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The Immune System: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Klenerman (Nuffield Department of Medicine University of Oxford)
Category: Medical | Series: Very Short Introductions
The immune system is central to human health and the focus of much medical research. Growing understanding of the immune system, and especially the creation of immune memory (long lasting protection), which can be harnessed in the design of vaccines, have been major breakthroughs in medicine. In this Ve ...Show more
The Koran: a Very Short Introduction by M.A. Cook
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Very Short Introductions
Explores the significance of the Koran both in the modern world and in traditional Muslim culture. This book provides an account of the Koran as codex, as scripture, as liturgy, and as the embodiment of truth, and examines its means of formation and dissemination. It also discusses issues of interpretat ...Show more
The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Short Stories by Bret Harte
Category: Fiction | Series: Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories Ser.
In 1870, the young San Francisco-based writer and editor Bret Harte (1836-1902) first compiled a single-volume edition of his rousing stories of life in the Wild West. Entitled The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches, the book propelled him almost overnight from local celebrity to American literar ...Show more
The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde
Category: Classic Fiction | Series: Short Story Collections
Playwright, poet, essayist, flamboyant man-about-town, Oscar Wilde pack an astonishing amount of work, genius, and controversy into two short decades, producing masterworks in every literary genre. This selection includes almost all of his short stories, including "The Canterville Ghost," "The Fisherman ...Show more
The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction by Mike Rapport
Category: History | Series: Very Short Introductions
The Napoleonic Wars have an important place in the history of Europe, leaving their mark on European and world societies in a variety of ways. In many European countries they provided the stimulus for radical social and political change - particularly in Spain, Germany, and Italy - and are frequently v ...Show more
The Norman Conquest (A Very Short Introduction) by George Garnett
Category: History | Series: Very Short Introductions
The Norman Conquest in 1066 was the last time England was successfully invaded, and was one of the most profound turning points in English history, cataclysmically transforming a disparate collection of small nations into a European state. But what actually happened? How was the invasion viewed by those ...Show more
The Odd One In by ZUPANCIC
Category: Fiction | Series: Short Circuits Ser.
A Lacanian look at how comedy might come to philosophy's rescue, with examples ranging from Hegel and Moli re to George W. Bush and Borat.Why philosophize about comedy? What is the use of investigating the comical from philosophical and psychoanalytic perspectives? In The Odd One In, Alenka Zupancic con ...Show more
The One Day by David Malouf
Category: Australian History | Series: Short Blacks (Number 7)
'Silence was a deeply established tradition. Men used it as a form of self-protection; it saved those who had experienced the horrors of war from the emotional trauma of experiencing it all over again in the telling. And it saved women and children, back home, from the terrible knowledge of what they ha ...Show more
The Penguin Book of the British Short Story: I: From Daniel Defoe to John Buchan by Philip Hensher
Category: Anthologies | Series: The Penguin Book of the British Short Story
Hilarious, exuberant, subtle, tender, brutal, spectacular, and above all unexpected: these two extraordinary volumes contain the limitless possibilities of the British short story. This is the first anthology capacious enough to celebrate the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones. ...Show more
The Penguin Book of the British Short Story: II: From P.G. Wodehouse to Zadie Smith by Philip Hensher
Category: Anthologies | Series: The\Penguin Book of the British Short Story Ser.
Hilarious, exuberant, subtle, tender, brutal, spectacular, and above all unexpected: these two extraordinary volumes contain the limitless possibilities of the British short story. This is the first anthology capacious enough to celebrate the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones. ...Show more
The Quakers (A Very Short Introduction) by Pink Dandelion
Category: Kindergarten | Series: Very Short Introductions Ser.
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 their numbers: be it their continued stance against war or th ...Show more
The Recluse by Evelyn Juers
Category: Biography | Series: Giramondo Shorts Series
Evelyn Juers's study of reclusion focuses on Eliza Emily Donnithorne, long considered the model for Charles Dickens' character Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. For most of her life she lived in isolation in a large house in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown. It was said that she had been jilted at ...Show more