Very Short Introductions

The "Very Short Introductions" series (or VSI series) is a book series published by the Oxford University Press publishing house since 1998. Each book in the series offers a concise yet cogent introduction to a particular subject. Written by acknowledged experts, most books are between 100-150 pages and contain suggestions for further reading. Authors often present personal viewpoints, but each introduction is intended to be balanced and complete.

As of August 2008, there are more than 190 titles in the series, including "History", "Theology", "Literary Theory", "Philosophy of Science", "Postmodernism", "Emotion", "Animal Rights", "Ethics", "Shakespeare", "Hume", "Terrorism", "The Spanish Civil War" and "Evolution". The publisher states that "the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all readers an accessible and abundant reference library."

The VSI series has been extremely commercially successful, [By early 2008, Oxford University Press was giving sales figures for the series as over two million copies worldwide. See [http://www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/about/ publisher's site] ] and many of the books have been used as textbooks in introductory university courses.

Many of the books were commissioned explicitly for the series, but a number had previously been published by OUP.

List of books in the series

Future Publications

*1066
*Apocryphal Gospels
*Autism
*Catholicism
*Citizenship
*Free Speech
*Globalization (New Edition)
*Global Warming (New Edition)
*History of Life
*New Testament as Literature
*Scotland
*Statistics

Boxed Sets

Six boxed sets, each with a different theme, were released in 2006. Five best selling books of the series from the theme are included, and each set comes with a copy of "Very Short Introduction to Everything".
* The Ballot Box
** Politics (008)
** Capitalism (108)
** Democracy (075)
** Socialism (126)
** Fascism (077)
* The Brain Box
** Evolution (100)
** Consciousness (121)
** Intelligence (039)
** Cosmology (051)
** Quantum Theory (069)
* The Thought Box
** Hegel (049)
** Marx (028)
** Nietzsche (034)
** Schopenhauer (062)
** Kierkegaard (058)
* The Basics Box
** Philosophy (055)
** Mathematics (066)
** History (016)
** Politics (008)
** Psychology (006)
* The Boom Box
** Ancient Warfare (117)
** Cold War (087)
** Crusades (140)
** French Revolution (054)
** Spanish Civil War (123)
* The Picture Box
** Art History (102)
** Renaissance Art (129)
** Modern Art (120)
** Architecture (072)
** Design (136)

References

External links

* [http://www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi Oxford University Press VSI homepage]