Alumni Services

February 2021

This month's alumni-penned literature covers subject matters as diverse as theology and European law, and ranges from academia to fiction and autobiography.

1.

Author

Richard Brash

Degree PhD Theology
Book

Knowing Me, Knowing God: Six Theological Keys to Scripture

In the Bible, God gives us knowledge of himself and of ourselves, so that through these two intertwined strands we may receive what Calvin called 'true and sound wisdom'. In pursuit of this wisdom, many Christians have learned to interpret Scripture chronologically, following the Bible’s developing story from creation, through fall, to redemption, and ultimately to restoration. But what of a complementary theological approach to Scripture, one which focuses on the Bible’s main 'characters' — God and human beings — and the nature of their relationship? Richard Brash presents such an approach, introducing six theological keys to Scripture which help us better to know God and ourselves in the three fundamental areas of being, knowing, and acting. At each stage, he develops the theme of the gracious condescension of the infinite, incomprehensible, and holy God in his relation to finite human beings: creating us as his image, establishing a proportion between his own knowledge and ours, and overcoming sin to take a people for himself through the love-gifts of his Son and his Spirit. If you are looking for an enlarged vision of God and a renewed understanding of your own vocation before the Lord, take up this book and be refreshed in your love for God in heart, soul, and mind.

Knowing Me, Knowing God

Richard's website

2.

Author Neil Cameron
Degree

PhD Quantitative Genetics

Books

Electronics projects with the ES8266 and ESP32

The ESP8266 and ESP32 microcontrollers feature fast processing speeds, Wi-Fi communication, with Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) built in to the ESP32, to enable accessing or uploading information over the internet for control of remote devices. The book emphasises practical projects and readers are guided through Wi-Fi and BLE communication, mobile app design and build, WebSocket, ESP-NOW and LoRa communication protocols. Example projects are internet radio, intranet camera, international weather station, internet clock design and controlling remote motors through instructions over a webpage

Electronics projects with the ES8266 and ESP32

3.

Author

Hugh R. Cran

Degree Veterinary Medicine
Books

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Promises to Keep

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

After three years working as a young vet in rural Aberdeenshire, Hugh Cran decided that it was time for a change. He got it. He took a post in Kenya and, forty years later, he's still there, still working, still loving every exasperating, challenging, unexpected moment. This is a page-turning account of working as a vet at the sharp end. Cattle owned by the Maasai herdsmen or the white settlers might take up most of Hugh's time, but these cattle are assailed by lightning strike, snake bites, disease passed on by zebra and wildebeest. He's up against sun cancer, witch doctors - who knows what to expect next? Travelling miles on rough roads, Hugh never knows if he will be peforming surgery on dirty sacks, beseiged by every species of Kenyan insect, by the light of a failing car-headlamp! But the colourful people who frequent Hugh's Nukuru practice, the sheer vitality of the Kenyan scene and the rewarding nature of the grinding task in hand, keep him answering that persistent phone, day and night, and heading off into the unknown.

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Promises to Keep

Working at the sharp end, Scottish vet Hugh Cran describes his daily and nightly challenges working in Kenya as he encounters rabid dogs, a horse pageant that goes horribly wrong, missing tortoises, entire herds of sick cattle and corrupt policemen: he even witnesses how a witchdoctor successfully identifies a thief. Busy from early morning to midnight, Hugh never turns down a call to help an animal in distress, even if this means driving across floods or deserts, surviving vehicle break-downs or insanitary operating conditions on arrival. In this book, Hugh falls in love, marries and starts a family, climbs Kenyan mountains, survives a life-threatening health crisis, a surgery fire and a serious legal accusation. Throughout it all, he remains a dedicated and hardworking local vet, serving his African community, no matter what. He has promises to keep...

Promises to Keep

 

4.

Author Damian Platt
Degree

Spanish and Italian

Books

Nothing by Accident: Brazil on the Edge

On a sweltering March evening in 2018 Marielle Franco was shot dead. Rio de Janeiro is a routinely violent place but this was different. Marielle was a rising star of the city's political scene and was hit four times in the head by a professional hitman. Elected the same year, President Bolsonaro, an enthusiast for torture, murder and the worst excesses of the country’s 1964-1984 military dictatorship, subsequently declared war on the country’s institutions. Brazil is on the edge. Whoever ordered Marielle’s killing severely underestimated both her popularity and the outrage at her murder, which has revealed a profound rot at the core of a divided society.

Damian Platt spent thirteen years living and working in Rio. In Nothing By Accident, he describes events in the city during the tumultuous decade that preceded her murder and the election of a tyrannical President. Moving beyond standard discourse about violent gangs from poor communities, Nothing By Accident overturns stereotypes and offers a new narrative - much more complex and much closer to sources of power – to explain the operation of violence and corruption in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.

Nothing by Accident: Brazil on the Edge

 

5.

Author Oisin Plumb
Degree

PhD Scottish History

Books

Picts and Britons in the Early Medieval Irish Church: Travels West Over the Storm-Swelled Sea

Between the fifth and ninth centuries AD, the peoples of Britain, Ireland, and their surrounding islands were constantly interacting — sharing cultures and ideas that shaped and reshaped their communities and the way they lived. The influence of religious figures from Ireland on the development of the Church in Britain was profound, and the fame of monasteries such as Iona, which they established, remains to this day. Yet with the exception of St Patrick, far less attention has been paid to the role of the Britons and Picts who travelled west into Ireland, despite their equally significant impact.

This book aims to redress the balance by offering a detailed exploration of the evidence for British and Pictish men and women in the early medieval Irish Church, and asking what we can piece together of their lives from the often fragmentary sources. It also considers the ways in which writers of later ages viewed these migrants, and examines how the shaping of the ‘migration narrative’ throughout the centuries had a major effect on the way that the earliest centuries of the church came to be viewed in later years in both Scotland and Ireland. In doing so, this volume offers important new insights into our understanding of the relationships between Britain and Ireland in this period.

Picts and Britons in the Early Medieval Irish Church

 

6.

Author Auke Willems
Degree

International Law

Books

The Principle of Mutual Trust in EU Criminal Law

This book develops a conceptual framework of the principle of mutual trust in EU criminal law. Mutual trust is a household term in the EU criminal law vocabulary and is widely regarded to be a prerequisite for a successful application of mutual recognition. But despite its importance, the parameters of the concept are not clear. The book demonstrates that mutual trust is multi-faceted: combining the elements essential to a successful EU criminal law, as part of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The book approaches trust from multiple angles. First, a study of social science literature. Second, a meticulous assessment of mutual trust in EU criminal law. Third, a study of trust in US interstate criminal justice cooperation. Finally, the book identifies a comprehensive approach to tackle trust related difficulties in EU criminal law. This timely book will be of great interest to anyone looking to gain a full picture of this core principle in EU criminal law.

The Principle of Mutual Trust in EU Criminal Law

Submit your book

If you are a member of the alumni community and have recently published a book, we would be delighted to include it in the Alumni Bookshelf.  Email the editor, Brian Campbell, with the following information:

  • your name
  • degree details
  • book  details, including a link for further information

Email Brian Campbell

Please note

Books are added to the bookshelf in order of submission. All of the further information links listed are the external websites of the book publisher, the author, or the bookseller. The University of Edinburgh is not responsible for the content and functionality of these sites. We reserve the right to not publish all submissions we receive.