Read Series: Very Short Introductions
by Author Tim Bayne
Thought: A Very Short Introduction (2013)
Thinking is a quintessential human activity. Capacity to think is considered such a prominent human trait that the very name of our species – Homo sapiens – means “thinking man.” Thinking comes so naturally to us that most of us rarely reflect on the fact that it’s a very complex activity. In fac...
Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (2008)
China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese "economic miracle." It is a country of contradictions and transitions: a peasant society with some of the world's most fu...
Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction (2001)
Rather than presenting a conventional chronology of Russian literature, Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction explores the place and importance in Russian culture of all types of literature. How and when did a Russian national literature come into being? What shaped its creation? How have...
Hieroglyphs: A Very Short Introduction (2005)
Hieroglyphs were far more than a language. They were an omnipresent and all-powerful force in communicating the messages of ancient Egyptian culture for over three thousand years; used as monumental art, as a means of identifying Egyptianness, and for rarefied communication with the gods. In this...
Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (2003)
Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, exciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book examines the reasons for those views, and explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking. It investigates the centrality of ideology both ...
Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction (2005)
I'll get the one negative point out of the way first: This book is trying to cover over a thousand years worth of Jewish and Christian religious thought... in a hundred pages. This is why, despite it being a very short book, it has actually taken a while to read: Some pages are so jam-packed with...
The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction (2005)
The Viking reputation is one of bloodthirsty seafaring warriors, repeatedly plundering the British Isles and the North Atlantic throughout the early Middle Ages. Yet Vikings were also traders, settlers, and farmers, with a complex artistic and linguistic culture, whose expansion overseas led them...
Socrates: A Very Short Introduction (2001)
In this book, Christopher Taylor explores the relationship between the historical Socrates and the engaging and infuriating figure who appears in Plato's dialogues, and examines the enduring image of Socrates as the ideal exemplar of the philosophic life--a thinker whose moral and intellectual in...
Russell: A Very Short Introduction (2002)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) is one of the most famous philosophers of the 20th century. In this account of his life and work A.C. Grayling introduces both his technical contributions to logic and philosophy, and his wide-ranging views on education, politics, war, and sexual morality. Russell is ...
Feminism: A Very Short Introduction (2006)
How much have women's lives really changed? In the West women still come up against the 'glass ceiling' at work, most earning considerably less than their male counterparts. What are we to make of the now commonplace insistence that feminism deprives men of their rights and dignities? And how doe...
Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction (2008)
Just so good. I will say I felt frustrated at points when I thought Bushman was pandering too much to the this-is-why-people-think-Mormonism-is-nuts side of things. But it was good and necessary, so I acquiesce. Overall, I thought Bushman did a beautiful job of explaining Mormon doctrines - ev...