Human Sciences

Reading list

The following is a selection of reading which represents different subject areas within the first year course of Human Sciences. If you don’t know what you have signed up for, now is the time to find out. You are by no means expected to read everything on this list but I recommend that you select some titles which arouse your curiosity.

Paper 1: Ecology and Evolution

• Esbjorn-Hargens, S. & Zimmerman M.E. (2009) Integral Ecology: Uniting multiple perspectives on the natural world. Integral Books.
• Jablonka, E & Lamb, M.J. (2006) Evolution in four dimensions: Genetic, epigenetic, behavioral and symbolic variation in the history of life. (Series: Life & Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology & Psychology). Boston: MIT.
• Lieberman, D. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, health and disease. Penguin Books. 2014
• Mackenzie, F.T. (2010) Our Changing Planet: An introduction to earth system science and GLOBAL Environmental Change (3rd ed.) (Paperback) USA: Prentice & Hall.
• Noble, D. (2017) Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Sheldrake, M. (2020) Entangled Life: how fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures. New York, Random House.

Paper 2: Physiology and Genetics

• Ashcroft, F. (2002) Life at the Extremes. Univ California Press.
• Blaser M. (2014) Missing Microbes: How killing bacteria creates modern plagues. Oneworld Publications.
• Blaustein, M.P., Kao, J.P.Y. and Matteson, D.R. (eds). (2020) Cellular Physiology and Neurophysiology, Elsevier.
• Divan, A. and Royds, J. A. (2016) Molecular biology: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Klenerman, L. (2015) Human Anatomy: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Slack, J. S. (2014) Genes: A very short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Paper 3: Society, Culture and Environment

• Diener, A.C. & Hagen J. (2013) Borders: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Eriksen, T. H. (2023). Small Places, Large issues: An introduction to social and cultural anthropology. 5th edn. Pluto Press.
• Fox, K. (2014) Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour. Hodder & Stoughton. Koser, K. (2007). International Migration: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press.

Paper 4: Sociology and Demography

• Billari, F.C. (2002) Demography: Fast and Slow. Population and Development Review, 48, 9–30. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/padr.12464 Bruce, Steve. (2018) Sociology: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Elster, Jon. (2015) Explaining Social Behaviour. More nuts and bolts for the social sciences (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press.
• Kreager, P., Winney, B., Ulijaszek, S. and Capelli, C. (2015)Population in the Human Sciences: Concepts, models and evidence. Oxford University Press.
• Petit, V., Quershi, K., Charbit, Y. and Kreager, P. (2020) The Anthropological Demography of Health, Oxford University Press.
• Van Tubergen, F. (2020) Introduction to Sociology, Routledge. (You can also check out the author’s web page for the book which has links to useful resources: https://www.frankvantubergen.nl/course/ ).

Paper 5: Quantitative Methods for the Human Sciences

• Hand, D.J., Statistics: A Very Short Introduction, 2008. OUP
  Key preparation for this paper will be familiarising yourself with Python using datacamp.com (see instructions in document from Dr Jill O’Reilly and Dr Lindsay Richards).

Study skills for incoming undergraduates

As an Oxford student, you have many great opportunities ahead, but studying here can also be very challenging. To help you prepare for this, we have put together some resources that will help you develop your study skills before you start at Oxford, no matter your subject.

click here to go to the study skills page!

Starting at Oxford

Starting a course at Oxford can be very daunting, but there are many resources out there to help you succeed! Here are some useful guides from across the University that you might want to check out:

• Study skills and training: Here you can find advice on academic good practice including avoiding plagiarism, managing your time, reading, note taking, referencing and revision.
• Student life: It’s not all about academics at Oxford; here you can find out about the range of other opportunities available to you as a student, as well as tips on how to navigate student life with your workload. If you prefer podcasts, much of this information is available in that form here!
• Managing your budget: Student finances can be daunting at first glance. You can find can find more information on managing your money at university here, as well as information on fees and funding.