Big or small, islands and their inhabitant communities have long been the focus of intellectual enquiry, but in recent years a whole host of new academic institutes, journals, and conferences have devoted themselves to their study and research. And while early scholarly work mostly originated from those working in the natural sciences, and in Physical and Human Geography, Anthropology, and Archaeology, in the last twenty years or so serious research has also burgeoned under the rubric of, for example, Cultural Geography, Regional Development, Environmental Studies, Tourism, and Identity Studies.

Prof Godfrey Baldacchino and Dr Ilan Kilman have edited a four-volume collection to meet the need for a comprehensive reference work to allow users to make better sense of this voluminous scholarly and practical literature.

It is a superb work of reference for scholars, advanced students, and policy-makers but not intended for the weak; the four-volume set comprises 1,630 pages, costs 1,400 USD and weighs 6,9 pounds, over 3 kilograms: a heavy contribution to the study of islands.