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Very Short Introductions Books in Order
344
Books
1903
First Book
2024
Latest Book
122
Years
Below you'll find the complete list of Very Short Introductions books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: April 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the Very Short Introductions series? Start with "Science and Religion (By: Thomas Dixon,Adam Shapiro)" (1903) and follow publication order through all 344 books.
The complete Very Short Introductions reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order
1
Science and Religion (By: Thomas Dixon,Adam Shapiro)
1903
2
Marx (By: Peter Singer)
1980
3
Aristotle (By: Jonathan Barnes)
1982
4
Darwin (By: Jonathan Howard)
1982
5
Hegel (By: Peter Singer,Luís Filipe Teixeira)
1983
6
Clausewitz (By: Michael Eliot Howard)
1983
7
Barthes (By: Jonathan Culler)
1983
8
Locke (By: John Dunn)
1984
9
Augustine (By: Henry Chadwick)
1986
10
Shakespeare (By: Germaine Greer)
1986
11
What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy (By: Thomas Nagel)
1987
12
Kierkegaard (By: Patrick L. Gardiner)
1988
13
Wittgenstein (By: A.C. Grayling)
1988
14
The Laws of Thermodynamics (By: PeterAtkins)
1990
15
Schopenhauer (By: Christopher Janaway)
1994
16
Judaism (By: Norman Solomon)
1996
17
Archaeology (By: Paul G. Bahn)
1997
18
Psychology (By: Gillian Butler)
1998
19
Sociology (By: Steve Bruce)
1999
20
Theology (By: David F. Ford)
1999
21
The Tudors (By: John Guy)
2000
22
Logic (By: Graham Priest)
2000
23
History (By: John H. Arnold)
2000
24
The Bible (By: John Riches)
2000
25
Music: A Very Short Introduction (By: Nicholas Cook)
2000
26
The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (By: Michael A. Cook)
2000
27
Planets (By: David A. Rothery)
2000
28
Nineteenth-Century Britain (By: Christopher Harvie,Colin Matthew)
2000
29
Eighteenth-Century Britain (By: Paul Langford)
2000
30
Capitalism (By: James Fulcher)
2001
31
Continental Philosophy (By: Simon Critchley)
2001
32
Postcolonialism (By: Robert J.C. Young)
2001
33
The European Union: A Very Short Introduction (By: John Pinder)
2001
34
Galileo (By: Stillman Drake,Keith Thomas)
2001
35
Emotion (By: Dylan Evans)
2001
36
Russian Literature (By: Catriona Kelly)
2001
37
Drugs (By: Leslie L. Iversen)
2001
38
The French Revolution (By: William Doyle)
2001
39
Mathematics (By: Timothy Gowers)
2002
40
Democracy (By: Bernard Crick)
2002
41
Quantum Theory (By: John C. Polkinghorne)
2002
42
Fascism (By: Kevin Passmore)
2002
43
Empire (By: Stephen Howe)
2002
44
The First World War (By: Michael Eliot Howard)
2002
45
Philosophy of Science (By: Samir Okasha)
2002
46
Animal Rights (By: David DeGrazia)
2002
47
The Penguin History of Economics (By: Roger E. Backhouse)
2002
48
Russell (By: A.C. Grayling)
2002
49
The Russian Revolution (By: S.A. Smith)
2002
50
Choice Theory (By: Michael Allingham)
2002
51
Consciousness (By: Susan Blackmore)
2003
52
Political Philosophy (By: DavidMiller)
2003
53
Northern Ireland (By: Marc Mulholland)
2003
54
Globalization (By: Manfred B. Steger)
2003
55
The Celts (By: Barry Cunliffe)
2003
56
Ideology (By: Michael Freeden)
2003
57
Presocratic Philosophy (By: Catherine Osborne)
2003
58
The Brain (By: Michael O'Shea)
2003
59
Molecules (By: Philip Ball)
2003
60
The Elements (By: Philip Ball)
2004
61
Kafka (By: Ritchie Robertson)
2004
62
The Crusades (By: Christopher Tyerman)
2004
63
Particle Physics (By: Frank Close)
2004
64
Egyptian Myth (By: Geraldine Pinch)
2004
65
Ancient Egypt (By: Ian Shaw)
2004
66
Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction (By: Harry Sidebottom)
2004
67
Global Warming (By: Mark Maslin)
2004
68
Philosophy (By: Edward Craig)
2004
69
Foucault (By: Gary Gutting)
2005
70
Fossils (By: Keith S. Thomson)
2005
71
The Spanish Civil War (By: Helen Graham)
2005
72
Habermas (By: James Gordon Finlayson)
2005
73
Socialism (By: Michael Newman)
2005
74
Kabbalah (By: Joseph Dan)
2005
75
Existentialism (By: Thomas R. Flynn)
2006
76
The Renaissance (By: Jerry Brotton)
2006
77
Feminism (By: Margaret Walters)
2006
78
The Roman Empire (By: Christopher Kelly)
2006
79
Chaos (By: Leonard A. Smith)
2007
80
Human Rights (By: Andrew Clapham)
2007
81
Antisemitism (By: Steven Beller)
2007
82
Tocqueville (By: Harvey Mansfield Jr.)
2007
83
Documentary Film (By: Patricia Aufderheide)
2007
84
The Cold War (By: Robert J. McMahon)
2007
85
International Migration (By: Khalid Koser)
2007
86
Newton (By: Rob Iliffe)
2007
87
Economics (By: Partha Dasgupta)
2007
88
The Great Depression and the New Deal (By: Eric Rauchway)
2007
89
Classical Mythology (By: Helen Morales)
2007
90
Bestsellers (By: John Sutherland)
2007
91
Game Theory (By: David Hume)
2007
92
Geopolitics (By: Klaus Dodds)
2007
93
The History of Life (By: Michael J. Benton)
2008
94
Modern China (By: Rana Mitter)
2008
95
The United Nations (By: Jussi M. Hanhimäki)
2008
96
Nuclear Weapons (By: Joseph M. Siracusa)
2008
97
Galaxies (By: John Gribbin)
2008
98
German Literature (By: Nicholas Boyle)
2008
99
The Old Testament (By: Michael D. Coogan)
2008
100
The New Testament as Literature (By: Kyle Keefer)
2008
101
Sexuality (By: Véronique Mottier)
2008
102
Religion in America (By: Timothy Beal)
2008
103
Nelson Mandela (By: Elleke Boehmer)
2008
104
Statistics (By: David J. Hand)
2008
105
Puritanism (By: Francis J. Bremer)
2008
106
Scotland (By: Rab Houston)
2008
107
The Reagan Revolution (By: Gil Troy)
2009
108
Communism (By: Leslie Holmes)
2009
109
Modern Japan (By: Christopher Goto-Jones)
2009
110
Deserts (By: Nick Middleton)
2009
111
Nothing (By: Frank Close)
2009
112
Biography
2009
113
The Soviet Union (By: Stephen Lovell)
2009
114
The Book of Mormon (By: Terryl L. Givens)
2009
115
The Norman Conquest (By: George Garnett)
2009
116
Biblical Archaeology (By: Eric H. Cline)
2009
117
Fashion (By: Rebecca Arnold)
2009
118
Progressivism (By: Walter Nugent)
2009
119
Information (By: Luciano Floridi)
2010
120
Neoliberalism (By: Manfred B. Steger)
2010
121
Numbers (By: Peter M. Higgins)
2010
122
Film Music (By: Kathryn Kalinak)
2010
123
The New Testament (By: Luke Timothy Johnson)
2010
124
Humanism (By: Stephen Law)
2010
125
Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction (By: Malcolm Gaskill)
2010
126
French Literature (By: John D.Lyons)
2010
127
Druids (By: Barry Cunliffe)
2010
128
The U.S. Congress (By: Donald A. Ritchie)
2010
129
The Hebrew Bible as Literature (By: Tod Linafelt)
2010
130
Modernism (By: Christopher Butler)
2010
131
North American Indians (By: Theda Perdue,Michael D. Green)
2010
132
Landscapes and Geomorphology (By: Andrew S. Goudie,Heather Viles)
2010
133
Keynes (By: Robert Skidelsky)
2010
134
Agnosticism (By: Robin Le Poidevin)
2010
135
Aristocracy (By: William Doyle)
2010
136
Folk Music (By: Mark Slobin)
2010
137
Environmental Economics (By: Stephen Smith)
2011
138
Global Economic History (By: Robert C. Allen)
2011
139
Critical Theory (By: Theodor W. Adorno)
2011
140
Early Music (By: Thomas Forrest Kelly)
2011
141
American Immigration (By: David A. Gerber)
2011
142
Paganism (By: Owen Davies)
2011
143
Nuclear Power (By: Maxwell Irvine)
2011
144
Science Fiction (By: David Seed)
2011
145
Herodotus (By: Jennifer T. Roberts)
2011
146
Dictionaries (By: Lynda Mugglestone)
2011
147
Modern France (By: Vanessa R. Schwartz)
2011
148
Colonial Latin American Literature (By: Rolena Adorno)
2011
149
The Aztecs (By: Davíd Carrasco)
2011
150
The Cultural Revolution (By: Richard Curt Kraus)
2011
151
Modern Latin American Literature (By: Roberto González Echevarría)
2011
152
Reality (By: Jan Westerhoff)
2011
153
The Conquistadors (By: Felipe Fernández-Armesto,Matthew Restall)
2011
154
The U.S. Supreme Court (By: Linda Greenhouse)
2012
155
Magic (By: Owen Davies)
2012
156
Film (By: Michael Wood)
2012
157
The History of Mathematics (By: Jacqueline A. Stedall)
2012
158
Russian History (By: Geoffrey Hosking)
2012
159
Engineering (By: David Blockley)
2012
160
Plague (By: Paul Slack)
2012
161
The Mongols (By: Morris Rossabi)
2012
162
Rivers (By: Nick Middleton)
2012
163
Plants (By: Timothy Walker)
2012
164
Magna Carta (By: Nicholas Vincent)
2012
165
Languages (By: Stephen Anderson)
2012
166
Radioactivity (By: Claudio Tuniz)
2012
167
Borders (By: Joshua Hagen,Alexander C. Diener)
2012
168
The Orchestra (By: D. Kern Holoman)
2012
169
American History (By: Paul S. Boyer)
2012
170
Metaphysics (By: Stephen Mumford)
2012
171
The Roman Republic (By: David M. Gwynn)
2012
172
Revolutions (By: Jack A. Goldstone)
2012
173
Colonial America (By: Alan Taylor)
2012
174
Networks (By: Guido Caldarelli,Michele Catanzaro)
2012
175
Spirituality (By: Philip Sheldrake)
2012
176
Work (By: Stephen Fineman)
2012
177
American Politics (By: Richard M. Valelly)
2012
178
The Ancient Near East (By: Amanda H. Podany)
2013
179
Ethnomusicology (By: Timothy Rice)
2013
180
American Legal History (By: G. Edward White)
2013
181
Tibetan Buddhism (By: Matthew T. Kapstein)
2013
182
The Trojan War (By: Eric H. Cline)
2013
183
The Avant Garde (By: David Cottington)
2013
184
The Napoleonic Wars (By: Mike Rapport)
2013
185
Medical Law (By: Charles Foster)
2013
186
The Silk Road (By: James A. Millward)
2013
187
Chemistry (By: PeterAtkins)
2013
188
Rhetoric (By: Richard Toye)
2013
189
The British Constitution (By: Martin Loughlin)
2013
190
Symmetry (By: Ian Stewart)
2013
191
The British Empire (By: Ashley Jackson)
2013
192
Diaspora (By: Kevin Kenny)
2013
193
Marine Biology (By: Philip V. Mladenov)
2013
194
The Beats (By: David Sterritt)
2013
195
Sociolinguistics (By: John R. Edwards)
2013
196
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (By: Martin Bunton)
2013
197
Fractals (By: Kenneth Falconer)
2013
198
Management (By: John Hendry)
2013
199
African Religions (By: Jacob K. Olupona)
2013
200
Classics (By: Mary Beard)
2013
201
Confucianism (By: Daniel K. Gardner)
2014
202
Black Holes (By: Katherine Blundell)
2014
203
Classical Literature (By: William Allan)
2014
204
Philosophy of Law (By: Raymond Wacks)
2014
205
Microeconomics (By: Avinash K. Dixit)
2014
206
The Etruscans (By: Christopher John Smith)
2014
207
Complexity (By: John H. Holland)
2014
208
Hormones (By: Martin Luck)
2014
209
American Slavery (By: Heather Andrea Williams)
2014
210
African American Religion (By: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.)
2014
211
Knowledge (By: Jennifer Nagel)
2014
212
Structural Engineering (By: David Blockley)
2014
213
Minerals (By: David J. Vaughan)
2014
214
Exploration (By: Stewart A Weaver)
2014
215
The Middle Ages (By: Miri Rubin)
2014
216
World War II (By: Gerhard L. Weinberg)
2014
217
American Political History (By: Donald T. Critchlow)
2014
218
American Women's History (By: Susan Ware)
2014
219
Dante (By: David Robey,Peter Hainsworth)
2015
220
Crime Fiction (By: Richard Bradford)
2015
221
Forests (By: Jaboury Ghazoul)
2015
222
William Shakespeare (By: Stanley Wells)
2015
223
Taxation (By: Stephen Smith)
2015
224
Corruption (By: Leslie Holmes)
2015
225
The American Revolution (By: Robert J. Allison)
2015
226
Roman Britain: A Very Short Introduction (By: Peter Salway)
2015
227
Nuclear Physics (By: Frank Close)
2015
228
Medieval Literature (By: Elaine M. Treharne)
2015
229
The Enlightenment (By: John Robertson)
2015
230
The Founding Fathers (By: R.B. Bernstein)
2015
231
Algebra (By: Peter M. Higgins)
2015
232
Hollywood (By: Peter Decherney)
2015
233
Eugenics (By: Philippa Levine)
2016
234
Molecular Biology (By: Aysha Divan,Janice Royds)
2016
235
Computer Science (By: Subrata Dasgupta)
2016
236
Babylonia (By: Trevor Bryce)
2016
237
Measurement (By: David J. Hand)
2016
238
The Body (By: Chris Shilling)
2016
239
Astrophysics (By: James Binney)
2016
240
Shakespeare's Comedies (By: Bart van Es)
2016
241
Modern Drama (By: Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr)
2016
242
Isotopes (By: Rob Ellam)
2016
243
Global Catastrophes (By: Bill McGuire)
2016
244
The Harlem Renaissance (By: Cheryl A. Wall)
2016
245
The Welfare State (By: David Garland)
2016
246
American Political Parties and Elections (By: L. Sandy Maisel)
2016
247
Copernicus (By: Owen Gingerich)
2016
248
Asian American History (By: Madeline Y. Hsu)
2016
249
War and Technology (By: Alex Roland)
2016
250
Military Justice (By: Eugene R. Fidell)
2016
251
Zionism (By: Michael Stanislawski)
2016
252
Ageing (By: Nancy A. Pachana)
2016
253
Cognitive Neuroscience (By: Richard Passingham)
2016
254
Rocks (By: Jan Zalasiewicz)
2016
255
Telescopes (By: Geoff Cottrell)
2016
256
Thinking and Reasoning (By: Jonathan St. B.T. Evans)
2017
257
The Immune System (By: Paul Klenerman)
2017
258
Populism (By: Cas Mudde,Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser)
2017
259
Infinity (By: Ian Stewart)
2017
260
Military Strategy (By: Antulio J. Echevarria II)
2017
261
The Self-Taught Programmer (By: Cory Althoff)
2017
262
Intellectual Property (By: Siva Vaidhyanathan)
2017
263
Organic Chemistry (By: Graham L. Patrick)
2017
264
Shakespeare's Tragedies (By: Stanley Wells)
2017
265
Utilitarianism (By: Peter Singer,Katarzyna De Lazari-Radek)
2017
266
Heredity (By: John Waller)
2017
267
Miracles (By: Yujin Nagasawa)
2017
268
The Psychology of Music (By: Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis)
2018
269
Stoicism (By: Brad Inwood)
2018
270
Geology (By: Jan Zalasiewicz)
2018
271
Monasticism (By: Stephen J. Davis)
2018
272
Big Data (By: Dawn E. Holmes)
2018
273
Prohibition (By: W.J. Rorabaugh)
2018
274
The U.S. Constitution (By: David J. Bodenhamer)
2018
275
Southeast Asia (By: James R. Rush)
2018
276
Anthropocene (By: Erle C. Ellis)
2018
277
American Naval History (By: Craig L. Symonds)
2018
278
The History of Childhood (By: James Marten)
2018
279
Abolitionism (By: Richard S. Newman)
2018
280
Artificial Intelligence (By: Margaret A. Boden)
2018
281
Napoleon (By: David A. Bell)
2018
282
Glaciation (By: David J.A. Evans)
2018
283
Environmental Ethics (By: Robin Attfield)
2018
284
Reading (By: Belinda Jack)
2019
285
The Treaty of Versailles (By: Michael S. Neiberg)
2019
286
Concentration Camps (By: Dan Stone)
2019
287
Matter (By: Geoff Cottrell)
2019
288
American Foreign Relations (By: Andrew Preston)
2019
289
Methodism (By: William J. Abraham)
2019
290
Orthodox Christianity (By: A. Edward Siecienski)
2019
291
Country Music (By: Richard Carlin)
2019
292
Federalism (By: Clyde Wilcox,Mark J. Rozell)
2019
293
Energy Systems (By: Nick Jenkins)
2019
294
Reconstruction (By: Allen C. Guelzo)
2019
295
The Abrahamic Religions (By: Charles L Cohen)
2019
296
Renewable Energy (By: Nick Jelley)
2020
297
Number Theory (By: Robin Wilson)
2020
298
American Business History (By: Walter A Friedman)
2020
299
British Politics (By: Tony Wright)
2020
300
Media Law (By: Lucas A. Powe Jr.)
2020
301
Biogeography (By: Mark V Lomolino)
2020
302
City Planning (By: Carl Abbott)
2020
303
Silent Film (By: Donna Kornhaber)
2020
304
The Maya (By: Matthew Restall,Amara Solari)
2020
305
Religion (By: Thomas A Tweed)
2020
306
The U.S. Civil War (By: Louis P. Masur)
2020
307
American Military History (By: Joseph T Glatthaar)
2020
308
Volcanoes (By: Jan Zalasiewicz)
2020
309
The American South (By: Charles Reagan Wilson)
2020
310
Philosophy of Physics (By: David Wallace)
2021
311
Biochemistry (By: Mark Lorch)
2021
312
Jewish Literature (By: Ilan Stavans)
2021
313
Time (By: Jenann Ismael)
2021
314
The Arctic (By: Klaus Dodds,Jamie Woodward)
2021
315
Pakistan (By: Pippa Virdee)
2021
316
The History of Political Thought (By: Richard Whatmore)
2021
317
The Short Story (By: Andrew Kahn)
2021
318
Polygamy (By: Sarah M.S. Pearsall)
2021
319
Music and Technology (By: Mark Katz)
2022
320
Philosophy of Mind (By: Barbara Gail Montero)
2022
321
Geometry (By: Maciej Dunajski)
2022
322
Ludwig van Beethoven (By: Mark Evan Bonds)
2022
323
Evangelicalism (By: John G. Stackhouse Jr.)
2022
324
The History of Computing (By: Doron Swade)
2022
325
Insects (By: Simon Leather)
2022
326
Ivan Pavlov (By: Daniel P. Todes)
2022
327
The American Judicial System (By: Charles L. Zelden)
2022
328
French Cinema (By: Dudley Andrew)
2022
329
Gödel's Theorem (By: A.W. Moore)
2022
330
Suburbs (By: Carl Abbott)
2023
331
The Jury (By: Renée Lettow Lerner)
2023
332
The Civil Rights Movement (By: Thomas C. Holt)
2023
333
Japanese Literature (By: Alan Tansman)
2023
334
Ancient Greek and Roman Science (By: Liba Taub)
2023
335
The History of Emotions (By: Thomas Dixon)
2023
336
Observational Astronomy (By: Geoff Cottrell)
2023
337
Bohemians (By: David Weir)
2023
338
Mathematical Analysis (By: Richard Earl)
2023
339
Invasive Species (By: Julie Lockwood,Dustin J. Welbourne)
2023
340
Biodiversity Conservation (By: David W. Macdonald)
2023
341
The Victorians (By: Martin Hewitt)
2023
342
The Gulag (By: Alan Barenberg)
2024
343
Travel Writing (By: Tim Youngs)
2024
344
J.R.R. Tolkien (By: Matthew Townend)
2024
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