Libraries & Collections Staff Picks
Staff Picks is a regular feature where our Library & Collections staff recommend must-read books and must-watch films from our collection, chosen to captivate your curiosity and spark your imagination.
Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis
Selected by Sheneez Sylvia Wynter, O. J., a celebrated and notable alumni of King's College London, is a Jamaican writer whose many essays invite us to rethink and challenge the ways in which we see the world.
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This book, editted by Canadian Professor Katherine McKittrick, is one of only two editted volumes on Wynter's work, and it sees prestigious decolonial scholars from around the world celebrate, comment upon and dialogue with Wynter's ground-breaking ideas. It opens with an epic and extensive chapter co-written by Wynter and McKittrick, that should not be missed by anyone interested in decolonial thought and/or Caribbean philosophy!
In The Dream House
Selected by Red
Wouldn't exactly say it was a pleasurable read but it was definitely an enthralling one. This book is a memoir mostly centred around the author's experience of abuse in a queer relationship. Would describe as raw, heavy, and frightening, but really beautiful writing with an interesting structure, in the way of chapters varying from being just one sentence to written in the style of a 'Choose your own adventure', and so many lines I had to write down to hold onto.
Demon Copperhead
Selected by Louise
A modern re-telling of David Copperfield, exploring the devasting effects of poverty and the opiod crisis in 1990s/early 2000s rural America. Not an easy read in terms of its subject, but an important one.
The Gentrification of the Mind
Selected by Jack
Landlords jack up rents, ruin neighbourhoods, destroy cities and are a big part of why I can’t go watch a play in London anymore because they’re all either rubbish or £50. Read if you are interested in New York, the AIDS crisis, theatre, being gay, making art, or you have a sort of general sense of malaise and unease and you don’t know why. SPOILER: It’s probably capitalism.
Sisterhood of the Squared Circle
Selected by Charlie W
Women's wrestling isn't new, but that is rarely acknowledged or understood by wrestling fans today. The fight to be respected, to be included, to break down the systemic barriers that exist - well, it's better, but it's still ongoing. This biography does a great job in surfacing the history of women's wrestling, the changemakers and the trail blazers.
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There are career profiles of over 100 women wrestlers from throughout history, ranging from Minerva to Manami Toyota to Mae Young to Sasha Banks (or, should I say, Mercedes Moné? CEO! CEO!) There's also good international coverage (although it is US focused). Whether you like wrestling or this is all Brand New Information I'd highly recommend this informative, and easy going read.
When Nietzsche Wept
Selected by Arved
The amount of underlining I have done puts this firmly in the favourite books of all time category. Yalom is one of our most gifted living authors, with an unmatched penetrating kindness. One for all those that tend to often be proven right in hindsight and thus find it hard to let go off projects.
Books in the Library
Libraries & Collections provides a range of printed books to support you. All our printed books can be located by searching the Library catalogue.
New Hunt's House Library (Guy's campus) the Weston Education Centre Library (Denmark Hill) and St Thomas' House Library (St Thomas' Campus) are the main locations holding wide collections of books to support NHS staff. There are also sizable collections related to nursing, midwifery management at Franklin Wilkins Library (near Waterloo). At Denmark Hill there is also the IoPPN Library for mental health topics.
For more information about the classmarks of the books in the Library see the classification guides for Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences and for Nursing and Midwifery.
These guides will help you get started with searching the Library catalogue (to find out what books are available at which library and where they are on the shelves) and you can find out more information about the location and opening hours of King's Libraries on our webpages.
Simpler loans with auto renewals
You no longer need to renew most books on loan from the library.
Our system will now let you know (via email) when a book you have on loan is being renewed automatically and the new due date.
You can still renew your books yourself if you want to reassure yourself an item won't fall due while you are away.
Please note this does not entirely remove the chance of fines. You could still incur a fine if you do not return a book that has been reserved by another person. You still have till your current due date to return reserved items.
Recommend new books
If there is a book you think the library should have please let us know Library@kcl.ac.uk. There is an annual budget to support the specific needs of NHS staff and we are happy to receive recommendations.
Every acquisition is added to LibrarySearch, and print items are made available for loan or reference in the appropriate library.