Books are written by an expert in the field and illustrated, comic-book style, by a leading graphic artist.
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.
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.
In 2011, a second "Introducing..." series was launched with the subtitle "Practical Guides" focusing on topics within business, psychology and counselling.
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.