This Very Short Introduction is a celebration of rivers in all their diversity. Nick Middleton covers a wide and eclectic range of river-based themes, from physical geography to mythology, to industrial history and literary criticism. Worshipped and revered, respected and feared, rivers reflect both the natural and social history of our planet.

This peerless edition of Chaucer's complete works is the fruit of many years' study and is widely regarded as the standard text. Edited and annotated to a high standard, and with a new foreword by Christopher Cannon, the Riverside Chaucer is now the indispensable edition for students and readers of Chaucer.

This new edition of Defoe's masterpiece includes a lively introduction by Tom Keymer, full notes and useful appendices, including a chronology of the action of the story and Defoe's most sustained commentary on it.

Robotics is a key technology in the modern world. Yet, despite these successes, robots have failed to live up to the predictions of the 1950s and 60s. In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Winfield considers how robotics can be both a success story and a disappointment, and how robots can be both ordinary and quite remarkable.

Rocks are crucial constituents of our lives, not only making the solid ground beneath our feet, but breaking up into the soil that feeds our crops, and providing the metal ores and other materials vital for civilization. This Very Short Introduction introduces the structure and diversity of rocks on Earth, in outer space, and on other planets.

For centuries Britain was an integral part of the Roman Empire. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Salway weaves together the latest archaeological investigations and historical scholarship to chart life in Roman Britain from the first Roman invasion under Julius Caesar to the final collapse of the Roman Empire in the West around AD 500.

The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. This introduction covers the history of the empire at its height, looking at its people, religions and social structures. It explains how it deployed violence, 'romanisation', and tactical power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture from Rome to its furthest outreaches.