This year sees the launch of the Pocket Classics, a series of short works for pleasurable reading in a pocket-sized format. These books offer an intriguing and original mixture of new and varied reading experiences from a wide range of Scottish writing from different genres and all periods. Think of them as a reintroduction to the impact of the finest writing, whether non-fiction, poetry, short stories or novellas. Specially commissioned as one of the launch titles in the Pocket Classics series, Alasdair Gray has written, in his own inimitable style, a wonderfully engaging account of the evolution of Scottish literature. Spanning eight centuries, this appreciation of the extraordinary diversity of Scotland's literary output is by turns illuminating, scholarly, incisive, provocative and hilarious - in short a unique introduction to the Scottish Classics.