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Our oceans are hugely important, as a source of food and mineral wealth, as an environment for a vast variety of wildlife, for the role they play in climate regulation, and as part of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical to life. Dorrik Stow explores what we know about how oceans originate and are maintained.

From a chicken nugget shaped like Jesus, to Mohammad splitting the moon in two, to a Japanese doll whose hair grows, Yujin Nagasawa considers reported miracles in ancient scriptures and modern day life, and uses cutting-edge scientific research on belief formation to address some of our most fundamental questions concerning miracles.

Decadence: A Very Short Introduction provides an elegant overview of the culture of decadence - defined as the artistic expression of a conflicted sense of modernity - by tracing its origin in ancient Rome, development in nineteenth-century Paris and London, manifestation in early twentieth-century Vienna and Berlin, and present resonance in contemporary life.

Marina Warner guides us through the rich world of fairy tale, from Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel to Snow White and Pan's Labyrinth. Exploring pervasive themes of folklore, myth, the supernatural, imagination, and fantasy, Warner highlights the impact of the genre on human understanding, history, and culture.

Jan Zalasiewicz introduces the field of geology, its fundamental role in understanding the Earth and other planets, and its economic importance in the finding and exploitation of resources. He explains how geologists work today, and describes major discoveries such as plate tectonics, and the field's exciting frontiers such as the geology of Mars.

Demography is the study the study of population size, distribution, composition, and density. Sarah Harper discusses the key theories and methods involved in studying population trends and movements, considers how our current global population came about, and addresses some of the future population challenges of the 21st century.

o How do nations escape poverty and achieve economic and social progress? Ian Goldin, a former vice-president of the World Bank, explains what development means in its broadest sense - encompassing education, health, and gender equality as well as economic growth. He discusses the shift from state-led strategies, to ones driven by market forces.

How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalised enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? John Heilbron's crisp and witty book tells the 2500-year story and highlights the implications for humankind's self-understanding.

Climate scientists, geologists, ecologists, and archaeologists recognize the profound effects of human activity on Earth, though whether and how this should be recognized as a formal geological epoch - the Anthropocene - remains under debate, Erle Ellis describes how the Anthropocene concept is affecting the sciences, humanities, and politics.

Autobiography is one of the most popular of written forms. Laura Marcus defines what autobiographies are, considering their relationship with similar literary forms, and analysing the core themes in autobiographical writing. She also discusses how autobiography offers the most fundamental accounts of what it means to be a self in the world.

The U.S. Constitution: A Very Short Introduction explores the major themes of American constitutional history-federalism, the balance of powers, property, representation, equality, rights, and security. Informed by the latest scholarship, each theme illustrates how the Constitution has served as a dynamic framework for legitimating power and advancing liberty.

This Very Short Introduction explores the thousand-year history of the Holy Roman Empire, from its origins in 800 as Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom, to its destruction by Napoleon. Throughout, Joachim Whaley analyses the empire's crucial impact and role in the history of European power and politics.

From the Boston Tea Party to the Dodgers, from the blues to Andy Warhol, and from dime novels to Disneyland, the history of American culture tells us how previous generations of Americans have imagined themselves, their nation, and their relationship to the world and its peoples. This Very Short Introduction lays out a chronological map of American culture, its thematic currents, and its creation by diverse social groups, emphasizing the role of culture in the shaping of national identity. Across the lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, generation, and geography, diverse Americans have helped to forge a national culture with an ultimately global reach, inventing stories to underscore the problems and possibilities of an American way of life.

David Evans introduces glaciers and ice sheets as systems, discussing the processes that shape them, and their impacts on our planet in terms of erosional and depositional processes. He explains how we can use this knowledge in reconstructing glaciers and ice sheets of the past, and discusses the impacts on glaciers of climate change.

In The History of Childhood: A Very Short Introduction, Marten provides a sweeping narrative of the key features of childhood through time and around the world, focusing on conflict and change, war and reform, and the issues and conditions that have shaped childhood throughout history and continue to shape it in the twenty-first century.

From dinosaurs to lizards, snakes, and turtles, Tom Kemp considers the range of reptiles which have walked our Earth. Exploring how evolutionary adaptions have fitted them to their individual niches, he discusses their biology, such as cold bloodedness and feeding habits, and analyses why reptiles have been so successful throughout history.

Gordon Campbell embraces the beauty and practicality of gardens in their many forms, in history and culture across the world. He also look at variations on the modern garden, including the suburban garden, the city garden, the guerrilla garden, and the vegetable garden, and considers the future of gardens.

Dyslexia is gaining increasing recognition as a relatively common learning disorder. Margaret Snowling introduces the exciting research surrounding dyslexia, considering potential causes, the neuroscience behind it and attempts to understand how it works, and the various strategies and interventions which can help people with dyslexia today.

Nazi Germany may have only lasted for 12 years, but it has left a legacy that still echoes with us today. This book discusses the emergence and appeal of the Nazi party, the relationship between consent and terror in securing the regime, the role played by Hitler himself, and the dark stains of war, persecution, and genocide left by Nazi Germany.

This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of federalism, from its origins and evolution to the key events and constitutional decisions that have defined its framework. While primary focus is on the United States, other federal systems, including Brazil, Canada, India, Germany, South Africa, Russia, and the EU, are addressed.

Adopting a different approach to ancient Egypt, this book aims to illuminate the complex world of Egyptian myth. It explores the cultural and historical background behind a variety of sources and objects, from Cleopatra's Needle and Tutankhamun's golden statue, to a story on papyrus of the gods misbehaving.

Explores the range of media employed by both Dada and Surrealism, whilst at the same time establishing the aesthetic differences between the movements. This book also examines the Dadaist obsession with the body-as-mechanism in relation to the Surrealists' return to the fetishized/eroticized body.

In this Very Short Introduction, Ritchie Robertson provides the newcomer with an up-to-date and accessible examination of this fascinating author. Beginning with an examination of Kafka's life, he then goes on to discuss some of the major themes that emerge in Kafka's work, using his short story Metamorphosis as a recurring example.

Paul is the most powerful human personality in the history of the Church. A missionary, theologian, and religious genius, in his epistles he laid the foundations on which later Christian theology was built.

Darwin's theory that our ancestors were apes caused a furore in the scientific world and outside it when The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Analysing Darwin's major insights and arguments, this work reasserts the importance of his work for the development of modern biology.

First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Morrill's Very Short Introduction to Stuart Britain shows how in the Stuart century, a century of Revolution, political, religious, social, and economic changes came together.

Benedict de Spinoza (1632-77) was at once the father of the Enlightenment and the last sad guardian of the medieval world, who attempted to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch. This book presents an analysis of Spinoza's thought, and shows its relevance to the intellectual preoccupations in the modern times.

Christian images have a long history within the Western art tradition from the devotional works of the Renaissance period, to the interpretations of the 21st century. This book explores the changing nature of the representation of themes and subjects found in Christian art, covering the Eucharist, the crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.

Postmodernism has been a buzzword of contemporary society for the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler challenges and explores the key ideas of postmodernists, and their engagement with theory, literature, the visual arts, film, architecture, and music.

Exploring the geological research, this title explains how advances in the understanding of plate tectonics, seismology, and satellite imagery have enabled us to see the Earth for what it is. It introduces the concepts of continental drift, the earth's structure, sea floor spreading, and the relationship between the atmosphere and the oceans.