It’s that time of year again when the great and the good tell you about all the marvellous books they have had time to read but you inexplicably have failed to notice. Here on Wonkhe we find it hard to resist a trend like that as our most recent summer reading list shows.
Once again we decided against asking a range of HE celebrities for their book choices as they might not have come up with the right answers or may have even thought we were serious. So here is our entirely self-generated list of the best HE books of 2018 (or thereabouts).
- An Office Collection – your reference guide to all the circulars and publications from the first months of the OfS
- Rustication and a Clip Round the Ear: Student Discipline Through the Ages
- Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes Minister: Five Universities Ministers in Five years (in five volumes)
- More Places for Maces: University Regalia Goes Global
- Understanding University Pensions (three volume set)
- Everyone’s favourite stocking filler – it’s the Spiked! Annual 2019, once again with all your favourite pseudonymous writers and including:
![]()
- Why Augar will raise fees
- Vote for your favourite Trump speech
- University pensions should be scrapped
- Higher education’s Brexit Bonus
- It’s time to pay vice chancellors more
- Why Erasmus is bad for students
- Plus colouring in stuff, traffic-light based competitions, quizzes and prizes
- Of Mice and Hens: Hard to spot beasts on campus
- Brighton Rocks – the impact of two universities on one seaside paradise
- Jamaica Ins: Caribbean student recruitment examined
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – the transformative power of a PhD
- Far from the Madding Crowd: Ideal end of term destinations for academics
- A Room with a View of the Car Park: Office allocations for beginners
- IT can’t happen here – HE’s difficulties with information technology
- Diary of a Nobody – Top TRAC return tips
- Anticipating Augar: The turn of the screw
- Around the world in 80 days: the best routes for international student recruiters
And here are a few best sellers you might have missed previously:
- How to dig “digs”: Understanding contemporary trends in student accommodation
![]()
- The Essay Mill on the Floss
- Gold! Always Believe in Your TEF Score
- The HE Student Loan Book Book (now available at a large discount)
- Snowflake Patrol: Policing Safe Spaces on Campus
- War of the World Rankings
- I Spy Universities
- When Two Two Becomes Two One: Grade Inflation Made Easy
- You Say Tom-ah-toe, I Say Tom-ay-toe: Graduation Name Reading for Beginners
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: The hottest new graduate entry jobs
- The Sign of Four Star: Sherlock Holmes and the REF
- To Kill the Mockingbirds: campus avian control strategies
- UKRI or I cry, Bees or Baize? The definitive sector pronunciation guide
- Bleak Houses: student accommodation through the ages
- Registrars and their Registers
What key HE books have you enjoyed most over the past year? Are there ones we’ve missed?
