Private company
Alpha Books
Logo: w:Penguin Random House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3
Imprint of Penguin Random House
Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Random House, is an American publisher best known for its Complete Idiot's Guides series. It began as a division of Macmillan. Pearson Education acquired Macmillan General Reference (MGR) from Simon & Schuster in 1998 and retained Complete Idiot's Guides while the rest of MGR was sold to IDG Books.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
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Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Random House, is an American publisher best known for its Complete Idiot's Guides series. It began as a division of Macmillan. Pearson Education acquired Macmillan General Reference (MGR) from Simon & Schuster in 1998 and retained Complete Idiot's Guides while the rest of MGR was sold to IDG Books. Alpha moved from Pearson Education to Penguin Group in 2003. Alpha became part of sister company DK in 2012.2
Timeline
- 1991Founded Founded1
Links
- Websiteus.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/adult/alpha.html1
- WikipediaAlpha Books
- WikidataQ4734995
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataAlpha Books on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaAlpha Books on Wikipedia
- 3Wikimedia CommonsAlpha Books logo by w:Penguin Random House, Public domain