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11128793 No.11128793 [Reply] [Original]

Has anyone here read any of the Very Short Introduction books? Are they any good?

>> No.11128808

Can someone give me a Very Short Introduction to these books?

>> No.11128828

>>11128793
I've read the Knowledge one. It was good albeit very anglo.

>> No.11128848

The Very Short Introduction to the Crusades was pretty good.
It lives up to its name for sure. Doesn't go into much detail on the topics, although for a broad overview of a topic it was alright.

>> No.11128850

>>11128808
can someone give me an even shorter introduction to this introduction

>> No.11128869
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11128869

>>11128808

The Very Short Introduction book series is a series of books which, as advertised, provide very short introductions to topics. The kinds of topics covered by the Very Short Introduction books are usually fairly intellectual topics, like topics in philosophy, the sciences, the arts, and the overall work of individual authors who've worked in these areas. You won't find Very Short Introduction books on practical/everyday topics like personal finance or sports trivia or home construction, for example. Or if there are some like this, they're the exception, and not the rule.

The basic purpose of the book series is to give freshmen in college and other legally adult plebs a starting point with challenging intellectual topics, or challenging and often misunderstood authors in philosophy.

Despite each book being very short, the book series has become quite long, with several hundred entries on various topics. Every book has a uniform type of cover art: a simple color field painting, or graphic, which looks just like the well-known paintings of the artist Mark Rothko. Since a discussion of Rothko would be appropriate for the book series, I consider it to be extremely ironic that as of yet, there does not exist a Very Short Introduction of Rothko.

>> No.11128882

>>11128869
>11128869
this post is too long. can someone give me a 6 or 7 word rundown?

>> No.11128910

It really depends on the book/author. Some in my area of study (philosophy) are good, others are pretty bad. I'd ask an expert in whatever field you want to research in whether or not the book is worth your time.

For instance, an ancient philosophy prof I had said he like's their book on Aristotle but thinks the Plato one is pretty bad.

>> No.11128915

I like that the Keynes book looks significantly longer than the Econ one

>> No.11129031

>>11128882
They provide knowledge on topics for beginners

>> No.11129047

>>11128915

probably because some of the keynes is commentary on some of the classical assumptions and models that he attacks.

>> No.11129093

>>11128793
Invariably garbage. Assumes too much of readers' background in the subject.

>> No.11129208

>>11128793
>A very short introduction to Muhammad (pbuh)
absolutely halal, I recommend to kuffar and ummah alike inshaallah

>> No.11129224

>>11128850
Can someone give me an even shorter shortened introduction to this introduction?

>> No.11130150

>>11128793
I always grab them for a dollar. The quality varies, but they're quick useful overviews, usually.

>> No.11130187

>>11128910
>For instance, an ancient philosophy prof I had said he like's their book on Aristotle but thinks the Plato one is pretty bad.

I can confirm that the Plato one is bad.
I loved the Socrates book, but I understand that it is a little advanced for newcomers and isn't especially inviting.
I hear good things about the Presocratic book and intend to read it soon.

>> No.11130193 [DELETED] 

>>11130150
>I always grab them for a dollar.

Where do you buy them?
Even used copies tend to go for much more than that online.

>> No.11130208

dude just read the wikipedia page lmao

>> No.11130212

>>11128793
I don't know, but I like the for dummies series.

>> No.11130276

>>11128793
Oftentimes they're not very introduction-like, they're basic overviews that jump right into the thick of it without much pre-knowledge or easing. That can sort of function as an intro but it's best to have some basic knowledge first, otherwise what you can derive from a given book might be quite limited. Many are definitely beginner-friendly though.

As for the quality, they all have different authors so it varies. You have to find reviews or take a look at a particular one yourself.

>> No.11130339

>>11128793
I've read the one on particle physics. It wasn't terrible. I guess it's hard to fuck up that topic.

>> No.11130419

most of them suck if you read the amazon reviews, pirate them
http://gen.lib.rus.ec

>> No.11131032

>>11130339
I liked that one two. Frank Close seems like a comfy physicist, would model wavefunctions with

>> No.11131189

Roman Britain one is good overview.

>> No.11131212

I've read the Very short introduction of the Roman Republic.
As someone studying classical history, it does its job well. It gives a concise entry level idea of what is going on in Republican Rome. For the early and middle republic it was about the same as what you get in a introductory course to Roman history. The late republic portion gets the job done but as the book implies it's just a very short intro.

>> No.11131220

>>11131189
If you are interested in more, pick up the full length Oxford history of Roman Britain. The very short introduction is basically an abstract of the longer book by the same author

>> No.11131224

decent as audiobooks. read better secondary sources if youre going to take the time to sit down and read one of them