Introducing... (book series)
![]() | This article relies too much on references to primary sources. (March 2010) |
Country | England |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publisher | Icon Books |
Published | 1992–present |
Media type | Paperback |
Preceded by | ...For Beginners |
The Introducing... series is a book series of graphic guides covering key thinkers and topics in philosophy, psychology and science, and many others in politics, religion, cultural studies, linguistics and other areas. Books are written by an expert in the field and illustrated, comic-book style, by a leading graphic artist.
History[]
The Introducing... series, like the For Beginners series, has its origins in two Spanish-language books, Cuba para principiantes (1960) and Marx para principiantes (1972) by the Mexican political cartoonist and writer Rius, pocket books which put their content over in a humorous comic book way but with a serious underlying purpose. An English-language version of the first book was published in 1970 by of San Francisco and Pathfinder Press of New York, to no particularly great impact. However, when Richard Appignanesi edited the first English edition of Marx for Beginners (1976) for the London-based Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative, of which he was a co-founding member with Glenn Thompson and others, it was soon clear that the collective had a hit on their hands.[1][2] With a successful format identified, further "... for Beginners" titles soon began to appear. The line's most enduring titles, all published during this period, were Marx for Beginners (1976), Freud for Beginners (1979), Einstein for Beginners (1979), and Darwin for Beginners (1982).[3] In the early 1980s schism arose over questions of control after some members of the cooperative sold U.S. rights to part of the For Beginners series to Pantheon Books and the Cooperative officially disbanded in 1984.
In 1992, Richard Appignanesi, who had been the first editor in London for the series and had also written several of the titles, co-created the new London-based publisher Icon Books, under whose imprint he republished several of the For Beginner titles and continued to publish and expand a new version of the series. Meanwhile, Glenn Thompson, who, since 1987, had continued the For Beginners through his New York-based Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., also established the London-based [4] in 1992, to protect his own continuation of the series. These two publishers continued their series in several cases commissioning new authors to create alternate books to those being published by the other, leading to a number of examples where the two series were publishing two different books under the same title. The situation was eventually resolved in 1999 by the Icon series being rebranded as the Introducing... series, with titles starting with that word instead of ending "For Beginners".
Beginning in 2008, Icon's new titles and reissues played down the "Introducing..." to the level of a series name, and the titles were instead prominently subtitled "A Graphic Guide." In 2011, a second "Introducing..." series was launched with the subtitle "Practical Guides" focusing on topics within business, psychology and counselling.
Reception[]
Science writer Brian Clegg, author of Introducing Infinity (2012) in the series, states that, "It is almost impossible to rate these relentlessly hip books - they are pure marmite," as the series, "puts across the message in a style that owes as much to Terry Gilliam and pop art as it does to popular science."[5]
List of titles[]
Graphic Guides[]
The following Graphic Guides titles have been published or republished by Icon Books since 1992.
Title | ISBN | Writer(s) | Artist(s) | Pages | Publication Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aesthetics | 978-1-84831-167-1 | Christopher Kul-Want | Piero | 176 | 2007 | |
Alain Badiou | 978-1-84831-665-2 | Michael J. Kelly | Piero | 176 | 2014 | |
American Politics | 978-1-84046-098-8 | Patrick Brogan | Chris Garratt | 192 | 1999 | |
Anthropology | 978-1-84831-168-8 | Merryl Wyn Davies | Piero | 176 | 2002 | |
Aristotle | 978-1-874166-36-8 | Rupert Woodfin | Judy Groves | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Arostotle for Beginners |
Artificial Intelligence | 978-1-84831-214-2 | Henry Brighton | Howard Selina | 176 | 2003 | |
Astrology | 978-1-87416-626-9 | Geoffrey Cornelius, Maggie Hyde | Chris Webster | 176 | 1995 | |
Barthes | 978-1-84831-204-3 | Philip Thody | Piero | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Barthes for Beginners |
Baudrillard | 978-1-874166-36-8 | Chris Horrocks | Zoran Jevtic | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Baudrillard for Beginners |
Bertrand Russell | 978-1-84831-302-6 | Dave Robinson | Judy Groves | 176 | 2002 | |
Buddha | 978-1-84831-011-7 | Jane Hope | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1994 | Originally published as Buddha for Beginners |
Camus | 978-1-84046-000-1 | David Mariowitz | Alain Korkos | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Camus for Beginners, discontinued |
Capitalism | 978-1-84831-055-1 | Dan Cryan, Sharron Shatil | Piero | 176 | 2009 | |
Chaos | 978-1-84831-013-1 | Ziauddin Sardar | Iwona Abrams | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Chaos for Beginners |
Chomsky | 978-1-87416-642-9 | John Maher | Judy Groves | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Chomsky for Beginners |
Consciousness | 978-1-84046-115-2 | David Papineau | Howard Selina | 176 | 2000 | |
Continental Philosophy | 978-1-84831-417-7 | Christopher Kul-Want | Piero | 176 | 2013 | |
Critical Theory | 978-1-84831-059-9 | Stuart Sim | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2001 | |
Cultural Studies | 978-1-84046-074-2 | Ziauddin Sardar | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Cultural Studies for Beginners |
Cyberspace | 978-187416-624-5 | Joanna Buick | Zoran Jevtic | 176 | 1995 | Originally published as Cyberspace for Beginners, discontinued |
Darwin | 978-1-84831-117-6 | Jonathan Miller | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1992 | Previously published as Darwin for Beginners (Writers and Readers, 1982) |
Derrida | 978-1-874166-38-2 | Jeff Collins | Bill Mayblin | 172 | 1996 | Originally published as Derrida for Beginners (distinct from Derrida for Beginners by Jim Powell & Van Howell, Writers and Readers, 1997) |
Descartes | 978-1-84046-719-2 | Dave Robinson | Chris Garratt | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Descartes for Beginners |
Eastern Philosophy | 978-1-84046-150-3 | Richard Osborne | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Ancient Eastern Philosophy for Beginners |
Economics | 978-1-84831-215-9 | David Orrell | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2011 | |
Einstein | 978-1-874166-02-3 | Joseph Schwartz | Michael McGuinness | 174 | 1992 | Previously published as Einstein for Beginners (Writers and Readers, 1979), discontinued |
Empiricism | 978-1-84046-545-7 | Dave Robinson | Bill Mayblin | 176 | 2004 | |
Enlightenment | 978-1-84831-179-4 | Lloyd Spencer | Andrzej Krauze | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as The Enlightenment for Beginners |
Environmental Politics | 978-1-874166-03-0 | Stephen Croall | William Rankin | 174 | 1992 | Previously published as Ecology for Beginners (Writers and Readers, 1981), discontinued |
Epigenetics | 978-1-84831-862-5 | Cath Ennis | Oliver Pugh | 176 | 2017 | |
Ethics | 978-1-84831-008-7 | Dave Robinson | Chris Garratt | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Ethics for Beginners |
Evolution | 978-1-84831-186-2 | Dylan Evans | Howard Selina | 176 | 2001 | |
Evolutionary Psychology | 978-1-84831-182-4 | Dylan Evans | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 1999 | |
Existentialism | 978-1-84046-266-1 | Richard Appignanesi | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 2001 | |
Fascism | 978-1-84046-154-1 | Stuart Hood | Litza Jansz | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Fascism for Beginners |
Feminism | 978-1-84831-121-3 | Cathia Jenainati | Judy Groves | 176 | 2007 | |
Feminism | 978-1-874166-04-7 | Susan Alice Watkins | Marisa Rueda, Marta Rodriguez | 176 | 1992 | Originally published as Feminism for Beginners, discontinued |
Foucault | 978-1-84831-060-5 | Christopher Horrocks | Zoran Jevtic | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Foucault for Beginners |
Fractals | 978-1-84831-087-2 | Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon, Will Rood | Ralph Edney | 176 | 2000 | Originally published as Introducing Fractal Geometry |
Freud | 978-1-84046-851-9 | Richard Appignanesi | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 1992 | Originally published as Freud for Beginners (Writers and Readers, 1979) |
Freud Wars | 978-1-84046-381-1 | Stephen Wilson | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 2002 | Discontinued |
Game Theory | 978-1-78578-082-0 | Ivan Pastine, Tuvana Pastine | Tom Humberstone | 176 | 2017 | |
Genetics | 978-1-84831-295-1 | Steve Jones | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Genetics for Beginners |
Hegel | 978-1-84046-111-4 | Lloyd Spencer | Andrzej Krauze | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Hegel for Beginners |
Heidegger | 978-1-84831-174-9 | Jeff Collins | Howard Selina | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Heidegger for Beginners |
Hinduism | 978-1-84831-114-5 | Vinay Lal | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2001 | |
Holocaust | 978-1-87416-616-0 | Haim Bresheeth, Stuart Hood | Litza Jansz | 176 | 1994 | Originally published as The Holocaust for Beginners |
Infinity | 978-1-84831-406-1 | Brian Clegg | Oliver Pugh | 176 | 2012 | |
Internet | 978-187416-684-9 | Laurel Brunner | Zoran Jevtic | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as The Internet for Beginners, discontinued |
Islam | 978-1-84831-084-1 | Ziauddin Sardar | Zafar Abbas Malik | 176 | 1994 | Originally published asMuhammad for Beginners (distinct from Islam for Beginners by Nabil Ibrahim Matar & H.N. Haddad, Writers and Readers, 1992) |
Jesus | 978-1-87416-610-8 | Anthony O'Hear | Judy Groves | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Jesus for Beginners, A.K.A. Introducing Christianity |
Joyce | 978-1-87416-619-1 | David Norris | Carl Flint | 176 | 1994 | Originally published as Joyce for Beginners |
Jung | 978-1-84831-010-0 | Maggie Hyde | Michael McGuinness | 176 | 1992 | Originally published as Jung for Beginners |
Kafka | 978-1-84046-122-0 | David Zane Mairowitz | Robert Crumb | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Kafka for Beginners, discontinued |
Kant | 978-1-84046-664-5 | Christopher Kul-Want | Andrzej Klimowski | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Kant for Beginners |
Keynes | 978-1-84046-157-2 | Peter Pugh | Chris Garratt | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Keynesian Economics for Beginners |
Kierkegaard | 978-1-84046-758-1 | Dave Robinson | Oscar Zarate | 176 | 2003 | |
Lacan | 978-1-84046-168-8 | Darian Leader | Judy Groves | 176 | 2000 | |
Learning & Memory | 978-1-840463-50-7 | Ziauddin Sardar, Richard Appignanesi | Ralph Edney | 120 | 2002 | discontinued |
Lévi-Strauss | 978-1-87416-662-7 | Boris Wiseman | Judy Groves | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Lévi-Strauss for Beginners |
Linguistics | 978-1-84831-088-9 | R. L. Trask | Bill Mayblin | 176 | 2000 | |
Literary Criticism | 978-1-84831-904-2 | Owen Holland | Piero | 176 | 2016 | |
Logic | 978-1-84831-012-4 | Dan Cryan, Sharron Shatil | Bill Mayblin | 176 | 2001 | |
Machiavelli | 978-1-84046-116-9 | Patrick Curry | Oscar Zarate | 176 | 1995 | Originally published as Machiavelli for Beginners |
Mafia | 978-1-87416-620-7 | Arnd Schneider | Oscar Zarate | 176 | 1995 | |
Mandela | 978-187416-622-1 | Tony Pinchuck | Roger Trask | 176 | 1994 | |
Marx | 978-184046-055-1 | Rius | Rius | 160 | 1999 | Translated from Marx para principiantes (1972) |
Marxism | 978-1-84831-058-2 | Rupert Woodfin | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 2004 | |
Mathematics | 978-1-84046-011-7 | Ziauddin Sardar | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1999 | |
Media Studies | 978-1-84046-114-5 | Ziauddin Sardar | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2000 | discontinued |
Melanie Klein | 978-1-87416-661-0 | Robert Hinshelwood, Susan Robinson | Oscar Zarate | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Melanie Klein for Beginners |
Mind & Brain | 978-1-84046-854-0 | Angus Gellatly | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Mind & Brain for Beginners, discontinued |
Modernism | 978-1-84831-116-9 | Chris Rodrigues | Chris Garratt | 176 | 2001 | |
Newton | 978-1-87416-607-8 | William Rankin | William Rankin | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as Newton for Beginners |
Nietzsche | 978-1-84831-009-4 | Laurence Gane | Kitty Chan (1997), Piero (2005) | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Nietzsche for Beginners |
Particle Physics | 978-1-84831-589-1 | Tom Whyntie | Oliver Pugh | 176 | 2013 | |
Philosophy | 978-1-84046-853-3 | Dave Robinson | Judy Groves | 176 | 1999 | Originally published as Western Philosophy for Beginners |
Philosophy of Science | 978-1-84046-358-3 | Ziauddin Sardar | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Science Studies for Beginners |
Picasso | 978-1-874166-29-0 | Andrew Brighton | Andrzej Klimowski | 176 | 1995 | Originally published as Picasso for Beginners, discontinued |
Plato | 978-1-84046-113-8 | Dave Robinson | Judy Groves | 176 | 2000 | |
Political Philosophy | 978-1-84046-450-4 | Dave Robinson | Judy Groves | 176 | 2003 | |
Postfeminism | 978-1-84046-010-0 | Sophia Phoca | Rebecca Wright | 176 | 1999 | Discontinued |
Postmodernism | 978-1-84046-849-6 | Richard Appignanesi, Chris Garratt, Ziauddin Sardar | Patrick Curry | 192 | 1995 | Originally published as Postmodernism for Beginners |
Psychiatry | 978-1-84046-537-2 | Nigel C. Benson | Piero | 176 | 2004 | discontinued |
Psychoanalysis | 978-1-84046-176-3 | Ivan Ward | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 2000 | |
Psychology | 978-1-84046-852-6 | Nigel C. Benson | Nigel C. Benson | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Psychology for Beginners |
Psychotherapy | 978-1-84046-441-2 | Nigel C. Benson | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2003 | |
Quantum Theory | 978-1-84046-850-2 | J.P. McEvoy | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Quantum Theory for Beginners |
Relativity | 978-1-84831-057-5 | Bruce Bassett | Ralph Edney | 176 | 2002 | |
Romanticism | 978-1-84046-009-4 | Duncan Heath | Judy Boreham | 176 | 1999 | |
Rousseau | 978-1-84046-232-6 | Dave Robinson | Oscar Zarate | 176 | 2001 | |
Sartre | 978-1-84046-007-0 | Philip Thody | Howard Read | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Sartre for Beginners |
Semiotics | 978-1-84046-073-5 | Paul Cobley | Litza Jansz | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Semiotics for Beginners |
Shakespeare | 978-1-84831-115-2 | Nick Groom | Piero | 176 | 2001 | |
Slavoj Žižek | 978-1-84831-057-5 | Christopher Kul-Want | Piero | 176 | 2011 | |
Sociology | 978-1-84831-085-8 | Richard Osborne | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 1996 | Originally published as Sociology for Beginners, discontinued |
Sociology | 978-1-78578-073-8 | John Nagle | Piero | 176 | 2016 | Replaces previous edition. |
Statistics | 978-1-84831-056-8 | Eileen Magnello | Borin Van Loon | 176 | 2009 | |
Stephen Hawking | 978-1-84831-094-0 | J. P. McEvoy | Oscar Zárate | 176 | 1995 | Originally published as Stephen Hawking for Beginners |
Thatcherism | 978-1-87416-653-5 | Peter Pugh | Carl Flint | 176 | 1997 | Originally published as Thatcher for Beginners |
Time | 978-1-84831-120-6 | Craig Callender | Ralph Edney | 176 | 2001 | |
Trotsky | 978-1-84046-001-8 | Tariq Ali | Phil Evans | 176 | 1998 | Previously published as Trotsky for Beginners (Writers and Readers, 1998), discontinued |
Universe | 978-1-84046-761-1 | Felix Pirani | Christine Roche | 176 | 1993 | Originally published as The Universe for Beginners, discontinued |
Wagner | 978-1-87416-627-6 | Michael White | Kevin Scott | 176 | 1995 | Originally published as Wagner for Beginners |
Walter Benjamin | 978-1-84831-692-8 | Howard Caygill, Alex Coles, | Andrzej Klimowski | 176 | 1998 | Originally published as Walter Benjamin for Beginners |
Wittgenstein | 978-1-84831-086-5 | John M. Heaton | Judy Groves | 176 | 1994 | Originally published as Wittgenstein for Beginners |
Practical Guides[]
The following Practical Guides titles have been published by Icon Books since 2011.
Title | ISBN | Writer(s) | Pages | Publication Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assertiveness | 978-1-84831-505-1 | David Bonham-Carter | 224 | 2013 | |
Body Language | 978-1-84831-421-4 | Glenn Wilson | 224 | 2012 | |
Business Creativity | 978-1-84831-400-9 | Roger Neill | 224 | 2013 | |
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) | 978-1-84831-254-8 | Elaine Iljon Foreman, Clair Pollard | 224 | 2011 | |
CBT for Work | 978-1-84831-419-1 | Gill Garratt | 224 | 2012 | |
Child Psychology | 978-1-84831-258-6 | Kairen Cullen | 224 | 2011 | |
Confident Speaking | 978-1-84831-679-9 | Alan Woodhouse | 224 | 2014 | |
Counselling | 978-1-84831-626-3 | Alistair Ross | 224 | 2013 | |
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) | 978-1-84831-662-1 | Judy Byrne | 224 | 2014 | |
Emotional Intelligence | 978-1-84831-422-1 | David Walton | 224 | 2012 | |
Entrepreneurship | 978-1-84831-625-6 | Alison Price, David Price | 224 | 2013 | |
Ethics for Everyday Life | 978-1-84831-341-5 | Dave Robinson | 224 | 2012 | |
Family Psychology | 978-1-84831-518-1 | James Powell | 224 | 2013 | |
Getting the Job You Want | 978-1-84831-506-8 | Denise Taylor | 224 | 2013 | |
Happiness | 978-1-84831-362-0 | Will Buckingham | 224 | 2012 | |
Leadership | 978-1-84831-511-2 | Alison Price, David Price | 224 | 2013 | |
Management | 978-1-84831-401-6 | Alison Price, David Price | 224 | 2012 | |
Mindfulness | 978-1-84831-255-5 | Tessa Watt | 224 | 2012 | |
NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) | 978-1-84831-256-2 | Neil Shah | 224 | 2011 | |
NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) for Work | 978-1-84831-380-4 | Dianne Lowther | 224 | 2012 | |
Overcoming Phobias | 978-1-84831-650-8 | Patricia Furness-Smith | 224 | 2014 | |
Overcoming Problem Eating | 978-1-84831-721-5 | Patricia Furness-Smith | 224 | 2015 | |
Personal Finance | 978-1-84831-723-9 | Michael Taillard | 224 | 2015 | |
Persuasion | 978-1-84831-722-2 | Anthony McLean | 224 | 2014 | |
Philosophy for Everyday Life | 978-1-84831-356-9 | Trevor Curnow | 224 | 2012 | |
Positive Psychology | 978-1-84831-277-7 | Bridget Grenville-Cleave | 224 | 2012 | |
Productivity | 978-1-84831-649-2 | Graham Allcott | 224 | 2014 | |
Psychology of Relationships | 978-1-84831-359-0 | John Karter | 224 | 2012 | |
Psychology of Success | 978-1-84831-259-3 | Alison Price, David Price | 224 | 2011 | |
Resilience | 978-1-84831-512-9 | Gladeana McMahon | 224 | 2013 | |
Self-Esteem | 978-1-84831-365-1 | David Bonham-Carter | 224 | 2012 | |
Sport Psychology | 978-1-84831-257-9 | Arnold LeUnes | 224 | 2011 | |
Stress Management | 978-1-84831-420-7 | Graham Price | 224 | 2014 | Publication cancelled. |
Well-Being | 978-1-84831-796-3 | Patricia Furness-Smith | 224 | 2015 |
See also[]
- For Beginners, LLC
References[]
- ^ The history of Introducing books, introducingbooks.com. Accessed 2011-01-29.
- ^ Our Story Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, For Beginners books. Accessed 2011-01-29.
- ^ MacDonald, H. (2003), "Pantheon re-offers 'for beginners' series," Publishers Weekly, 250(51), 26.
- ^ "Writers and Readers Limited," DueDil.com Accessed Jan. 12, 2015.
- ^ "Introducing Evolution: A Graphic Guide". Popular Science. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
External links[]
- For Beginners Books
- Introducing Books
- Icon Books - Publishers of the Introducing Series
- Lists of books
- Series of non-fiction books