Demonstrating evidence of wider engineering reading in your personal statement and interview is a powerful way to stand out when applying to Oxford or Cambridge.
To support your preparation, we’ve worked with our expert Oxbridge engineering tutors and successful applicants to curate a reading list that goes beyond the official Oxbridge recommendations.
By exploring these carefully selected resources, you’ll strengthen your subject knowledge, develop fresh insights for your application, and show the kind of independent engagement that Oxbridge admissions tutors value highly.
How to Show Evidence of Wider Reading
You can show evidence of wider reading (as well as engineering work experience) through your personal statement and interview. However, simply listing books or resources is not enough – the purpose of wider reading before university is to help you deepen your subject knowledge while developing niche interests that you can then explore further. In your application, a strong approach is to explain why you are drawn to engineering, which ideas or themes you’ve discovered through your independent engagement, and how these connect to your long-term academic or career aspirations.
For instance, you might have been working on an independent engineering project, such as designing a small wind turbine. After reading a book, you may have realised that it’s not just about maximising energy output but also about the real-world trade-offs engineers face, such as the sustainability and cost of the materials used. In your personal statement, you could explain how this insight made you rethink your project – for example, by experimenting with different blade materials or by weighing up efficiency against durability. At interview, you could then expand on how the book encouraged you to consider the bigger picture, linking technical design decisions to environmental and societal impact. This shows tutors that your wider reading hasn’t just given you knowledge, but has actively shaped the way you think and problem-solve as a prospective engineer.
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Oxford’s Engineering Reading List
Oxford doesn’t offer an official reading list. Instead, they encourage prospective students to explore resources that stimulate problem-solving and critical thinking.
There’s a clear emphasis here on active engagement rather than passive reading: applicants are expected to develop curiosity through practice problems, puzzles, and interactive learning platforms. Oxford also suggests multimedia resources, including videos on driverless cars and drug delivery innovations, which reflect the department’s forward-looking view of engineering as a discipline that connects theory with future impact.
- Isaac Physics: this website contains lots of maths and physics problem solving questions.
- British Physics Olympiad: this website contains lots of past papers and solutions of problem solving type questions.
- Next time, education centre: this website contains some quite fun questions designed to make you think about physical concepts.
- I want to study Engineering: this website is just as useful for all applicants, not just those applying to engineering.
- Brilliant.org: this website has some resources to test your mathematical and physics knowledge.
- Driverless cars video
- Delivering drugs better – using sound video
Cambridge’s Engineering Reading List
Cambridge’s engineering reading list is extensive and eclectic, reflecting the breadth of the subject and the curiosity-driven approach that the university values. The recommendations range from technical foundations, such as J.E. Gordon’s classics Structures – or Why Things Don’t Fall Down and The New Science of Strong Materials, to broader reflections on the role of engineering in society, like Rob Lawlor’s Engineering in Society.
Students are encouraged not only to understand how things work, but also why they sometimes fail – Henry Petroski’s multiple works are a testament to this. At the same time, books such as David MacKay’s Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air and Julian Allwood’s Sustainable Materials – With Both Eyes Open highlight the urgent need for sustainable thinking in Cambridge’s engineering programme. Cambridge also shares TEDx talks by their own staff on topics ranging from 3D printing to the purpose of the human brain, supporting the idea that engineering is about solving global challenges as much as mastering technical skills.
Book recommendations:
- MacKay, D.J.C., Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. Cambridge: UIT, 2008. ISBN 0954452933.
- Babinsky, H., ‘How Do Wings Work?’, Physics Education, vol. 38, no. 6, 2003, pp. 497–503. doi:10.1088/0031-9120/38/6/001.
- Allwood, J. & Cullen, J., Sustainable Materials – With Both Eyes Open. Cambridge: UIT Cambridge Ltd., 2012. ISBN 190686005X.
- Lawlor, R. (ed.), Engineering in Society. London: Royal Academy of Engineering, 2013.
- McCarthy, N., Engineering: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009. ISBN 1851686622.
- Gordon, J.E., The New Science of Strong Materials – or Why You Don’t Fall Through the Floor. London: Penguin, 1991. ISBN 0140135979.
- Gordon, J.E., Structures – or Why Things Don’t Fall Down. Cambridge, MA: DaCapo Press, 2003. ISBN 0306812835.
- Vogel, S., Cats’ Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. ISBN 0393319903.
- Forbes, P., The Gecko’s Foot: How Scientists are Taking a Leaf from Nature’s Book. London: Harper Perennial, 2006. ISBN 0007179898.
- Vincenti, W.G., What Engineers Know and How They Know It: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. ISBN 0801845882.
- Adams, J.L., Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-Rings: The World of an Engineer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN 0674306899.
- Maxfield, C., Bebop to the Boolean Boogie: An Unconventional Guide to Electronics. Oxford: Newnes (Elsevier), 2009. ISBN 1856175073.
- Petroski, H., Invention by Design – How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN 0674463684.
- Petroski, H., To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. ISBN 0679734163.
- Petroski, H., Remaking the World. New York: Vintage Books, 1999. ISBN 0375700242.
- Petroski, H., Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design. New York: Random House, 2004. ISBN 1400032938.
- Petroski, H., Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering. New York: Vintage Books, 2005. ISBN 1400032946.
- Petroski, H., Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0521466490.
- Petroski, H., Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008. ISBN 0691136424.
- Petroski, H., The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems. New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2010. ISBN 0307272451.
- Levy, M. & Salvadori, M., Why Buildings Fall Down. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1994. ISBN 039331152X.
- Salvadori, M., Why Buildings Stand Up. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1991. ISBN 0393306763.
- Tremayne, D., The Science of Formula 1 Design. Sparkford: J.H. Haynes & Co. Ltd., 2009. ISBN 1844253406.
- Tennekes, H., The Simple Science of Flight. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009. ISBN 0262513137.
- Anderson, D.W. & Eberhart, S., Understanding Flight. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009. ISBN 0071626964.
- Ball, P., Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 0691009759.
- Eberhart, M.E., Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005. ISBN 1400048834.
- Cadbury, D., Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. London: Harper Perennial, 2004. ISBN 0007163053.
- Spufford, F., The Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin. London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2004. ISBN 0571214975.
- Florman, S.C., The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. London: Souvenir Press Ltd., 1995. ISBN 0285632876.
- Madhavan, G., Think Like an Engineer. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2015. ISBN 1780746377.
- Bloomfield, L.A., How Things Work – The Physics of Everyday Life. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. ISBN 0470223995.
- Norman, E., Cubitt, J., Urry, S. & Whittaker, M., Advanced Design and Technology. Harlow: Longman Group Ltd., 2000. ISBN 0582328314.
TEDx talks by Department of Engineering staff, including:
- Professor Julian Allwood: “Let’s just use less energy“
- Dr Tim Minshall: “Building the Future“
- Dr Tim Minshall: “Engineering in a connected world“
- Dr Tim Minshall: “How 3D printing is enabling the ‘4th Industrial Revolution”
- Professor Rodolphe Sepulchre: “Do brains compute?“
- Professor Daniel Wolpert: “The real reason for brains“
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Our Curated Engineering Wider Reading List
When applying to study Engineering at Oxford or Cambridge, starting with the official reading lists is a natural first step. However, competition is fierce, so going beyond the basics is a great way to show genuine curiosity and independent engagement with the subject.
Our curated wider reading list includes select books from the official lists, alongside additional recommendations that go beyond them, helping you explore different areas of engineering, broaden your perspective, and develop the critical insights that will make your application stand out.
Books
Sustainable Energy, Mackay D.
Outline:
Gives a complete overview of what makes up the total energy usage of the UK and goes through all the possible ways we have of sustainably generating that energy, as well as ways that our energy use can be cut down. Reading this will leave you much better informed about the country’s energy situation and is a must read for anyone at all interested in climate change.
Main Learning Points:
Clear overview of all of the UK’s energy use and scientific analysis of every option we have for sustainably meeting the country’s energy needs.
Sustainable Materials, Allwood J and Cullen J.
Outline:
Sequel to the first book but about materials rather than energy. For a complete understanding of how humanity can live sustainably this book is just as important as the first. Both this and ‘Sustainable energy – without the hot air’ also include many ‘back of the envelope’ style calculations that will be used frequently in an Engineering degree, and give you a much better scientific understanding of where the quoted figures are coming from.
Main Learning Points:
How the physiology of the human body allows it to be so adaptable to different challenges, and the limits of this.
The Simple Science of Flight, Tennekes H.
Outline:
A very good introduction to flight with no prior knowledge required. Looks over all flight parameters needed for an object to fly and uses easy comparisons to show the connections between birds and airplanes. Explains concepts such as frictional and induced drag, wing loadings, and wing shapes. Particularly useful for anyone interested in aeronautical engineering.
Main Learning Points:
Gives a good understanding of the basics of flight and aerodynamic principals that allow creatures and machines alike to fly.
Learn Python the Hard Way, Shaw Z.
Outline:
Coding is used extensively in the Engineering course at Cambridge and almost all other universities, as well as being a very valuable life skill. This book is a step by step guide starting from scratch to give you a very good grounding in Python (Python is the language taught at Cambridge so it’s best to learn this) and a crucial head start in your degree.
Main Learning Points:
A very comprehensive guide to learning and understanding Python. Starting from basic code writing and covering many topics such as looping, logic, data structures, Object-oriented programming, program design, and basic web development.
Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Anderson J.
Outline:
A comprehensive book covering the fundamentals of aerodynamics and fluid mechanics that can be referred to throughout your degree as well as in preparation for starting it. Fluid mechanics is covered in the first year of Engineering at Cambridge so prior knowledge of this will be very useful.
Main Learning Points:
A guide to aerodynamics and fluid mechanics from scratch with a good selection of examples and exercises.
Invention by Design, Petroski H.
Outline:
A very fun read that takes you through the thinking involved creating objects from a paperclip to a skyscraper, and the many factors that have to be taken into consideration when designing them.
Main Learning Points:
Introduction to how to think like an Engineer and an insight into the design process that goes into creating products.
Structures, Gordon JE.
Outline:
A good introduction into civil engineering and structures, explaining how complex structures like dams or suspension bridges work in a way that’s easily understood by a beginner.
Main Learning Points:
Basic principles of structural mechanics such as stress, shear force, fracture, and compression.
The Science of Formula 1 Design, Tremayne D.
Outline:
A good way to learn about Engineering principles in the interesting context of formula 1 racing.
Main Learning Points:
Insight into the technology used in the engine, steering, suspension, brakes, and many more parts and systems of a formula 1 car.
The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, Florman S.
Outline:
A unique and philosophical outlook on the impact of engineering and technology in our society, very different from the other more technical books in the list.
Main Learning Points:
Different perspectives about the profession of engineering, and good engineering ethics and practices.
Online Resources
Online resources are a great way of keeping up to date with current information. You should check out these resources frequently.
The engineering section of the NRICH website designed for 16-18 year olds has many good tasks where your maths and physics knowledge is combined to answer unfamiliar Engineering style questions.
Many engineering problems and games that are great preparation for engineering admissions tests and interviews as well as revision for A-levels.
Lots more maths and physics problem solving style questions.
The latest Engineering news and articles from around the world, as well as informative videos, tutorials and games.
A frequently updated list of humorous and informative Engineering related podcasts.
Fun, interactive maths and physics problems to pass the time with.
A bank of podcasts from Oxford’s medical sciences division.
Journals
Journals are similar to online resources, but tend to be focused on more academic research. Here are the ones we recommend you keep up with.
New Scientist
An ever-popular journal to keep up-to-date with innovative scientific innovations and ideas.
IEEE engineering journal
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal publishes frequent interesting technology related research.
Energy Science & Engineering
A peer-reviewed journal focusing on research related to energy supply and use.
Conclusion
Independent reading not only deepens your understanding of the subject but also gives you a competitive edge in the admissions process. It’s a habit worth developing early, as the majority of university-level study relies on independent learning.
While it’s important to read widely, don’t feel you need to cover everything at once – focusing on a few carefully chosen books, articles, or podcasts that genuinely interest you is far more effective. As you engage with these materials, reflect on key questions:
- Why does this interest me?
- What is the author’s main argument?
- Do I agree? Why or why not?
- How can I use what I’ve learned to strengthen my application?
If you are applying to study engineering at Oxbridge, wider reading is just one part of the preparation. Crafting a compelling personal statement, acing the ESAT or PAT, and performing confidently in interviews are equally important. At UniAdmissions, we’ve been guiding Oxbridge engineering applicants through every stage of the process for over a decade, achieving a success rate three times the national average. If you’re serious about studying engineering at Oxford or Cambridge, our Oxbridge Engineering Preparation Programme can help make it happen.
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FAQs
1. Why is wider reading important for Oxbridge engineering applicants?
Wider reading helps you understand the subject beyond your school curriculum and demonstrates intellectual curiosity – a quality Oxbridge tutors highly value. It also gives you concrete examples to reference in your personal statement and interviews, showing independent thought and engagement with engineering debates.
2. How many books should I aim to read before applying?
While you should aim to read as much as possible, quality matters more than quantity. If you don’t have enough time, focus on a few books, articles, or podcasts that genuinely interest you. Reflect on what you learn and how it connects to your motivation for studying engineering. Admissions tutors prefer depth of understanding over a long list of titles.
3. Should I only read the official Oxford or Cambridge lists?
Official lists are a great starting point, but the strongest candidates go beyond them. Engaging with wider reading shows initiative and helps you form your own critical perspective on engineering. Our curated list includes both official recommendations and additional texts that are particularly useful for Oxbridge applicants.
4. How can I reference my wider reading in my personal statement or interview?
You don’t need to list every book you’ve read. Instead, highlight key ideas, explain your perspective, and connect them to your interest in engineering.
5. How can UniAdmissions help with my Oxbridge engineering application?
Our Oxbridge Engineering Preparation Programme provides tailored guidance on personal statement writing, ESAT/PAT preparation, and interview practice – helping you focus on what truly matters to secure an offer from Oxford or Cambridge.
