bookshop. All have well-stocked highstreet shops but also sell online.

 

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TEACHERS: 

Does your school rarely get a student into Oxbridge,

or has it perhaps not yet tried?
 

Would you like a staff teach-in on Oxbridge entrance at your school,

showing you how to maximise able students’ chances?

Starting next term, teach-ins will again be led by

Elfi Pallis, author of tried-and-trusted guide

OXBRIDGE ENTRANCE: THE REAL RULES.

For more information, please email
info@tellbooks.com
 

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