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Cambridge Letter

Hi,
I got a letter from Cambridge this morning with a suggested reading list for the summer. I couldn't believe the sort of things listed - the Bible, the Koran, Plato, Thucydides, Augustine, Herodotus etc. I have not read any of these, but I recognise some of the titles and they don't seem the sort of thing you would read in the summer before starting a course. What ever happened to a light 'introduction' to the course? Has anybody else had such a reading list? This is for History by the way.

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Reply 1

minimo

All I can say, is that if that was my reading list I would have been really excited - it's cool!!! :biggrin:

Reply 2

Alewhey

Tell me, does the list have the word "recommended" or "optional" written at the top? If so, it belongs in the bin. In fact, it belongs in the bin anyway. Go enjoy your summer.

Trundle

What ever happened to a light 'introduction' to the course?

Ohhh man, sharp learning curve ahead.

Reply 3

life_rockz

I want my reading list!!!! Sigh.

Reply 4

Jigglypuff

Woah, that looked like what I'd expect a theology reading list to be. I've been recommended Plato, obvious choice for a philosophy reading list. I think your reading list looks good. They don't expect you to read and understand everything, just have a go I guess.

Reply 5

yusufu

Alewhey

Tell me, does the list have the word "recommended" or "optional" written at the top? If so, it belongs in the bin. In fact, it belongs in the bin anyway. Go enjoy your summer.

Ohhh man, sharp learning curve ahead.

Reply 6

Dharini1987

but why the bible and koran?? Ur doing history, not philosophy.

Reply 7

Profesh

Dharini1987

but why the bible and koran?? Ur doing history, not philosophy.

Ohhh man, sharp learning-curve ahead.

Which college?
I've got an offer for History too (New Hall), but haven't received a reading list yet. Obviously they want you to enhance your general understanding of cultures and historiography (hence Herodotus), which seems quite useful. It's probably better to do that general stuff than read "real" History books before you've even chosen your papers (by the way, can anyone tell me when we'll have to do that??).

Reply 10

Trundle

Hi! The letter is from Peterhouse. Apparently they write to you at the end of August, after results to find out which papers you have chosen. Hope this help! :smile:

Reply 11

epitome

Do bear in mind that really you *should* (in the ideal world that doesn't exist) read pretty much everything ever written. Most of everything has some kind of bearing on everything else. There's no limit to what you can read - reading lists could easily be very, very, very, very, very long indeed.

Just read what you can/what you want, and enjoy it/think about it. So don't worry about it (and yes, enjoy your summer!) but (1) don't expect a light introduction, they rarely exist, and (2) don't think in terms of 'relevant' and 'irrelevant'. Just be open to everything.

And, on that note: how on earth could you possibly argue that, for example, the BIBLE has little to do with history?! It's had a fairly massive impact, as far as I can tell... (Trundle, I'm not slating you, by the way!)

Have a cool summer and don't worry about this stuff - best thing to do is to dip into things and see what you discover! :smile:

Reply 12

xx_ambellina_xx

*cambridge historian to the rescue*

Don't start on the suggested reading list until you've picked your papers. Seriously, don't. Do not. Well, if it interests you, then by all means go ahead, but the Bible and the Koran? I've never read them and I've nearly finished my part I. Thucydides and Herodotus, well, they're probably the sort of thing I should have read, but they'll only be useful for HAP unless you're doing the very very early European papers. Even for HAP, you don't have to deal with Greek Historians, generally you pick about 3 subjects to answer in a HAP exam - you'll only have to write one essay in a three hour exam on HAP. I personally picked Marx and class, German Historicism, Whig History and Nationalism. You will not (usually) have to do Greek Historians. Even for seminars, which you'll probably have fortnightly in college, if you do an ancient historiography topic, you'll be given a reading list and plenty of time to read it in. If you really want to get started on historiography stuff, then I'd really reccommend the faculty HAP reading list, which can be found here:
http://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/prelims/hap-prelims-readinglist.pdf

The general works are a particularly good starting point, and from there you'll probably find something you're really interested in which you can then investigate further by delving into the relevant sections. I personally think that would be far less scary.

Please don't worry, I certainly didn't read anything much before coming up, and you really won't be in a worse position if you don't.

Congratulations on the choice of Peterhouse as well, Trundle, it's a lovely college and you don't have first year exams. Lucky (grr).

Reply 13

sophisti_kate

Trundle

What ever happened to a light 'introduction' to the course?

How about "Spot goes to church", "Spot learns about cultural references"... :biggrin:

Reply 14

Profesh

sophisti_kate

How about "Spot goes to church", "Spot learns about cultural references"... :biggrin:

"See Spot engage Marx in Hegelian dialectical synthesis: engage, Spot; engage."

Reply 15

yusufu

Profesh

"See Spot engage Marx in Hegelian dialectical synthesis: engage, Spot; engage."

pffft. That's a kid's book!

Reply 16

FadeToBlackout

Profesh

"See Spot engage Marx in Hegelian dialectical synthesis: engage, Spot; engage."

As another Historian, I agree entirely with xx_Ambellina_xx. Its really not worth starting the reading yet, or at least, any reading in detail unless you know what papers you're doing. I did some reading, true, for the course but none has yet been relevant at all. And by some reading I eman three books over the summer.

It's really not worth it. By all means read them if you want; I wish I'd had teh time over the summer before to do some history reading for fun. But don't go overboard and read everything.

Reply 17

*Joanna*

xx_ambellina_xx

Congratulations on the choice of Peterhouse as well, Trundle, it's a lovely college and you don't have first year exams. Lucky (grr).

You're kidding, right? That's not fair!

Reply 18

Mata

xx_ambellina_xx

Congratulations on the choice of Peterhouse as well, Trundle, it's a lovely college and you don't have first year exams. Lucky (grr).

Ooh, does this hold true for English, does anyone know?

I got my letter (from Peterhouse obv) for English and immediately went on Amazon and bought half of it (mostly for 10p; its amazing what you can buy). While I did buy all the books to squish down my non-revising-guilt I also actually thought about reading them. My letter was filled with phrases such as:

"I urge you strongly to do as much reading as you can"

"All undergraduates should therefore by an A.V. Bible"

"Please be sure to have read at least..."

"We cannot urge you strongly enough"

"Don't come up to Cambridge without having read some..."

Are they just being mean nasties who want me to have no fun, or do I actually have to read it all before I go?

Reply 19

Epipsychidion

Unhappily Englishists do have first year prelims, but they don't mean anything. Oh, and Historians make up for the year without exams by having mocks and the real things within the same term in the second year.

And it's best to read what you can from the reading list, simply because it makes your life easier when it comes to writing essays in term time. Don't let it get in the way of you enjoying your summer, though. Do you know what period paper / supervisor you'll be starting off with?