New and forthcoming books by HMC Fellows and Tutors

Fragments of a World: William of Auvergne and his medieval life, Professor Lesley Smith, Official Fellow & Tutor in Politics; Senior Tutor; and Professor of Intellectual History  

Today, William of Auvergne (1180?–1249) is remembered for his scholarship about the afterlife as well as the so-called Trial of the Talmud. But the medieval bishop of Paris also left behind nearly 600 sermons delivered to all manner of people―from the royal court to the poorest in his care. In Fragments of a World, Lesley Smith uses these sermons to paint a vivid picture of this extraordinary cleric, his parishioners, and their bustling world. The first modern biography of the influential teacher, bishop, and theologian, Fragments of a World casts a new image of William of Auvergne for our times―deeply attuned to both the spiritual and material needs of an ever-changing populace in the medieval city. 

University of Chicago Press, 2023 

Wellbeing: Science and policy, Professor Jan-Emmanuel de Neve, KSI Fellow & Tutor in Management; Vice-Principal 

What produces a happy society and a happy life? Thanks to the new science of wellbeing, we can now answer this question using state-of-the-art empirical evidence. This transforms our ability to base our decisions on the outcomes that matter most, namely the wellbeing of us all including future generations. Written by two of the world's leading experts on the economics of wellbeing, this book shows how wellbeing can be measured, what causes it, and how it can be improved. The findings of the book are profoundly relevant to all social sciences, including psychology, economics, politics, behavioural science and sociology. This is the first field-defining text on a new science that aims to span the whole of human life. It will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as policy-makers and employers who will be able to apply its insights in their professional and private lives. 

Cambridge University Press, 2023 

Molecular world: Making modern chemistry, Dr Catherine Jackson, Peck Fellow & Tutor in History; Associate Professor in the History of Science 

A compelling account that reshapes our view of 19th century chemistry, explaining a critical period in chemistry's quest to understand and manipulate organic nature. According to existing histories, theory drove chemistry's remarkable nineteenth-century development. Dr Jackson shows instead how novel experimental approaches combined with ‘laboratory reasoning’ enabled chemists to bridge wet chemistry and abstract concepts and, in so doing, create the molecular world. Jackson introduces a series of practice-based breakthroughs that include chemistry's move into lampworked glassware, the field's turn to synthesis and subsequent struggles to characterize and differentiate the products of synthesis, and the gradual development of institutional chemical laboratories.  

MIT Press, 2023 

Corporeal Theology: Accommodating theological understanding to embodied thinkers, Dr Tobias Tanton, Early Career Fellow & Tutor, Theology 

Appropriating insights from empirical findings and theoretical constructs of 'embodied cognition', this study explores how theological understanding is accommodated to the bodily nature of human cognition. The principle of divine accommodation provides a theological framework for considering the human cognitive capacities that are accommodated by theological concepts and ecclesial practices. A rich portrait of the nature of human cognitive capacities is drawn from an emerging paradigm in cognitive science, embodied cognition, which proposes that cognition depends upon bodily sensorimotor systems to ground concepts and to draw upon environmental resources. 

Oxford University Press, 2023 

You can find all these books in our library, and they are available to purchase from all the usual online and high street booksellers.