Very Short Introduction Books
Channelling is a great way to hear a life story first-hand, but for my stories, I want books to give me some background of that person’s life. The culture, geography, politics, and particularly the religion of their time. I want accuracy without having to wade through acres of academic texts which are too complex for my needs.
So, let me introduce the Very Short Introduction series of very small but very wide-ranging books. Wide-ranging in the topics they cover, from, for instance, adolescence to aerial warfare to African politics, and that’s just in the A’s. But wide-ranging in the depth of coverage of each subject, all written by academics and, oh joy, in plain English. Starting in 1995, the prestigious Oxford University Press has so far published over 680 titles and they are still coming.
If you are reading this in Britain, you may already be aware of them but here in Australia, they are hard to come by. My advice to Aussies: buy them from a UK bookstore and pay the postage. That still works out 30% cheaper than purchasing them locally, if you can even find the one you want. I love them, but you will have guessed that by now.
