The Very Short Introductions series (or VSI series) is a book series

Book series

A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....

 published by the Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 publishing house since 1995. Books in the series offer concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts in the field. (For example, authors of VSI entries in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 include A. J. Ayer, Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton

Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...

, A. C. Grayling

A. C. Grayling

Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991...

, and Peter Singer

Peter Singer

Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...

.) Individual titles range from 96–224 pages in length, with most between 120–180, and nearly all contain suggestions for further reading. Authors often present personal viewpoints, and the books are intended to be thought provoking, but also "balanced and complete."

As of November 2011, there are 294 titles in the series, with 28 more (and one revised edition) scheduled for publication by mid-2012. The publisher states that "the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library."

The VSI series has been very commercially successful. By 2011, Oxford University Press was giving sales figures for the series as over three million copies worldwide, and VSI books have been published in more than 25 languages.

Most of the books were written specifically for the VSI series, but around 60 first had life as previous OUP publications. For example, several of the earlier VSI volumes were initially published as part of OUP's Past Masters series, or (in the case of numbers 17-24) as chapters by different authors from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (1984).

List of books in the series

#	Topic	Author(s)	Classics Classics Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...	Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column... , John Henderson	24 February 2000 (orig. 1995)
002	Music Music Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...	Nicholas Cook Nicholas Cook Nicholas Cook is a British musicologist and writer born in Athens, Greece. In 2009 he became the 1684 Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge, where he is a Fellow of Darwin College...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1998)
003	Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...	Damien Keown Damien Keown Damien Keown is a prominent bioethicist and authority on Buddhist bioethics. He currently teaches in the Department of History at the University of London...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1996)
004	Literary Theory Literary theory Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...   2nd Edition	Jonathan Culler Jonathan Culler Jonathan Culler is a class of 1966 Harvard graduate and Professor of English at Cornell University. He is an important figure of the structuralism movement of literary theory and criticism.- Background and career:...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1997) 28 July 2011
005	Hinduism Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...	Kim Knott	24 February 2000 (orig. 1998)
006	Psychology Psychology Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...	Gillian Butler, Freda McManus	24 February 2000 (orig. 1998)
007	Islam Islam Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...	Malise Ruthven Malise Ruthven Malise Ruthven is an Irish academic and writer. He was born in Dublin of Irish-British parentage. He obtained an MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, before working as a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Service, and a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. He also gained a...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1997)
008	Politics Politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...	Kenneth Minogue Kenneth Minogue Kenneth Robert Minogue is an Australian political theorist who is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics.-Biography:...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1995)
009	Theology Theology Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...	David F. Ford David F. Ford David Frank Ford is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1999)
010	Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...	Paul Bahn Paul Bahn Paul G. Bahn is a British archaeologist, translator, writer and broadcaster who has published extensively on a range of archaeological topics, with particular attention to prehistoric art...   (illustrator: Bill Tidy Bill Tidy William Edward "Bill" Tidy, MBE , is a British cartoonist, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strips. Bill was awarded an MBE in 2000 for "Services to Journalism". He is noted for his charitable work, particularly for the Lord's Taverners, which he has supported for over... )	24 February 2000 (orig. 1996)
011	Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...	Norman Solomon Norman Solomon (rabbi) Dr. Norman Solomon is a British Orthodox rabbi, professor, and scholar in the field of Jewish studies and Jewish-Christian relations.-Biography:...	24 February 2000 (orig. 1996)
012	Sociology Sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...	Steve Bruce	24 February 2000 (orig. 1999)
013	The Koran Qur'an The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...	Michael Cook Michael Cook (historian) Michael Allan Cook is an English-Scottish historian and scholar of Islamic history. He has co-authored a book with Patricia Crone, notably Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World....	24 February 2000
014	The Bible Bible The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...	John Riches	24 February 2000
015	Social and Cultural Cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...  Anthropology Anthropology Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...	John Monaghan, Peter Just	24 February 2000
016	History History History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...	John H. Arnold	24 February 2000
017	Roman Britain Roman Britain Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...	Peter Salway Peter Salway Peter Salway is a British historian, who specialises in Roman Britain. He was a tutor for the Open University and later a fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and later at All Souls College Oxford. He is the author of Roman Britain , a volume in the Oxford History of England series.-References:...	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
018	The Anglo-Saxon Age	John Blair	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
019	Medieval Britain Britain in the Middle Ages England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Medieval period — from the end of Roman rule in Britain through to the Early Modern period...	John Gillingham John Gillingham John Gillingham is emeritus professor of medieval history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. On the 19th July 2007 he was elected into the Fellowship of the British Academy He is renowned as an expert on the Angevin empire.-Books:... , Ralph A. Griffiths	10 August 2000 (orig. chapters from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
020	The Tudors Tudor dynasty The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...	John Guy John Guy (historian) John Guy is a British historian and biographer.Born in Australia, he moved to Britain with his parents in 1952. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Lytham, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking a First. At Cambridge, Guy studied under the Tudor specialist Geoffrey...	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
021	Stuart Britain House of Stuart The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...	John Morrill John Morrill (historian) John Morrill FBA is a British historian. He specialises in the political, religious, social and cultural histories of early-modern Britain....	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
022	Eighteenth-Century Britain Early Modern Britain Early modern Britain is the history of the island of Great Britain, roughly corresponding to the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Major historical events in Early Modern British history include the English Renaissance, the English Reformation and Scottish Reformation, the English Civil War, the...	Paul Langford Paul Langford Professor Paul Langford is a British historian, currently Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.Educated at Monmouth School and Hertford College, Oxford, he was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship in modern history at Lincoln College in 1969, becoming a tutorial fellow in 1970...	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
023	Nineteenth-Century Britain History of the United Kingdom The history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union, as ratified by the Acts of Union 1707...	Christopher Harvie Chris Harvie Professor Christopher Harvie is a Scottish historian and a Scottish National Party politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife from 2007 to 2011... , H. C. G. Matthew Colin Matthew Henry Colin Gray Matthew , an historian, was the first editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and editor of the diaries of William Ewart Gladstone....	10 August 2000 (orig. chapters from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
024	Twentieth-Century Britain History of the United Kingdom The history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union, as ratified by the Acts of Union 1707...	Kenneth O. Morgan	10 August 2000 (orig. chapter from The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, 1984)
025	Heidegger Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...	Michael Inwood	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1997)
026	Ancient Philosophy Ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Western philosophy, the spread of Christianity through the Roman Empire marked the ending of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of Medieval philosophy, whereas in Eastern philosophy, the spread of Islam through the Arab Empire...	Julia Annas Julia Annas Julia Elizabeth Annas is a British American philosopher. She is Regents Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona.-Biography:...	12 October 2000
027	Socrates Socrates Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...	C. C. W. Taylor	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1998)
028	Marx Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...	Peter Singer Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1980)
029	Logic Logic In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...	Graham Priest Graham Priest Graham Priest is Boyce Gibson Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as a regular visitor at St. Andrews University. Priest is a fellow in residence at Ormond College. He was educated at the University...	12 October 2000
030	Descartes René Descartes René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...	Tom Sorell	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1987)
031	Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...	Quentin Skinner Quentin Skinner Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner is the Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London.-Biography:...	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1981)
032	Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...	Jonathan Barnes Jonathan Barnes Jonathan Barnes is a British philosopher, translator and historian of ancient philosophy.-Education and career:He was educated at the City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford University....	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1982)
033	Hume David Hume David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...	A. J. Ayer Alfred Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer was a British philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books Language, Truth, and Logic and The Problem of Knowledge ....	12 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1980)
034	Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...	Michael Tanner	19 October 2000 (orig. Past Masters series, 1987)
035	Darwin Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...	Jonathan Howard	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1982)
036	The European Union European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...   2nd Edition	John Pinder, Simon Usherwood	22 February 2001 13 December 2007
037	Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...	Bhikhu Parekh Bhikhu Parekh, Baron Parekh Bhikhu Chotalal Parekh, Baron Parekh is a political theorist.-Biography:Parekh was born in the village of Amalsad in the province of Gujarat, India; his father was a goldsmith with a basic education. Parekh was admitted to the University of Bombay at the age of 15, and earned a Bachelor's degree...	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1997)
038	Augustine Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...	Henry Chadwick Henry Chadwick (theologian) Henry Chadwick KBE was a British academic and Church of England clergyman. A former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford — and as such also head of Christ Church, Oxford — he also served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, becoming the first person in four centuries to have headed a college at...	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1986)
039	Intelligence	Ian J. Deary Ian Deary Ian J. Deary is a Scottish psychologist and Professor of Differential Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Ian Deary is currently engaged in a 10-year study into the effects of ageing on mental ability using the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey funded by , entitled...	22 February 2001
040	Jung Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...	Anthony Stevens Anthony Stevens (Jungian analyst) Anthony Stevens is a well-known Jungian analyst and psychiatrist who has written extensively on psychotherapy and psychology....	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1994)
041	The Buddha Gautama Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...	Michael Carrithers	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1983)
042	Paul Paul of Tarsus Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...	E. P. Sanders E. P. Sanders Ed Parish Sanders is a New Testament scholar, and is one of the principal proponents of the New Perspective on Paul. He has been Arts and Sciences Professor of Religion at Duke University, North Carolina, since 1990. He retired in 2005....	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1991)
043	Continental Philosophy Continental philosophy Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...	Simon Critchley Simon Critchley Simon Critchley is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political...	22 February 2001
044	Galileo Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...	Stillman Drake Stillman Drake Stillman Drake was a Canadian historian of science best known for his work on Galileo Galilei . Drake published over 131 books, articles, and book chapters on Galileo. Drake received his first academic appointment in 1967 as full professor at the University of Toronto after a career as a...	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1980)
045	Freud Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...	Anthony Storr Anthony Storr Anthony Storr was an English psychiatrist and author. Born in London, he was a child who was to endure the typical trauma of early 20th century boarding schools. He was educated at Winchester College, Christ's College , and Westminster Hospital. He qualified as a doctor in 1944, and subsequently...	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1989)
046	Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991...	22 February 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1988)
047	Indian Philosophy Indian philosophy India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...	Sue Hamilton	22 February 2001 (orig. non-VSI, 2000)
048	Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...	Robert Wokler	23 August 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1995)
049	Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...	Peter Singer Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...	23 August 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1983)
050	Kant Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....	Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...	23 August 2001 (orig. Past Masters series, 1982)
051	Cosmology Physical cosmology Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion...	Peter Coles Peter Coles Peter Coles is Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Cardiff University where he has worked since 2007.He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. He did his first degree at Magdalene College, Cambridge in Natural Sciences, specialising in Theoretical...	23 August 2001
052	Drug Drug A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a... s	Leslie Iversen	23 August 2001
053	Russian Literature Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...	Catriona Kelly	23 August 2001
054	The French Revolution French Revolution The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...	William Doyle William Doyle (historian) William Doyle is an English historian, specialising in 18th-century France, who is most notable for his one-volume Oxford History of the French Revolution .He is one of the leading revisionist historians of the French Revolution....	23 August 2001
055	Philosophy Philosophy Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...	Edward Craig	21 February 2002 (orig. non-VSI, 2002)
056	Barthes Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...	Jonathan Culler Jonathan Culler Jonathan Culler is a class of 1966 Harvard graduate and Professor of English at Cornell University. He is an important figure of the structuralism movement of literary theory and criticism.- Background and career:...	21 February 2002 (orig. Modern Masters series, Fontana Press, 1983)
057	Animal Rights Animal rights Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...	David DeGrazia	21 February 2002
058	Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...	Patrick Gardiner	21 February 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1988)
059	Russell Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991...	21 February 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1996)
060	Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...	Germaine Greer Germaine Greer Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....	21 February 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1986)
061	Clausewitz Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war...	Michael Howard Michael Howard (historian) Sir Michael Eliot Howard, OM, CH, CBE, MC, FBA is a British military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, and Robert A...	21 February 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1983)
062	Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...	Christopher Janaway Christopher Janaway Christopher Janaway , is a philosopher and author. Before moving to Southampton in 2005, Chris Janaway taught at the University of Sydney and Birkbeck, University of London. His recent research has been on Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and aesthetics...	21 February 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1994)
063	The Russian Revolution Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...	S. A. Smith	21 February 2002
064	Hobbes Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...	Richard Tuck	30 May 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1989)
065	World Music World music World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...	Philip V. Bohlman Philip Bohlman Philip Vilas Bohlman is an American ethnomusicologist. He is the Mary Werkman Distinguished Service Professor of Music and the Humanities at the University of Chicago and a visiting professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater...	30 May 2002
066	Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...	Timothy Gowers William Timothy Gowers William Timothy Gowers FRS is a British mathematician. He is a Royal Society Research Professor at the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge University, where he also holds the Rouse Ball chair, and is a Fellow of Trinity College...	22 August 2002
067	Philosophy of Science Philosophy of science The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...	Samir Okasha	30 May 2002
068	Cryptography Cryptography Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...	Fred Piper, Sean Murphy Sean Murphy (cryptographer) Sean Murphy is a cryptographer, currently a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. He worked on the NESSIE and ECRYPT projects. His notable research includes the cryptanalysis of FEAL and the Advanced Encryption Standard, and the use of stochastic and statistical techniques in...	30 May 2002
069	Quantum Theory Quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...	John Polkinghorne John Polkinghorne John Charlton Polkinghorne KBE FRS is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer, and Anglican priest. He was professor of Mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest...	30 May 2002
070	Spinoza Baruch Spinoza Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...	Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...	30 May 2002 (orig. Past Masters series, 1986)
071	Choice Theory	Michael Allingham	22 August 2002
072	Architecture Architecture Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...	Andrew Ballantyne	22 August 2002
073	Poststructuralism Post-structuralism Post-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...	Catherine Belsey	22 August 2002
074	Postmodernism Postmodernism Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...	Christopher Butler	10 October 2002
075	Democracy Democracy Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...	Bernard Crick Bernard Crick Sir Bernard Rowland Crick was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views were often summarised as "politics is ethics done in public"...	10 October 2002
076	Empire Empire The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....	Stephen Howe	22 August 2002
077	Fascism Fascism Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...	Kevin Passmore	22 August 2002
078	Terrorism Terrorism Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...   2nd Edition	Charles Townshend Charles Townshend (Historian) Charles Townshend FBA is a British historian with particular expertise on the historic role of British imperialism in Ireland and Palestine.Townshend is currently Professor of International History at Keele University...	10 October 2002 8 September 2011
079	Plato Plato Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...	Julia Annas Julia Annas Julia Elizabeth Annas is a British American philosopher. She is Regents Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona.-Biography:...	13 February 2003
080	Ethics Ethics Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...	Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn is a British academic philosopher known for his work in quasi-realism and his efforts to popularise philosophy. He recently retired as professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North...	8 May 2003 (orig. Being Good: An Introduction to Ethics, 2001, rev. 2003)
081	Emotion Emotion Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...	Dylan Evans Dylan Evans Dylan Evans is a British academic and author who has written books on emotion and the placebo effect as well as the theories of Jacques Lacan.-Early life and education:...	13 February 2003 (orig. Emotion: The Science of Sentiment, 2001)
082	Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...	Marc Mulholland	23 January 2003 (orig. The Longest War: Northern Ireland's Troubled History, 2002)
083	Art Theory Aesthetics Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...	Cynthia Freeland	13 February 2003 (orig. But Is It Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory, 2001)
084	Locke John Locke John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...	John Dunn John Dunn (political scientist) John Montfort Dunn is a emeritus Professor of Political Theory at King's College, Cambridge, and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Chiba University, Japan.-Biography:...	8 May 2003 (orig. Past Masters series, 1984)
085	Modern Ireland History of the Republic of Ireland The Irish state originally came into being in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion of the British Commonwealth, having seceded from the United Kingdom under the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It comprises of 26 of Ireland's 32 counties...	Senia Paseta	27 March 2003
086	Globalization Globalization Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...   2nd Edition	Manfred B. Steger Manfred Steger Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Global Studies and Director of the Globalism Research Centre at RMIT University in Australia. Steger's research and teaching spans globalization, ideology, and non-violence....	27 March 2003 22 January 2009
087	The Cold War Cold War The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...	Robert J. McMahon Robert J. McMahon (historian) Robert J. McMahon is an American historian specializing in the history of foreign relations of the United States. He currently holds the chair of Ralph D. Mershon Distinguished Professor at Ohio State University....	27 March 2003
088	The History of Astronomy History of astronomy Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, and astrological practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy, and not...	Michael Hoskin	8 May 2003
089	Schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...	Chris Frith Chris Frith Christopher Donald Frith is professor emeritus at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London and a Niels Bohr Visiting Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark... , Eve C. Johnstone Eve Johnstone Eve C. Johnstone , CBE MD FRCP FRCPsych DPM FMedSci FRSE is a Scottish neuroscientist. She is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh....	22 May 2003
090	The Earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...	Martin Redfern	26 June 2003
091	Engels	Terrel Carver	22 May 2003 (orig. Past Masters series, 1981)
092	British Politics Politics of the United Kingdom The politics of the United Kingdom takes place within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government...	Tony Wright	22 May 2003
093	Linguistics Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....	P. H. Matthews	24 April 2003
094	The Celts	Barry Cunliffe Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, known professionally as Barry Cunliffe is a former Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a position held from 1972 to 2007...	26 June 2003
095	Ideology Ideology An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...	Michael Freeden Michael Freeden Michael Freeden is a professor of politics currently serving as the director of the Centre for Political Ideologies at the University of Oxford where he is also professorial tutor at Mansfield College. He is also the founding editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies.-Study of...	26 June 2003
096	Prehistory Prehistory Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...	Chris Gosden	26 June 2003
097	Political Philosophy Political philosophy Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...	David Miller David Miller (political theorist) David Miller is a British political theorist. He received his BA from the University of Cambridge and his BPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. He is currently Official Fellow and Professor in Social and Political Theory at Nuffield College, Oxford. Previous works include Social...	26 June 2003
098	Postcolonialism Postcolonialism Post-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...	Robert J.C. Young Robert J.C. Young - Life :He was educated at Repton School and Exeter College, Oxford where he read for a B.A. and D.Phil., taught at the University of Southampton, and then returned to Oxford University where he was Professor of English and Critical Theory and a fellow of Wadham College. In 2005, he moved to New...	26 June 2003
099	Atheism Atheism Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...	Julian Baggini Julian Baggini Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine...	26 June 2003
100	Evolution Evolution Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...	Brian Charlesworth Brian Charlesworth Professor Brian Charlesworth FRS is a British evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, and editor of Biology Letters.... , Deborah Charlesworth	26 June 2003
101	Molecules	Phillip Ball	27 November 2003 (orig. Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules, 2001)
102	Art History Art history Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...	Dana Arnold	22 January 2004
103	Presocratic Philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy is Greek philosophy before Socrates . In Classical antiquity, the Presocratic philosophers were called physiologoi...	Catherine Osborne	22 April 2004
104	The Elements Chemical element A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...	Phillip Ball	8 April 2004 (orig. The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements, 2002)
105	Dada Dada Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...  and Surrealism Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....	David Hopkins	8 April 2004
106	Egyptian Myth	Geraldine Pinch	22 April 2004
107	Christian Art Christian art Christian art is sacred art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity, though other definitions are possible. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, although some have had strong objections to some forms of...	Beth Williamson	24 June 2004
108	Capitalism Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...	James Fulcher	13 May 2004
109	Particle Physics Particle physics Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...	Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:...	13 May 2004
110	Free Will Free will "To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...	Thomas Pink	24 June 2004
111	Myth Mythology The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...	Robert A. Segal	8 July 2004
112	Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...	Ian Shaw	22 July 2004
113	Hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...	Penelope Wilson Penelope Wilson Penelope Wilson is a British lecturer of Egyptology in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, UK. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East...	12 August 2004 (orig. Sacred Signs: Hieroglyphs in Ancient Egypt, 2003)
114	Medical Ethics Medical ethics Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...	Tony Hope	23 September 2004
115	Kafka	Ritchie Robertson Ritchie Robertson Ritchie Neil Ninian Robertson FBA is currently Professor of German at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College. He is also the Germanic Editor of The Modern Language Review He has been the Taylor Professor of German in the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Queen's College...	28 October 2004
116	Anarchism Anarchism Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...	Colin Ward Colin Ward Colin Ward was a British anarchist writer. He has been called "one of the greatest anarchist thinkers of the past half century, and a pioneering social historian." -Life:...	21 October 2004
117	Ancient Warfare Ancient warfare Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the fall of Rome in 476, and the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire Byzantium in its South Western Asian and North...	Harry Sidebottom Harry Sidebottom Harry Sidebottom is an author and historian. He is currently Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St. Benet's Hall and lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford...	25 November 2004
118	Global Warming Global warming Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...   2nd Edition	Mark Maslin	25 November 2004 27 November 2008
119	Christianity Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...	Linda Woodhead Linda Woodhead Professor Linda Woodhead is Professor in the sociology of religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion at Lancaster University. She read theology and religious studies at Cambridge University, receiving a Double First. She also holds an M.A...	25 November 2004
120	Modern Art Modern art Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...	David Cottington	24 February 2005
121	Consciousness Consciousness Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...	Susan Blackmore Susan Blackmore Susan Jane Blackmore is an English freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine.-Career:...	24 March 2005
122	Foucault Michel Foucault Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...	Gary Gutting	24 March 2005
123	The Spanish Civil War Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...	Helen Graham Helen Graham (historian) Helen Graham is a British historian, the Professor of Modern Spanish History at the Department of History, Royal Holloway University of London.- Overview :...	24 March 2005
124	The Marquis de Sade Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...	John Phillips	28 July 2005
125	Habermas Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...	Gordon Finlayson	26 May 2005
126	Socialism Socialism Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...	Michael Newman	28 July 2005
127	Dream Dream Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious... ing	J. Allan Hobson Allan Hobson John Allan Hobson, M.D. is an American psychiatrist and dream researcher.He is known for his research on Rapid eye movement sleep. He is Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School,...	21 April 2005 (orig. Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep, 2002)
128	Dinosaur Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of... s	David Norman David B. Norman David Bruce Norman is a British paleontologist, currently Director of the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge University. He is a fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge where he teaches geology in the Natural Sciences tripos. He is a member of the Palaeontological Association. He has studied Iguanodon...	28 July 2005
129	Renaissance Art Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...	Geraldine A. Johnson	21 April 2005
130	Buddhist Ethics Buddhist ethics Ethics in Buddhism are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings who followed him. Moral instructions are included in Buddhist scriptures or handed down through tradition...	Damien Keown Damien Keown Damien Keown is a prominent bioethicist and authority on Buddhist bioethics. He currently teaches in the Department of History at the University of London...	23 June 2005
131	Tragedy Tragedy Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...	Adrian Poole	11 August 2005
132	Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...	Eleanor Nesbitt	22 September 2005
133	The History of Time Time Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....	Leofranc Holford-Strevens	11 August 2005
134	Nationalism Nationalism Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...	Steven Grosby Steven Grosby Steven Grosby is Professor of Religion at Clemson University. He received his PhD from the Committee on Social Thought of the University of Chicago....	8 September 2005
135	The World Trade Organization World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...	Amrita Narlikar Amrita Narlikar Amrita Narlikar is Reader in International Political Economy at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. She is also the founding Director of the Centre for Rising Powers, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Darwin College in Cambridge. Prior to joining...	8 September 2005
136	Design Design Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...	John Heskett	23 June 2005 (orig. Toothpicks and Logos: Design in Everyday Life, 2002)
137	The Vikings	Julian D. Richards Julian Richards Julian Richards FSA, MIFA is a British television and radio presenter, writer and archaeologist with over 30 years experience of fieldwork and publication.-Early career:...	8 September 2005
138	Fossil Fossil Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past... s	Keith Thomson Keith Stewart Thomson Keith Stewart Thomson is currently a senior research fellow of the American Philosophical Society and an emeritus professor of natural history at the University of Oxford. He was appointed director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in July 1998...	13 October 2005
139	Journalism Journalism Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...	Ian Hargreaves Ian Hargreaves Prof Ian Richard Hargreaves is Professor of Journalism at the Centre for Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, Wales, UK...	15 September 2005 (orig. Journalism: Truth or Dare?, 2003)
140	The Crusades Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...	Christopher Tyerman	13 October 2005 (orig. Fighting for Christendom: Holy War and the Crusades, 2004)
141	Feminism Feminism Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...	Margaret Walters	27 October 2005
142	Human Evolution Human evolution Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...	Bernard Wood	3 November 2005
143	The Dead Sea Scrolls Dead Sea scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...	Timothy Lim	24 November 2005
144	The Brain Brain The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...	Michael O'Shea	8 December 2005
145	Global Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth Various existential risks could threaten humankind as a whole, have adverse consequences for the course of human civilization, or even cause the end of planet Earth.-Types of risks:...  Catastrophes Disaster A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...	Bill McGuire	26 January 2006 (orig. A Guide to the End of the World: Everything You Never Wanted to Know, 2002)
146	Contemporary Art Contemporary art Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...	Julian Stallabrass Julian Stallabrass Julian Stallabrass is a British art historian, photographer and curator. A Marxist, he has written extensively on contemporary art , photography and the history of twentieth century British art.-High Art Lite:...	23 March 2006 (orig. Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art, 2004)
147	Philosophy of Law Jurisprudence Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...	Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong where he was Head of the Department of Law from 1986 to 1993. He was previously Professor of Public Law at the University of Natal, Durban...	18 May 2006
148	The Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...	Jerry Brotton	27 April 2006 (orig. The Renaissance Bazaar: From the Silk Road to Michelangelo, 2002)
149	Anglicanism Anglicanism Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...	Mark Chapman	22 June 2006
150	The Roman Empire Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....	Christopher Kelly	24 August 2006
151	Photography Photography Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...	Steven Edwards	24 August 2006
152	Psychiatry Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...	Tom Burns	21 September 2006
153	Existentialism Existentialism Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...	Thomas Flynn	12 October 2006
154	The First World War World War I World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...	Michael Howard Michael Howard (historian) Sir Michael Eliot Howard, OM, CH, CBE, MC, FBA is a British military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, and Robert A...	25 January 2007 (orig. non-VSI, 2002)
155	Fundamentalism Fundamentalism Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...	Malise Ruthven Malise Ruthven Malise Ruthven is an Irish academic and writer. He was born in Dublin of Irish-British parentage. He obtained an MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, before working as a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Service, and a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. He also gained a...	25 January 2007 (orig. Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning, 2004)
156	Economics Economics Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...	Partha Dasgupta Partha Dasgupta Professor Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, FRS, FBA , is the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge; Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and Professor of Environmental and Development Economics at the...	22 February 2007
157	International Migration Human migration Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...	Khalid Koser	22 February 2007
158	Newton Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...	Rob Iliffe	25 January 2007
159	Chaos Chaos (cosmogony) Chaos refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, more specifically the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth....	Lenny Smith	22 February 2007
160	African History History of Africa The history of Africa begins with the prehistory of Africa and the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. Agriculture began about 10,000 BCE and metallurgy in about 4000 BCE. The history of early...	John Parker, Richard Pathbone	22 March 2007
161	Racism Racism Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...	Ali Rattansi	22 March 2007
162	Kabbalah Kabbalah Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...	Joseph Dan Joseph Dan Joseph Dan is an Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism. He taught for over 40 years in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem...	30 August 2007 (orig. non-VSI, 2006)
163	Human Rights Human rights Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...	Andrew Clapham	28 June 2007
164	International Relations International relations International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...	Paul Wilkinson	26 July 2007
165	The American Presidency President of the United States The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....	Charles O. Jones Charles O. Jones Charles O. Jones is Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a graduate of the University of South Dakota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Guggenheim fellow...	11 October 2007
166	The Great Depression Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...  and New Deal New Deal The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...	Eric Rauchway	24 April 2008
167	Classical Mythology Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...	Helen Morales	23 August 2007
168	The New Testament as Literature New Testament The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....	Kyle Keefer	27 November 2008
169	American Political Parties and Elections Elections in the United States The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at the federal , state and local levels. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through an Electoral College. In modern times, the electors virtually always vote with the popular...	L. Sandy Maisel	27 September 2007
170	Bestseller Bestseller A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and... s	John Sutherland	25 October 2007
171	Geopolitics Geopolitics Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....	Klaus Dodds Klaus Dodds Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.He was educated at Wellington College and the University of Bristol where he completed degrees in geography and political science...	25 October 2007
172	Antisemitism	Steven Beller	22 November 2007
173	Game Theory Game theory Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...	Ken Binmore	25 October 2007
174	HIV/AIDS	Alan Whiteside Alan Whiteside Alan Whiteside born in Nairobi, Kenya on 18 March 1956) is an internationally respected academic, researcher and professor at the University of KwaZulu Natal. He is well-known for his innovative work in the field of HIV and AIDS...	24 January 2008
175	Documentary Film Documentary film Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...	Patricia Aufderheide	24 January 2008
176	Modern China	Rana Mitter	28 February 2008
177	The Quakers Religious Society of Friends The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...	Pink Dandelion	28 February 2008
178	German Literature German literature German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...	Nicholas Boyle Nicholas Boyle Nicholas Boyle FBA is the Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He has written widely on German literature, intellectual history and religion and is known particularly for his award-winning extensive biography of Goethe...	28 February 2008
179	Nuclear Weapons Nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...	Joseph M. Siracusa	20 March 2008
180	Law Law Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...	Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong where he was Head of the Department of Law from 1986 to 1993. He was previously Professor of Public Law at the University of Natal, Durban...	27 March 2008
181	The Old Testament Old Testament The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...	Michael Coogan Michael Coogan Michael D. Coogan is a Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College, a private Roman Catholic institution located in Easton, Massachusetts. He is also Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. Coogan has taught at Stonehill College since 1985...	22 May 2008
182	Galaxies Galaxy A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also...	27 March 2008
183	Mormonism Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...	Richard Bushman	26 June 2008
184	Religion in America Religion in the United States Religion in the United States is characterized by both a wide diversity in religious beliefs and practices, and by a high adherence level. According to recent surveys, 83 percent of Americans claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim to attend services nearly every week or...	Timothy Beal Timothy Beal Timothy K. Beal is a writer and scholar in the field of religious studies whose work explores matters of religion and American culture, past and present. He is currently Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Biography :Beal was born in...	25 September 2008
185	Geography Geography Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...	John A. Matthews, David T. Herbert	22 May 2008
186	The Meaning of Life Meaning of life The meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of life or existence in general. This concept can be expressed through a variety of related questions, such as "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", and "What is the meaning of it all?" It has...	Terry Eagleton Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...	24 April 2008 (orig. non-VSI, 2007)
187	Sexuality Human sexuality Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...	Veronique Mottier	24 April 2008
188	Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...	Elleke Boehmer Elleke Boehmer Elleke Boehmer is an academic and writer, born in South Africa. She is a literary critic who specialises in international writing in English, teaching world literature at Oxford University...	17 July 2008
189	Science and Religion Relationship between religion and science The relationship between religion and science has been a focus of the demarcation problem. Somewhat related is the claim that science and religion may pursue knowledge using different methodologies. Whereas the scientific method basically relies on reason and empiricism, religion also seeks to...	Thomas Dixon	24 July 2008
190	Relativity Theory of relativity The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....	Russell Stannard Russell Stannard Russell Stannard is a retired high-energy particle physicist, who was born in London, England, on December 24, 1931. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Open University...	24 July 2008
191	The History of Medicine History of medicine All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...	William Bynum	31 July 2008
192	Citizenship Citizenship Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...	Richard Bellamy	25 September 2008
193	The History of Life Evolutionary history of life The evolutionary history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms have evolved since life on Earth first originated until the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 Ga and life appeared on its surface within one billion years...	Michael J. Benton Michael J. Benton Michael J. Benton is a British paleontologist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol....	27 November 2008
194	Memory Memory In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....	Jonathan K. Foster	6 November 2008
195	Autism Autism Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...	Uta Frith Uta Frith Uta Frith FRS FBA is a leading developmental psychologist working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research in autism and dyslexia, and has written several books on these issues. Her book 'Autism: Explaining the Enigma'...	23 October 2008
196	Statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....	David J. Hand David Hand (statistician) David John Hand is a British statistician. His research interests include multivariate statistics, classification methods, pattern recognition, the computational statistics and the foundations of statistics....	23 October 2008
197	Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...	Rab Houston	27 November 2008
198	Catholicism Catholicism Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....	Gerald O'Collins	27 November 2008
199	The United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...	Jussi M. Hanhimäki	30 October 2008
200	Free Speech	Nigel Warburton Nigel Warburton Nigel Warburton is a philosopher, currently Senior Lecturer at the Open University. He is best known as a populariser of philosophy, being author of a number of books of this genre, but he has also written academic works in esthetics and applied ethics.-Education:Warburton received a BA from the...	26 February 2009
201	The Apocryphal Gospels New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that claim to be accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. These writings often have links with books regarded as "canonical"...	Paul Foster	26 February 2009
202	Modern Japan	Christopher Goto-Jones	23 April 2009
203	Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...	Allen C. Guelzo Allen C. Guelzo Allen Carl Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce III Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he serves as Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program.Guelzo was born in Yokohama, Japan...	26 February 2009
204	Superconductivity Superconductivity Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...	Stephen J. Blundell Stephen Blundell Stephen Blundell is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. He is the current head of Condensed Matter Physics at Oxford and is also a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford...	28 May 2009
205	Nothing Nothing Nothing is no thing, denoting the absence of something. Nothing is a pronoun associated with nothingness, is also an adjective, and an object as a concept in the Frege-Church ontology....	Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:...	25 June 2009 (orig. The Void, 2007)
206	Biography Biography A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...	Hermione Lee Hermione Lee Hermione Lee, CBE is President of Wolfson College, Oxford and was lately Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of New College. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature.-Biography:Hermione Lee grew up in...	9 July 2009
207	The Soviet Union	Stephen Lovell	23 July 2009
208	Writing Writing Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...  and Script Writing system A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...	Andrew Robinson W. Andrew Robinson W. Andrew Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London...	27 August 2009
209	Communism Communism Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...	Leslie Holmes	27 August 2009
210	Fashion Fashion Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...	Rebecca Arnold	22 October 2009
211	Forensic Science	Jim Fraser	25 February 2010
212	Puritan Puritan The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England... ism	Francis J. Bremer	24 September 2009
213	The Reformation Protestant Reformation The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...	Peter Marshall Peter Marshall Peter Marshall may refer to:* Peter Marshall , British author whose works include Demanding The Impossible: A History of Anarchism and Europe's Lost Civilization...	22 October 2009
214	Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...	Fergus Kerr Fergus Gordon Kerr Fergus Gordon Thomson Kerr, OP, FRSE is a Scottish Roman Catholic priest of the English Dominican Province and is widely recognized for his contributions in philosophy and theology. He has published significantly on a wide range of subjects, but is famous particularly for his work on Ludwig...	5 November 2009
215	Desert Desert A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than... s	Nick Middleton Nick Middleton Nick Middleton is a physical geographer and supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He specialises in desertification.Nick Middleton was born in London, England. As a geographer he has travelled to more than 50 countries...	26 November 2009
216	The Norman Conquest	George Garnett	26 November 2009
217	Biblical Archaeology Biblical archaeology For the movement associated with William F. Albright and also known as biblical archaeology, see Biblical archaeology school. For the interpretation of biblical archaeology in relation to biblical historicity, see The Bible and history....	Eric H. Cline Eric H. Cline Eric H. Cline is an author, historian, archaeologist, and professor of ancient history and archaeology at The George Washington University in Washington DC, where he is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations as well as Director of...	26 November 2009
218	The Reagan Revolution	Gil Troy Gil Troy Gil Troy is an American academic. Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and a Visiting Scholar affiliated with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington....	3 December 2009
219	The Book of Mormon	Terryl Givens	21 January 2010
220	Islamic History	Adam J. Silverstein	21 January 2010
221	Privacy Privacy Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...	Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks Raymond Wacks is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong where he was Head of the Department of Law from 1986 to 1993. He was previously Professor of Public Law at the University of Natal, Durban...	21 January 2010
222	Neoliberalism Neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...	Manfred Steger, Ravi K. Roy	21 January 2010
223	Progressivism Progressivism Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...	Walter Nugent	25 February 2010
224	Epidemiology Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...	Rodolfo Saracci	25 February 2010
225	Information Information Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...	Luciano Floridi Luciano Floridi Luciano Floridi currently holds the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, both at the University of Hertfordshire, Department of Philosophy...	25 February 2010
226	The Laws of Thermodynamics Laws of thermodynamics The four laws of thermodynamics summarize its most important facts. They define fundamental physical quantities, such as temperature, energy, and entropy, in order to describe thermodynamic systems. They also describe the transfer of energy as heat and work in thermodynamic processes...	Peter Atkins Peter Atkins Peter William Atkins is a British chemist and former Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Lincoln College. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics...	25 March 2010 (orig. Four Laws That Drive the Universe, 2007)
227	Innovation Innovation Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...	Mark Dodgson Mark Dodgson Mark Dodgson is an Australian academic and author. His research on the innovation process has influenced innovation management and policy worldwide.- Biography :... , David Gann David Gann David Michael Gann CBE is a British academic.Professor David Gann, CBE, holds the Chair in Innovation and Technology Management at Imperial College Business School and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London...	25 March 2010
228	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...	Malcolm Gaskill	25 March 2010
229	The New Testament	Luke Timothy Johnson Luke Timothy Johnson Luke Timothy Johnson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University...	22 April 2010
230	French Literature French literature French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...	John D. Lyons	22 April 2010
231	Film Music	Kathryn Kalinak	27 May 2010
232	Druids	Barry Cunliffe Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, known professionally as Barry Cunliffe is a former Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a position held from 1972 to 2007...	27 May 2010
233	German Philosophy German philosophy German philosophy, here taken to mean either philosophy in the German language or philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Leibniz through Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger...	Andrew Bowie	27 May 2010
234	Advertising Advertising Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...	Winston Fletcher	24 June 2010
235	Forensic Psychology Forensic psychology Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the relevant jurisdictions in order to be able to interact appropriately with judges, attorneys and other legal professionals...	David Canter David Canter David V. Canter is a psychologist. He began his career as an architectural psychologist studying the interactions between people and buildings, publishing and providing consultancy on the designs of offices, schools, prisons, housing and other building forms as well as exploring how people made...	17 June 2010
236	Modernism Modernism Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...	Christopher Butler	29 July 2010
237	Leadership Leadership Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...	Keith Grint	29 July 2010
238	Christian Ethics Christian ethics The first recorded meeting on the topic of Christian ethics, after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Great Commandment, and Great Commission , was the Council of Jerusalem , which is seen by most Christians as agreement that the New Covenant either abrogated or set aside at least some of the Old...	D. Stephen Long D. Stephen Long Duane Stephen Long, also known as D. Stephen Long, is Professor of Systematic Theology at Marquette University and the author of The Divine Economy: Theology and Market, which details a Christian approach to economics based in the school of Radical orthodoxy.He is also the author of The Goodness...	29 July 2010
239	Tocqueville Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...	Harvey Mansfield Harvey Mansfield Harvey Claflin Mansfield, Jr. is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1962. He has held Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships and has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center; he also received the National Humanities Medal in 2004 and...	24 June 2010
240	Landscape Landscape Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of... s and Geomorphology Geomorphology Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...	Andrew Goudie, Heather Viles	26 August 2010
241	Spanish Literature Spanish literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...	Jo Labanyi	26 August 2010
242	Diplomacy Diplomacy Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...	Joseph M. Siracusa	26 August 2010
243	North American Indians Indigenous peoples of the Americas The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...	Theda Perdue, Michael D. Green	26 August 2010
244	The U.S. Congress United States Congress The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....	Donald Ritchie Donald A. Ritchie Donald A. Ritchie is the Historian of the United States Senate.He graduated from the City College of New York and received a Master's Degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1969–1971.He was responsible for editing the closed hearing...	10 June 2010
245	Romanticism Romanticism Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...	Michael Ferber	23 September 2010
246	Utopia Utopia Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt... nism	Lyman Tower Sargent	23 September 2010
247	The Blues Blues Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...	Elijah Wald Elijah Wald Indeed, his first book was a collaboration with his biologist mother entitled Exploding the Gene Myth, in which they wrote that "The myth of the all-powerful gene is based on flawed science that discounts the environment in which we and our genes exist." "There are no definitive histories," he...	24 June 2010
248	Keynes John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...	Robert Skidelsky Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky Robert Jacob Alexander, Baron Skidelsky FBA is a British economic historian of Russian origin and the author of an award-winning major three volume biography of John Maynard Keynes. He read history at Jesus College, Oxford...	7 October 2010
249	English Literature English literature English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism...	7 October 2010
250	Agnosticism Agnosticism Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....	Robin LePoidevin Robin LePoidevin Robin Le Poidevin is professor of metaphysics at the University of Leeds whose interests include the nature and experience of time, agnosticism, and philosophy of religion. He joined the department of philosophy at Leeds in 1989 having completed postgraduate studies at both Oxford and Cambridge,...	28 October 2010
251	Aristocracy Aristocracy Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...	William Doyle William Doyle (historian) William Doyle is an English historian, specialising in 18th-century France, who is most notable for his one-volume Oxford History of the French Revolution .He is one of the leading revisionist historians of the French Revolution....	25 November 2010
252	Martin Luther Martin Luther Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...	Scott H. Hendrix	21 October 2010
253	Michael Faraday Michael Faraday Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....	Frank A.J.L. James	25 November 2010
254	Planet Planet A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,... s	David A. Rothery	25 November 2010
255	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...	William K. Kay	27 January 2011
256	Humanism Humanism Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....	Stephen Law Stephen Law Dr. Stephen Law is a philosopher and senior lecturer at Heythrop College in the University of London. He also edits the philosophical journal Think, which is published by the Royal Institute of Philosophy and aimed at the general public. Law currently lives in Oxford, England, with his wife and two...	27 January 2011
257	Folk Music Folk music Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....	Mark Slobin Mark Slobin Mark Slobin is an American scholar and ethnomusicologist who has written extensively on the subject of East European Jewish music and klezmer music. He is a Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University....	24 February 2011
258	Late Antiquity Late Antiquity Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...	Gillian Clark	24 February 2011
259	Genius Genius Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....	Andrew Robinson W. Andrew Robinson W. Andrew Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London...	24 February 2011
260	Number Number A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers.... s	Peter M. Higgins	24 February 2011
261	Muhammad Muhammad Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...	Jonathan A.C. Brown Jonathan A.C. Brown Jonathan A.C. Brown is an American Islamic scholar and currently Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.-Biography:...	24 March 2011
262	Beauty Beauty Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...	Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...	24 March 2011 (orig. non-VSI, 2009)
263	Organization Organization An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of... s	Mary Jo Hatch	24 March 2011
264	The Scientific Revolution Scientific revolution The Scientific Revolution is an era associated primarily with the 16th and 17th centuries during which new ideas and knowledge in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and chemistry transformed medieval and ancient views of nature and laid the foundations for modern science...	Lawrence M. Principe Lawrence M. Principe Lawrence M. Principe is the Drew Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of History of Science and Technology and the Department of Chemistry. He earned undergraduate degrees at the University of Delaware and did his graduate work at Indiana University Lawrence M....	28 April 2011
265	Critical Theory Critical theory Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...	Stephen Eric Bronner	5 May 2011
266	Cancer Cancer Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...	Nick James	26 May 2011
267	Risk Risk Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...	Baruch Fischhoff, John Kadvany	26 May 2011
268	Nuclear Power Nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...	Maxwell Irvine	26 May 2011
269	Paganism Paganism Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....	Owen Davies Owen Davies Owen Davies is a reader in Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. His main field of research is on the history of modern and contemporary witchcraft and magic....	26 May 2011
270	Early Music Early music Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...	Thomas Forrest Kelly	9 June 2011
271	Science Fiction Science fiction Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...	David Seed	23 June 2011
272	Herodotus Herodotus Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...	Jennifer T. Roberts	23 June 2011
273	Conscience Conscience Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...	Paul Strohm	23 June 2011
274	American Immigration	David A. Gerber	23 June 2011
275	Jesus Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...	Richard Bauckham Richard Bauckham Richard Bauckham is a widely published scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament. He is currently working on New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John as a Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge....	28 July 2011
276	Virus Virus A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea... es	Dorothy H. Crawford	28 July 2011
277	Protestantism Protestantism Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...	Mark A. Noll Mark Noll Mark A. Noll is a historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the position of Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame...	25 August 2011
278	Derrida Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...	Simon Glendinning Simon Glendinning Dr Simon Glendinning is an English philosopher currently teaching in the European Institute at the London School of Economics. He is Director of the Forum for European Philosophy....	25 August 2011
279	Madness Insanity Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...	Andrew T. Scull	25 August 2011
280	Developmental Biology Developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...	Lewis Wolpert Lewis Wolpert Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS FRSL is a developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster.-Career:Wolpert was educated at the University of Witwatersrand , at Imperial College London, and at King's College London...	25 August 2011
281	Dictionaries Dictionary A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...	Lynda Mugglestone	18 August 2011
282	Global Economic History Economic history of the world The Economic History Of The World is a record of the economic activities of all humans, spanning both recorded history and evidenced prehistory.-Prehistory:...	Robert C. Allen Robert C. Allen Robert C. Allen is Professor of Economic History at Oxford University and a fellow of Nuffield College.He obtained his BA at Carleton College in 1969 and his PhD at Harvard University in 1975...	15 September 2011
283	Multiculturalism Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...	Ali Rattansi	22 September 2011
284	Environmental Economics Environmental economics Environmental economics is a subfield of economics concerned with environmental issues. Quoting from the National Bureau of Economic Research Environmental Economics program:...	Stephen Smith	22 September 2011
285	The Cell Cell (biology) The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....	Terence Allen, Graham Cowling	29 September 2011
286	Ancient Greece Ancient Greece Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge....	27 October 2011
287	Angel Angel Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an... s	David Albert Jones	27 October 2011
288	Children's Literature Children's literature Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...	Kimberley Reynolds	6 October 2011
289	The Periodic Table Periodic table The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular display of the 118 known chemical elements organized by selected properties of their atomic structures. Elements are presented by increasing atomic number, the number of protons in an atom's atomic nucleus...	Eric R. Scerri	27 October 2011
290	Modern France France in the twentieth century The History of France from 1914 to the present includes:*the later years of the Third Republic *World War I *World War II *the Fourth Republic *the Fifth Republic -Geography:...	Vanessa R. Schwartz	27 October 2011
291	Reality Reality In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...	Jan Westerhoff Jan Westerhoff Jan Westerhoff is a philosopher and orientalist with specific interests in metaphysics and the philosophy of language. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and SOAS. At present he is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Durham as well Research Associate at SOAS...	24 November 2011
292	The Computer Computer A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...	Darrel Ince	24 November 2011
293	The Animal Kingdom Animal Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...	Peter Holland	24 November 2011
294	Colonial Latin American Literature	Rolena Adorno	24 November 2011
296	The Aztecs Aztec The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...	David Carrasco David Carrasco Davíd L. Carrasco is an Mexican-American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and Mesoamericanist scholar. he holds the inaugural appointment as Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at the Harvard Divinity School, in a joint appointment with the Faculty of Arts and...	26 January 2012
	The Cultural Revolution Cultural Revolution The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...	Richard Curt Kraus	26 January 2012

Future publications

• Film
  Film
  A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
  
   (Michael Wood)
• Islam
  Islam
  Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
  
  , 2nd edition (Malise Ruthven
  Malise Ruthven
  Malise Ruthven is an Irish academic and writer. He was born in Dublin of Irish-British parentage. He obtained an MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, before working as a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Service, and a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. He also gained a...
  
  )
• Magic
  Magic (paranormal)
  Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
  
   (Owen Davies
  Owen Davies
  Owen Davies is a reader in Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. His main field of research is on the history of modern and contemporary witchcraft and magic....
  
  )
• Modern Latin American Literature (Roberto González Echevarría
  Roberto González Echevarría
  Roberto González Echevarría is a Cuban-born critic of Latin American literature and culture. He is currently the Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature at Yale University....
  
  )
• The Conquistadors
  Conquistador
  Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
  
   (Matthew Restall
  Matthew Restall
  Matthew Restall is an ethnohistorian and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Latin American History, Anthropology, and Women's Studies, Director of Latin American Studies, and Director of LiLACS at the Pennsylvania State University...
  
  , Felipe Fernández-Armesto
  Felipe Fernández-Armesto
  Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a British historian and author of several popular works of history.He was born in London, his father was the Spanish journalist Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The...
  
  )
• The History of Mathematics
  History of mathematics
  The area of study known as the history of mathematics is primarily an investigation into the origin of discoveries in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, an investigation into the mathematical methods and notation of the past....
  
   (Jacqueline Stedall)
• Chinese Literature
  Chinese literature
  Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
  
   (Sabina Knight)
• Italian Literature
  Italian literature
  Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
  
   (Peter Hainsworth, David Robey)
• Stem Cells
  Stem cell
  This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
  
   (Jonathan Slack)
• Sleep
  Sleep
  Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
  
   (Steven W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster
  Russell G. Foster
  Russell Grant Foster, FRS is a British professor of circadian neuroscience, currently based at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford. He and his group are credited with the discovery of the non-rod, non-cone, photosensitive ganglion cells in the mammalian retina which provide input to the...
  
  )
• Plague (Paul Slack
  Paul Slack
  Paul Alexander Slack FBA is a British historian. He is a former Principal of Linacre College, Oxford, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and Professor of Early Modern Social History in the University of Oxford.-Life:...
  
  )
• The U.S. Supreme Court
  Supreme Court of the United States
  The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
  
   (Linda Greenhouse
  Linda Greenhouse
  Linda Greenhouse is the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph M. Goldstein Senior Fellow at Yale Law School...
  
  )
• Engineering
  Engineering
  Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
  
   (David Blockley)
• Russian History
  History of Russia
  The history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The state of Garðaríki , which was centered in Novgorod and included the entire areas inhabited by Ilmen Slavs, Veps and Votes, was established by the Varangian chieftain Rurik in 862...
  
   (Geoffrey Hosking
  Geoffrey Hosking
  Geoffrey Alan Hosking is a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union and formerly Leverhulme Research Professor of Russian History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London....
  
  )
• Anaesthesia
  Anesthesia
  Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
  
   (Aiden O'Donnell)
• Plant
  Plant
  Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
  
  s (Timothy Walker
  Timothy Walker (botanist)
  Timothy Walker is a British botanist. He has been the Horti Praefectus of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum since 1988....
  
  )
• Probability
  Probability
  Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
  
   (John Haigh)
• River
  River
  A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
  
  s (Nick Middleton
  Nick Middleton
  Nick Middleton is a physical geographer and supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He specialises in desertification.Nick Middleton was born in London, England. As a geographer he has travelled to more than 50 countries...
  
  )
• The Mongols
  Mongols
  Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
  
   (Morris Rossabi)
• Anxiety
  Anxiety
  Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
  
   (Daniel Freeman, Jason Freeman)
• Objectivity
  Objectivity (philosophy)
  Objectivity is a central philosophical concept which has been variously defined by sources. A proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are met and are "mind-independent"—that is, not met by the judgment of a conscious entity or subject.- Objectivism...
  
   (Stephen Gaukroger
  Stephen Gaukroger
  Stephen Gaukroger is a British philosopher and intellectual historian. He is Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney. Recently he also took up a position as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen.-Life:He graduated B.A. from the...
  
  )
• The Devil
  Devil
  The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
  
   (Darren Oldridge)
• Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
   (Kenneth Morgan)
• Martyr
  Martyr
  A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
  
  dom (Jolyon Mitchell)
• Language
  Language
  Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
  
  s (Stephen Anderson
  Stephen R. Anderson
  Stephen Robert Anderson is an American linguist. He is the Dorothy R. Diebold Professor of Linguistics at Yale University and was the 2007 president of the Linguistic Society of America....
  
  )
• Magna Carta
  Magna Carta
  Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
  
   (Nicholas Vincent)
• Magnetism
  Magnetism
  Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
  
   (Stephen J. Blundell
  Stephen Blundell
  Stephen Blundell is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. He is the current head of Condensed Matter Physics at Oxford and is also a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford...
  
  )

Boxed sets

Six boxed sets, each with a different theme, were released in 2006. Five books from the series on the given theme were included, plus the series' promotional volume A Very Short Introduction to Everything.

• The Ballot Box
  • Politics (008)
  • Capitalism (108)
  • Democracy (075)
  • Socialism (126)
  • Fascism (077)
• The Brain Box
  • Evolution (100)
  • Consciousness (121)
  • Intelligence (039)
  • Cosmology (051)
  • Quantum Theory (069)
• The Thought Box
  • Hegel (049)
  • Marx (028)
  • Nietzsche (034)
  • Schopenhauer (062)
  • Kierkegaard (058)
• The Basics Box
  • Philosophy (055)
  • Mathematics (066)
  • History (016)
  • Politics (008)
  • Psychology (006)
• The Boom Box
  • Ancient Warfare (117)
  • Cold War (087)
  • Crusades (140)
  • French Revolution (054)
  • Spanish Civil War (123)
• The Picture Box
  • Art History (102)
  • Renaissance Art (129)
  • Modern Art (120)
  • Architecture (072)
  • Design (136)

Design

The body text is set in Miller

Miller (typeface)

Miller is a transitional serif typeface released in 1997 by the Font Bureau, a U.S.-based digital type foundry. It was designed by Matthew Carter, based on the "Scotch Roman" style which originates from types cut by Richard Austin in Scottish type foundries in the early 19th century.The general...

 in some books, and others are set in OUP Argo; the front page title (and other book titles within the book) is set in Lithos

Lithos

Lithos is a glyphic sans-serif typeface designed by Carol Twombly in 1989 for Adobe Systems. Lithos is inspired by the unadorned, geometric letterforms of the engravings found on Ancient Greek public buildings...

; the sanserif used for headings and in other places is OUP Argo. The page size is 110 mm × 169 mm, which at the approximate ratio 1:1.539 makes it the pentagon page.

External links

• OUP.co.uk/general/vsi Oxfo Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
  VSI homepage