Catalog Search Results
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 647
Language
English
Description
"Biogeography is the study of geographic variation in all characteristics of life - ranging from genetic, morphological and behavioural variation among regional populations of a species, to geographic trends in diversity of entire communities across our planet's sufrace. From the ancient hunters and gatherers to the earliest naturalists, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and scientists today, the search for patterns in life has provided insights...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 634
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Systems biology utilises new computational tools to analyse biological processes on an extraordinary scale. We can now study complex biological phenomena within their natural contexts, applying a holistic, systems-based approach. This book explores what this interdisciplinary field is about, and how it will affect our understanding of life.
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 100
Language
English
Description
POPULAR SCIENCE. Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the centre of a Universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this centre. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the Universe was created essentially in its present state about 6000 years ago. Even less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 638
Language
English
Description
"The Sun, as our nearest star, is of enormous importance for life on Earth - providing the warm radiation and light which allowed complex life to evolve. The Sun plays a key role in influencing our climate, whilst solar storms and high-energy events can threaten our communication infrastructure and satellites. This Very Short Introduction explores what we know about the Sun, its physics, its structure, origins, and future evolution. Philip Judge explains...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 156
Language
English
Description
"Partha Dasgupta's Very Short Introduction to Economics is an up-to-date, intelligible introduction to how economics uncovers and explains the processes that shape our lives. Combining examples from everyday life with a global approach that considers not just the economics of the West but also the economics of the world's 2.4 billion rural poor, Dasgupta reveals how economics can give us deep insight into some of life's most formidable problems, and...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 656
Language
English
Description
The Maya have lived in parts of Mexico and Central America for thousands of years, forging one of the greatest societies in the history of the Americas -- indeed, of humankind. Long before European contact, Mayas built spectacular cities, created complex agricultural systems, mastered the visual arts, and developed a sophisticated writing system that recorded calendrical, mathematical, and astronomical knowledge. Yet there was never a Maya empire...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 571
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
No one wants to live in poverty. Few people would want others to do so. Yet, we find ourselves in a situation where millions of people worldwide live in poverty. Indeed, according to the World Bank in 2010, 1.2 billion people lived below the extreme poverty line with an income of US $1.25 or less a day and 2.4 billion lived on less than US $2 a day. Why is that? What has been done about it in the past? And what is being done about it now? 00In this...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 368
Language
English
Description
Leading management scholar, John Hendry provides a lively introduction to the nature and practice of management. Tracing its development over the last century, he looks not only at what managers do, but also provides an insight into modern management theory, considering the influences of national and organizational culture, the relationship between power and domination, and managing in different cultures. This is an ideal introduction for anyone interested...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 640
Language
English
Description
Fire is rarely out of the headlines, from the huge wildfires ravaging Australia and California to building fires such as that which destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral. Fire on any scale can pose a serious risk to life and property. Yet fire is a force of nature that has shaped Earth over aeons, while our ability to control fire has enabled us to cook fire, forge weapons, and warm ourselves. Starting with the basics of ignition, combustion, and fuel, Andrew...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 660
Language
English
Description
Volcanoes are some of the most dramatic expressions of the powerful tectonic forces at work in the Earth beneath our feet. But volcanism, a profoundly important feature of Earth, and indeed of other planets and moons too, encompasses much more than just volcanoes themselves. On a planetary scale, volcanism is an indispensable heat release mechanism, which on Earth allows the conditions for life. IIt releases gases into the atmosphere and produces...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 651
Language
English
Description
What are philosophers trying to achieve? How can they succeed? Does philosophy make progress? Is it in competition with science, or doing something completely different, or neither? Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability
...Author
Series
Very Short introductions volume 87
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
"The Cold War dominated international life from the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall. But how did the dispute begin, and why did it move from its origins in post-war Europe to encompass virtually every corner of the globe? Robert J. McMahon considers these questions and more, providing a truly international history of the Cold War and examining its enduring legacy. He draws on the most recent scholarship and documents to...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 585
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Our environment today faces ever greater threats from human activities, such as pollution, loss of species and habitats, and climate change. In response to this, the relatively new branch of philosophy covering environmental ethics is growing increasingly globally important. Robin Attfield shows how environmental ethics defends the independent value of living creatures, and the importance of making decisions informed by the needs and interests of...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
"At a historical moment when globalizing forces have intensified and two competing trends are at work-religion is simultaneously bringing us people together and pulling us people apart-everyone who aspires to be an informed global citizen needs to understand religion. It doesn't matter whether you find religion compelling or whether if your nation seems to be more and more secular. What matters is that billions around the world practice a faith-and...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 596
Pub. Date
2019.
Language
English
Description
For millions of years reptiles have walked, crawled, and slithered over the face of our Earth. From the mighty dinosaurs who dominated the land, the pterosaurs who took to the air, and the marine adapted ichthyosaurs, to the living reptiles today such as the lizards, snakes, crocodiles, and turtles, plus the single species of tuatara in New Zealand, reptiles have come in all shapes and sizes. In this Very Short Introduction Tom Kemp discusses the...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 673
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Refugees and other forced migrants are one of the great contemporary challenges the world is confronting. Throughout the world people leave their home countries to escape war, natural disasters, and cultural and political oppression. Unfortunately, even today, the international community struggles to provide an adequate response to this vast population in need. a.
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 618
Language
English
Description
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has long captured the public imagination. Newspaper column inches have been devoted to murderers with psychopathic features, and we also encounter psychopaths in films and books. Individuals with psychopathy are characterised in particular by lack of empathy and guilt, manipulation of other people and, in the case of criminal psychopathy, premeditated violent behaviour. They are dangerous and can incur immeasurable...
Author
Series
Very short introductions volume 50
Language
English
Description
Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but also one of the most difficult. In this short introduction Roger Scruton tackles Kant's exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background to his work.
Author
Series
Very Short introductions volume 123
Language
English
Description
Integrates the political, social and cultural history of the Spanish Civil War. It sets out the domestic and international context of the war for a general readership. In addition to tracing the course of war, the book locates the war's origins in the cumulative social and cultural anxieties provoked by a process of rapid, uneven and accelerating modernism taking place all over Europe.
From the Publisher: Amid the many catastrophes of the twentieth...
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