As regular readers know, when I am “looking for the entry-way” into a new subject – be it scientific, cultural, political, or what-have-you – I often seek out one of the remarkably handy Very Short Introductions series volumes from Oxford University Press. However sometimes the perspective I’m seeking on a new subject is not necessarily one of of it as a scholarly area of study but rather one of it as a topic of public discussion or debate. In these cases I turn to another Oxford University Press series, their What Everyone Needs to Know books.
