The aim of the series is to provide both
students, professionals and lay readers with a good introduction to a
field of study written by a notable expert (in majority one of the most
notables). The Constitutional Court is written by András Holló,
chairman of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, The Islam by Miklós
Maróth, vice-president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, American
politics in 20ht century by László Andor, member of the European
Commission. 70% of the authors are academics or university professors. As
such, they are an example of high popularization.
The range of subjects is encyclopedic,
covering everything from history, law, politics, science and geography to
sport and lifestyle. Not all subjects are academic — they may include
current topics, such as the situation of minorities or the current
electoral law. The presentation of information is varied and may consist
of an introduction to a subject, a detailed essay on a school of thought,
or an analysis of current events (Változó Világ published the world's
first Rabin biography only 30 days after his murder: Rabin by
Miklós Mérő and György Ónody).
An emphasized component of
this series is the multilingual presentation of the minorities in Hungary.
The publisher has already dealt with five of the most important minority
communities in the country: the Roma (in Hungarian, Lovari version is
under preparation), the Germans (in Hungarian and German), the Slovaks
(issued in Hungarian, English and Slovakian), Romanians (in Hungarian,
Romanian version is under preparation), the Slovenians (in Hungarian,
Slovenian version is under preparation).
The series is unusual in several ways:
- When a title has become out of date, it is
updated. Sometimes this updating involves a complete re-writing of the
book, but keeping the same number within the series.
- Since 2007 the publisher uses digital
printing technology (“print on demand”) to print sold out titles, so in
all time all titles in the catalog are available for ordering via internet
in hard copy.
- Each book has 128 pages.
- The price for each volume is the same and is
kept to a minimum (1800 HUF [approx. 7 USD]).
Up to 2013, more than one million copies had
been sold. Some titles have sold more than 250,000 copies (namely The
fetus mind by Jenő Raffai).
