"Very Sharp
Very Inspiring
Very Intelligent
Very Successful.
Ever wanted to know what happened during the Spanish Civil War? What the Koran really says? Or why Plato's ideas still matter today?
Ideal for train journeys, holidays, and as a quick catch-up for busy people who want something intellectually stimulating, Very Short Introductions combine authoritative analysis, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make often challenging topics highly readable.
These books can change the way you think about the things that interest you, and are the perfect introduction to subjects you previously knew nothing about. Because of this, they have proven to be extremely popular with general readers, as well as undergraduate students and their lecturers.
So, where's the gap in your knowledge? ..."
(~ Oxford University Press)
Related category: Education
Related booklists: No-Nonsense Guides (New Internationalist),
'Introducing...' Guides,
Great Ideas...,
Beginner's Guides,
'For Dummies...' Guides,
'For Beginners...' Guides,
Teach Yourself... Guides,
Rough Guides: Reference Books,
Books are listed in order of year of publication - newest titles are at the top. There are 70 books in this booklist
£8.99 paperback (2023) - ISBN 13: 9780192857026 | ISBN 10: 0192857029
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The concept of peace has always attracted radical thought, action, and practices. It has been taken to mean merely an absence of overt violence or war, but in the contemporary era it is o ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2019) - ISBN 13: 9780198830788 | ISBN 10: 0198830785
Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Born in 1926 in France, over the course of his life he dabbled in drugs, politics, and the Paris SM scene, all whilst striving to understand the deep concepts of identity, knowl ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780198716471 | ISBN 10: 0198716478
No one wants to live in poverty. Few people would want others to do so. Yet, millions of people worldwide live in poverty. According to the World Bank, over 700 million people lived on less than US $2 a day in 2013. Why is that? What has been done ab ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780198821076 | ISBN 10: 0198821077
Karl Marx is one of the most influential philosophers of all time, whose theories have shaped and directed political, economic, and social thought for 150 years. Considering Marx's life and impact, renowned philosopher Peter Singer identifies the cen ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780199532155 | ISBN 10: 019953215x
From wicked queens, beautiful princesses, elves, monsters, and goblins, to giants, glass slippers, poisoned apples, magic keys, and mirrors, the characters and images of fairy tales have cast a spell over readers and audiences, both adults and childr ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2017) - ISBN 13: 9780199730988 | ISBN 10: 0199730989
How have the Jews survived? For millennia, they have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. Many have attempted to explain this singular success as a result of divine intervention. ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2016) - ISBN 13: 9780198753773 | ISBN 10: 0198753772
In recent years, global migration has transformed in terms of its numbers and reach, its political significance, and its impact. The rising rates of international migration have been matched by growing public and media interest around the world. Toda ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2016) - ISBN 13: 9780198745549 | ISBN 10: 0198745540
Hinduism is practised by eighty per cent of India's population, and by thirty million people outside India. In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott combines a succinct and authoritative overview of a major religion with an analysis of the cha ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2016) - ISBN 13: 9780199665570 | ISBN 10: 0199665575
* Covers all the principal areas of environmental politics: its origins; ideas; parties; and the international dimension * Discussses environmental politics in its historical and comparative context * Contains a wide range of live ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780198706168 | ISBN 10: 0198706162
Today it is usually not long before a problem gets expressed as a human rights issue. An appeal to human rights in the face of injustice can be a heartfelt and morally justified demand for some, while for others it remains merely an empty slogan. &nb ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780198724834 | ISBN 10: 0198724837
This Very Short Introduction examines and untangles the various strands of antisemitism seen throughout history, from medieval religious conflict to 'new' antisemitism in the 21st century. Steven Beller reveals how the phenomenon grew as a political ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780199683673 | ISBN 10: 0199683670
In the history of philosophy, few topics are so relevant to today's cultural and political landscape as philosophy in the Islamic world. Yet, this remains one of the lesser-known philosophical traditions. In this Very Short Introduction, Pe ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2014) - ISBN 13: 9780199670420 | ISBN 10: 0199670420
Psychology is part of everyone's experience: it influences the way we think about everything from education and intelligence, to relationships and emotions, advertising and criminality. People readily behave as amateur psychologists, offering explana ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2014) - ISBN 13: 9780199922680 | ISBN 10: 0199922683
* A concise history of slavery in America beginning with the Portuguese capture of Africans in the 1400s * Draws from both historical analyses and a reading of primary documents to explore the history of slavery * Examines legislation that differ ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2013) - ISBN 13: 9780199603930 | ISBN 10: 0199603936
The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the most highly publicized and bitter struggles in history. In this accessible and stimulating Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton clearly explains the history of the problem, reducing it to its ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2012) - ISBN 13: 9780195379389 | ISBN 10: 0195379381
This Very Short Introduction employs the disciplines of history, religious studies, and anthropology as it illuminates the complexities of Aztec life. Readers meet a people highly skilled in sculpture, astronomy, city planning, poetry, and ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199546039 | ISBN 10: 0199546037
Multiculturalism appears to be in terminal crisis. It has been blamed for undermining national identity, diluting social cohesion, creating ethnic ghettos and cultural fragmentation, providing fertile ground for Islamic radicalism, encouraging perver ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199557455 | ISBN 10: 0199557454
Science Fiction has proved notoriously difficult to define. It has been explained as a combination of romance, science and prophecy; as a genre based on an imagined alternative to the reader's environment; and as a form of fantastic fiction and histo ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199584536 | ISBN 10: 0199584532
Most of us recognize that organizations are everywhere. You meet them on every street corner in the form of families and shops, study in them, work for them, buy from them, pay taxes to them. But have you given much thought to where they came from, w ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199569694 | ISBN 10: 019956969x
Where does our conscience come from? How reliable is it? In the West conscience has been relied upon for two thousand years as a judgement that distinguishes right from wrong. It has effortlessly moved through every period division and ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199608034 | ISBN 10: 0199608032
Madness is something that frightens and fascinates us all. It is a word with which we are universally familiar, and a condition that haunts the human imagination. Through the centuries, in poetry and in prose, in drama and in the visual arts, its dep ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199559282 | ISBN 10: 0199559287
As the founder of Islam Muhammad is one of the most influential figures in history. The furor surrounding the Satanic Verses and the Danish cartoon crisis reminded the world of the tremendous importance of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Learning abo ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780192803450 | ISBN 10: 019280345x
Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher, developed his critical technique known as 'deconstruction'. His work is associated with ideas surrounding both post-structuralism and post-modern philosophy, and he was known to have challenged some of the unq ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199235162 | ISBN 10: 0199235163
'Paganism' is an evocative word that, even today, conjures up deep-seated emotions and prejudices. Until recently, it was primarily a derogatory term used by Christians to describe the non-Christian cultures confronted and vanquished by their Churche ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780195395020 | ISBN 10: 0195395026
This stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, with a world-wide reach that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe. ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2011) - ISBN 13: 9780199553648 | ISBN 10: 0199553645
Religion is currently gaining a much higher profile. The number of faith schools is increasingly, and religious points of view are being aired more frequently in the media. As religion's profile rises, those who reject religion, including humanists, ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199573509 | ISBN 10: 0199573506
* Provides an overview of our Solar System and its origins, nature, and evolution * Considers controversial issues, such as what qualifies as a planet * Looks at different types of Solar System objects, such as asteroids, Trans-Neptunian obje ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199206780 | ISBN 10: 0199206783
Aristocracies or nobilities dominated the social, economic, and institutional history of all European counties until only a few generations ago. The relics of their power, in traditions and behaviour, in architecture and the arts, are still all aroun ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199560516 | ISBN 10: 019956051x
* Examines various leaders and regimes; and their related neoliberal ideas * Explores the major political, economic, and social dimensions of neoliberalism * Clearly and concisely explains the ideas and leaders at the heart of the subje ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780192804419 | ISBN 10: 0192804413
* Provides a coherent account of Modernism across various aesthetic and cultural fields * Considers several aspects of Modernism including some classic modernist works, movements and notions of the avant garde, and the idea of 'progress' in art ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780195398939 | ISBN 10: 0195398939
* Features blues stars Ma Rainey, Jelly Roll Morton, W.C. Handy, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, the Memphis Jug Band, and Charlie Patton * Provides a concise history of a musical genre that interests b ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199539406 | ISBN 10: 0199539405
Who were the Druids? What do we know about them? Do they still exist today? The Druids first came into focus in Western Europe - Gaul, Britain, and Ireland - in the second century BC. They are a popular subject; they have been known and dis ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780199545728 | ISBN 10: 0199545723
This Very Short Introduction introduces the story of Islamic history; the controversies surrounding its study; and the significance that it holds - for Muslims and for non-Muslims alike. Opening with a lucid overview of the rise and spread o ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2009) - ISBN 13: 9780199232352 | ISBN 10: 0199232350
'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' This slogan, attributed to Voltaire, is frequently quoted by defenders of free speech. Yet it is rare to find anyone prepared to defend all expression in every ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2009) - ISBN 13: 9780199225866 | ISBN 10: 0199225869
What is 'nothing'? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - a void - exist? This Very Short Introduction explores the science and the history of the elusive void: from Aristotle who insisted that the vacuum was impossible, vi ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199207565 | ISBN 10: 0199207569
What causes autism? Is it a genetic disorder, or due to some unknown environmental hazard? Are we facing an autism epidemic? What are the main symptoms, and how does it relate to Asperger syndrome? Everyone has heard of autism, but the diso ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199226320 | ISBN 10: 0199226326
There are few stories more remarkable than the evolution of life on earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct guide to the key episodes in that story - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199230792 | ISBN 10: 019923079x
Since Devolution in 1999 Scotland has become a focus of intense interest both within Britain and throughout the wider world. In this Very Short Introduction, Rab Houston explores how an independent Scottish nation emerged in the Middle Ages ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199236220 | ISBN 10: 0199236224
100 years ago, Einstein's theory of relativity shattered the world of physics. Our comforting Newtonian ideas of space and time were replaced by bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions: if you move at high speed, time slows down, space squashes up a ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780192802538 | ISBN 10: 0192802534
Interest in citizenship has never been higher. But what does it mean to be a citizen of a modern, complex community? Why is citizenship important? Can we create citizenship, and can we test for it? In this fascinating Very Short Introductio ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780192803016 | ISBN 10: 0192803018
As well as being a remarkable statesman and one of the world's longest-detained political prisoners, Nelson Mandela has become an exemplary figure of non-racialism and democracy, a moral giant. Once a man with an unknown face, he became after his 199 ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199532179 | ISBN 10: 0199532176
'Philosophers have an infuriating habit of analysing questions rather than answering them', writes Terry Eagleton, who, in these pages, asks the most important question any of us ever ask, and attempts to answer it. So what is the meaning of life? &n ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2008) - ISBN 13: 9780199206797 | ISBN 10: 0199206791
The Quakers are a fascinating religious group both in their origins and in the variety of reinterpretations of the faith since. Emerging from the social unrest of the English civil war, the Quakers have gone on to have an influence way beyond t ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780199218462 | ISBN 10: 0199218463
Games are everywhere: Drivers manoeuvring in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. A firm negotiating next year's wage is playing a bargaining game. The opposing candidates in an ele ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192853455 | ISBN 10: 0192853457
Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life, and offer solutions to them too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192801579 | ISBN 10: 0192801570
Of undoubtable relevance today, in a post-9-11 world of growing political tension and unease, this Very Short Introduction covers the topics essential to an understanding of modern international relations. Paul Wilkinson explains the theori ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192802484 | ISBN 10: 0192802488
Essential reading for anyone interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. Key themes in c ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192805904 | ISBN 10: 0192805908
From subtle discrimination in everyday life and scandals in politics, to incidents like lynchings in the American South, cultural imperialism, and 'ethnic cleansing', racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. But what a ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780192853783 | ISBN 10: 0192853783
Chaos exists in systems all around us. Even the simplest system of cause and effect can be subject to chaos, denying us accurate predictions of its behaviour, and sometimes giving rise to astonishing structures of large-scale order. Our growing under ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780195327052 | ISBN 10: 0195327055
In Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, Joseph Dan, one of the world's leading authorities on Jewish mysticism, offers a concise and highly accurate look at the history and character of the various systems developed by the adherents of the Kabbalah. ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780199205592 | ISBN 10: 0199205590
By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known. This very short introduction provides a concise and insightful history of the 'Great War', focusin ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2006) - ISBN 13: 9780192804280 | ISBN 10: 0192804286
Existentialism was one of the leading philosophical movements of the twentieth century. Focusing on its seven leading figures, Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and Camus, this Very Short Introduction provides a cl ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2005) - ISBN 13: 9780192840981 | ISBN 10: 0192840983
This book examines the political and moral challenges that face the vast majority of human beings who consider themselves to be members of various nations. It explores nationality through the difficulties and conflicts that have arisen throughout his ... more
View book details£8.99 paperback (2005) - ISBN 13: 9780192804310 | ISBN 10: 0192804316
What is socialism? Does it have a future, or has it become an outdated ideology in the 21st century? Michael Newman examines and explains the successes and failures of modern socialism by taking an international perspective - ranging from communism i ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2005) - ISBN 13: 9780192806086 | ISBN 10: 0192806084
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but even in these early years of its existence it has generated debate, controversy and even outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide graphic examples of how the or ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2004) - ISBN 13: 9780192804556 | ISBN 10: 0192804553
"When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect..." (Franz Kafka) So begins Franz Kafka's most famous story Metamorphosis (1883-1924) - which is among the most intriguing an ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2004) - ISBN 13: 9780192804778 | ISBN 10: 0192804774
The word 'anarchism' tends to conjure up images of aggressive protest against government. But is it inevitable linked with violent disorder? Do anarchists adhere to a coherent ideology? What exactly is anarchism? Colin Ward considers anar ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2003) - ISBN 13: 9780192803955 | ISBN 10: 0192803956
This book introduces readers to the concepts of political philosophy. It starts by explaining why the subject is important and how it tackles basic ethical questions such as 'how should we live together in society?' It looks at politica ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2003) - ISBN 13: 9780192804242 | ISBN 10: 0192804243
Julian Baggini sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism and to show how a life without religious belief can be positive, meaningful and moral. He also confronts the failure of officially atheist states in the twentieth century, such as the ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192854216 | ISBN 10: 0192854216
How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know? This book introduces important themes in ethics, knowledge, and the self, via readings from Plato, Hume, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the poin ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192853608 | ISBN 10: 0192853600
Do animals have moral rights? If so, what does this mean? What sorts of mental lives do animals have, and how should we understand welfare? By presenting models for understanding animals' moral status and rights, and examining their mental ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192801807 | ISBN 10: 0192801805
Poststructuralism changes the way we understand the relations between human beings, their culture, and the world. Following a brief account of the historical relationship between structuralism and poststructuralism, this Very Short Introduc ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192802569 | ISBN 10: 0192802569
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55), one of the most original thinkers of the nineteenth century, wrote widely on religious, psychological, and literary themes. This book shows how Kierkegaard developed his views in emphatic opposition to prevailing opinions ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2002) - ISBN 13: 9780192854292 | ISBN 10: 0192854291
Philip Bohlman asks: What is music? If the question is simple, the answers are not. In this fascinating introduction to the remarkable diversity of world music - from Swiss yodelling to pilgrims\' chants, Yiddish folk songs to \'Art-Song\' from Tun ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2001) - ISBN 13: 9780192854513 | ISBN 10: 0192854518
Paul is the most powerful human personality in the history of the Church. A missionary, theologian, and religious genius, in his epistles he laid the foundations on which later Christian theology was built. In his highly original introducti ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2001) - ISBN 13: 9780192854537 | ISBN 10: 0192854534
Michael Carrithers guides us through the complex and sometimes conflicting information that Buddhist texts give about the life and teaching of the Buddha. He discusses the social and political background of India in the Buddha's time, and traces the ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192854148 | ISBN 10: 0192854143
The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was almost wholly neglected during his sane life, which came to an abrupt end in 1889. Since then he has been appropriated as an icon by an astonishingly diverse spectrum of people, whose interpretati ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853448 | ISBN 10: 0192853449
The Koran has constituted a remarkably strong core of identity and continuity for a religious tradition that is now in its fifteenth century. This Very Short Introduction explores the significance of the Koran both in the modern world and in traditio ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853523 | ISBN 10: 019285352x
There are many stories we can tell about the past, and we are not, perhaps, as free as we might imagine in our choice of which stories to tell, or where those stories end. John Arnold's Very Short Introduction is a stimulating essay about h ... more
View book details£7.99 paperback (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780192853820 | ISBN 10: 0192853821
This stimulating Very Short Introduction to music invites us to really think about music and the values and qualities we ascribe to it. The world teems with different kinds of music-traditional, folk, classical, jazz, rock, pop-and each type of ... more
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