June 2021
Our monthly selection of alumni-authored books includes a look at the role of luck in the success of brands, a study of management styles in higher education, two biographies of accomplished Scots, and research into how inorganic chemistry can be applied in everyday life.
1.
| Author | David Dunbar |
| Degree |
MBA |
| Books |
Management Behaviours in Higher Education: Lessons from Education, Business and Sport |
Management Behaviours in Higher Education explores the traits and behaviours of higher education leaders that are associated with staff management. It sets out beneficial management qualities and techniques which can be applied and suggests the need for a behavioural standard for senior managers in universities.
The book showcases the importance of creating a supportive motivational climate and culture for greater psychological security in higher education. It proposes the idea of an agreed behavioural framework for those in and being considered for staff management positions to provide an improved motivational climate. Chapters evaluate current business management practice and human resources advice and compare these to research evidence on the management of higher education staff.
This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers and postgraduate students engaged in the study of higher education, educational leadership and management studies. It will also appeal to those interested in business studies and the suggested parallel role/topic of sports coaching/or similar.
Management Behaviours in Higher Education: Lessons from Education, Business and Sport
2.
| Author |
Martin Eastwood |
| Degree | Medicine |
| Book |
E B Jamieson: Anatomist and Shetlander |
E B Jamieson was born in the Shetlands and his roots remained a strong influence throughout his his life. An austere and somewhat sepulchral figure , he dominated the anatomy lecture theatre and dissecting rooms of Edinburgh University during the first half of the 20th Century. He wrote the defining text books of anatomy used by generations of medical students.
Due to his complex character and personal remoteness, involvement with his students, and power of scholarship and writing , he enjoyed a singular place in the history of of the Medical School, and this biography explores why.
E B Jamieson: Anatomist and Shetlander (available to read on the RCPE website)
3.
| Author |
Narayan S. Hosmane |
| Degree | PhD Inorganic Chemistry |
| Book |
Advanced Inorganic Chemistry: Applications in Everyday Life |
This book connects key topics in the subject with what readers experience in nature and in everyday life. This text differs from other foundational texts with an emphasis on applications and examples in that it uniquely begins with a focus on the shapes (geometry) that dictate intermolecular forces of attractions that lead to reactivity between molecules of different shapes. The reader then builds on this understanding: the reactivity leads to complex formation via a number of mechanisms (associative, dissociative, interchange associative, interchange dissociative, etc.) Special emphasis is given to molecular orbital theory, molecular symmetry, and symmetry groups.
From this foundation, the text explores more advanced topics, such as ligands; ligand substitution processes, with an emphasis on square-planar substitution and octahedral substitution reactions in inorganic chemistry; transition metal complexes, with particular focus on crystal field and ligand field theories, electronic states, and spectra; and organometallic and bioinorganic compounds, including carboranes and metallacarboranes, and their applications in catalysis, medicine, and pollution control.
Throughout Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, illustrative examples bring inorganic chemistry to life. For instance, biochemists and students in particular will be interested in how coordination chemistry between the transition metals and the ligands has a direct correlation with cyanide or carbon monoxide poisoning (strong-field cyanide or CO ligand versus weak-field oxygen molecule). Applications of organometallic chemistry, catalysis, and cluster chemistry appear in our daily lives in the form of durable polymeric materials, drugs, and more.
Advanced Inorganic Chemistry: Applications in Everyday Life
4.
| Author |
Andy Nairn |
| Degree | Law |
| Book |
Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand's favour |
Luck is a four-letter-word in business circles. But the truth is that fortune plays a part in every success story and every failure. In Go Luck Yourself, one of the world's leading brand strategists explains how a hunting trip led to the invention of VELCRO®. How a little mermaid inspired a famous campaign for Amazon. How a stolen rabbit spurred on Walt Disney. And more importantly, how you can stack the odds in your brand's favour. Andy Nairn draws on everything from architecture to zoology, as well as almost 30 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet, to provide a series of thought-provoking strategies that will help anyone responsible for building a brand. He'll show you how to uncover your organisation's hidden treasures. How to spot opportunities in unexpected places. How to turn misfortune into good fortune. And how to practise being lucky, every day. Written in a very accessible and entertaining style, this is the book you need to improve your brand's fortunes, in these turbulent times. Now Go Luck Yourself...
Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand's favour
5.
| Author |
Patrick Scott |
| Degree | PhD English Literature |
| Book |
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume (Dictionary of Literary Biography) |
This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers, while satisfying the standards of librarians, teachers and scholars. Dictionary of Literary Biography provides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history.
Dictionary of Literary Biography systematically presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras and all genres through volumes dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods.
Robert Burns: A Documentary Volume (Dictionary of Literary Biography)
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
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.