Que sais-je?

“Que sais-je?” is a series of books published by the Presses universitaires de France (PUF). The aim of the series is to provide the lay reader with an accessible introduction to a field of study written by an expert in the field. As such, they are a good example of "haute vulgarization" (high popularization).

Begun in 1941 by Paul Angoulevent, the series now numbers over 3500 titles. The range of subjects is encyclopedic covering everything from chanson de geste and Homer to gastronomy and free will. Not all subjects are academic--they may include current topics, such as violence in sports [Lassalle, Jean-Yves, "La violence dans la sport" [http://www.puf.com/wiki/Que_sais-je:La_violence_dans_le_sport] ] or personal coaching [Angel, Pierre and Patrick Amar, "Le coaching" [http://www.puf.com/wiki/Que_sais-je:Le_coaching] ] . The presentation of information is varied and may consist of an introduction to a subject, a detailed essay on a school of thought, or an analysis of current events.

The series is unique in several ways: first, the price for each volume is the same and is kept to a minimum (currently the price is 8€); another way the series is unique is that each book is 128 pages.

When a title has become out-of-date, it may be withdrawn from the series or it may be updated. Sometimes this updating involves a complete re-writing of the book (as was the case with "Parfumerie" (volume 1888) originally written by Edmond Roudnitska in 1980 and recently re-written by Jean-Claude Ellena in 2006.)

The series is similar to other series such as Collection 128 published by Armand Colin in France, the Very Short Introductions published by Oxford University Press and C.H. Beck Wissen published by Verlag C. H. Beck.

References

External Links

[http://www.puf.com/wiki/%22Que_sais-je%3F%22_-_Le_savoir_vite « Que sais-je ? »] at Presses universitaires de France.

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.H._Beck «Verlag C.H. Beck»] at German Wikipedia

[http://www.armand-colin.com/collection/4/128.php «Collection 128»]