Games are everywhere: Drivers manoeuvring in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. A firm negotiating next year's wage is playing a bargaining game. The opposing candidates in an election are playing a political game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game. Game theory is about how to play such games in a rational way. Even when the players have not thought everything out in advance, game theory often works for the same reason that mindless animals sometimes end up behaving very cleverly: evolutionary forces eliminate irrational play because it is unfit. Game theory has seen spectacular successes in evolutionary biology and economics, and is beginning to revolutionize other disciplines from psychology to political science. This Very Short Introduction introduces the fascinating world of game theory, showing how it can be understood without mathematical equations, and revealing that everything from how to play poker optimally to the sex ratio among bees can be understood by anyone willing to think seriously about the problem.

Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with issues ranging from the existence of God and the reality of time to paradoxes of probability and decision theory. Along the way, the basics of formal logic are explained in simple, non-technical terms, showing that logic is a powerful and exciting part of modern philosophy.

动物有权利吗？人类对动物负有义务吗？动物的精神生活是什么样的？我们应如何理解它们的福利？这些是当代关于动物权利争论的核心问题，它们所涉及的不仅仅是哲学思考，还包括人们日常生活中的行为。本书从历史和现实的角度，结合各社会组织和个人对待动物的方式，对这些问题进行了深入探讨，呼吁人们对动物权利问题给予关注并进行反思。

The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all else, an empire of force - employing a mixture of violence, suppression, order, and tactical use of power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture. This Very Short Introduction covers the history of the Empire from Augustus (the first Emperor) to Marcus Aurelius, describing how the empire was formed, how it was run, its religions and its social structure. It examines how local cultures were "romanised" and how people in far away lands came to believe in the emperor as a god. The book also examines how the Roman Empire has been considered and depicted in more recent times, from the writings of Edward Gibbon, to the differing attitudes of the Victorians and recent Hollywood blockbuster films.

'When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect ...' So begins Franz Kafka's most famous story Die Verwandlung or Metamorphosis. Franz Kafka is one of the most intriguing writers of the twentieth century; adjective 'kafkaesque' evokes his bizarre world in which characters grapple with faceless bureaucracy, find themselves turned into insects, or starve themselves to death in the name of art. 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.

本词典秉承“牛津进阶系列”英汉双解词典的特色，严谨、权威、实用，是非英语国家学习者的必备工具书。比第6版，收词量增加9000多条，全书内容增加20%。 第7版共收录单词、短语、释文183500条。收英汉对照示例85000条。此外还收2000条新词，以及44页彩页，130页研习专页，400项用法说明，700世界各地英语、2000图解词语、2600条文化词语、5000条百科词语（涵盖文理、工商、科技）、7000条同义词反义词、全面介绍英语应用知识。英美并重。 全书逾2500页，采用超薄字典纸，内容浩瀚，却体积轻巧，方便读者携带和使用。 目录 前衬页 本词典使用的缩写、符号和标识 动词用法模式 出版说明 顾问及编辑人员名单 陆谷孙序 金圣华序 余光中序 编译者序 英文版序言（附译文） 本词典词条用法 数字 符号 词典正文 地图 地球和太阳系 世界 不列颠群岛 加拿大、美国和加勒比海地区 澳大利亚和新西兰 彩色专题页 轿车 船 计算机信息处理技术 乐器 航空器 建筑物 烹饪 水果和蔬菜 服装 住宅 房子 健康 动物界 体育运动 极限运动 参考信息 语法 研习专页 其他参考信息 牛津3000词汇表 读音和音标