Four Short Books

[coalescent]

Making Book is a collection of highly entertaining essays by editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden (whose blog is very good, but frustratingly lacks a full-text RSS feed). They date from the eighties and early nineties. Most are autobiographical anecdotes (e.g. 'God and I', in which Our Heroine is excommunicated by the Mormons), but there are also a couple

Comments

[groolover]

Suggestions for which one I should try after that are welcomed.

I'm sure it would have been high on your list anyway, but you may be interested to know that the Music VSI is really rather good (apart from a few irritations such as misspellings of band names) and is officially recommended by the Open University as preliminary reading for their postgraduate music courses.

[ninebelow]

I think I'm most interested by Free Will becuase its a really obvious and fundamental concept that is hugely problematic.

Kierkegaard is also an intreguing one. Oh, as is Choice Theory.

I've read the Buddhism one a while ago and though its not an area I have any interest in I did find it a good introduction.

[coalescent]

Choice theory looks very interesting. For the philosphers, I keep wondering whether it would be helpful to read the very short introduction to philosophy (all of it) first. :)

[ninebelow]

It probably would be. That way you'd know to steer clear of Wittengeinsten, Schopenhaur, etc.

[hawleygriffen]

In Toytown, a panda has been murdered. The killing seems to be racially motivated. Inspector McBear is on the case. The writing is none-more-noir--

I don't know why, but this reminds me of those weird phone adverts. I watch too much TV.

I have had the idea in my head for a while of reading as many of the Very Short Introduction series as possible, since many people have said good things about them.

Oooh, those look good.

I should have said...

[ninebelow]

...can you expand on this:

a justifiably vitriolic review of American Psycho

[flick]

KKK is top. That is all.

[jinty]

I have had the idea in my head for a while of reading as many of the Very Short Introduction series as possible, since many people have said good things about them.
I too have had that thought, with the added benefit of being able to borrow them from the OUP library. However have not managed any of them yet as am still getting through a pile of weird and odd SF borrowed from huggable friend James (Hugh Cook decalogy -- ever heard of him? utter madness it seems). Also it's all a bit like hard work, but I will still try them out to see how it goes.

I recall being tempted by a number of the History ones, including the Very Short Introduction to Ancient Warfare -- somehow the title tickles me.