Catalog All books
Émile Biasini
Africa and Us
Economist Charles Gide once described colonization as "a force of nature." Biasini believes that to imagine that our current phase of decolonization actually is an end to colonialism is just another manifestation of our society's megalomania. Africa today is going through a phase of change. It must stay faithful to its roots, digesting all the various cultures which have influenced it, while facing a new colonial menace. Its own elites, once fled abroad, have returned to Africa and are quickly becoming the colonists of their own countries. And such colonial ambitions, history teaches us, must inevitably lead to imperialism. Emile Biasini was a civil servant in colonial Africa. Under De Gaulle, he helped found the Ministry of Culture.
Ilya Prigogine
The End of Certainties (Coll. Opus)
As we come to the end of the century, the question of the future of science is often posed. I believe we are just at the beginning of a new endeavour. We are witnessing the development of a science which is no longer limited to simplified, idealised situations, but makes us face the complexity of the real world. This new science will allow human creativity to be experienced as the unique expression of a fundamental trait common to all aspects of nature. Ive tried to present this conceptual transformation, which implies the beginning of a new chapter in the fruitful relations between physics and mathematics, in a manner that will be comprehensible and accessible to all readers interested in the evolution of our ideas of nature. We are but at the threshold of a new chapter in the history of our dialogue with nature, writes Ilya Prigogine. Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, teaches at the Free University of Brussels and at the University of Texas, in Austin.
Danièle Voldman
The Mine Clearance of France after 1945
At the liberation of France, the country was covered in mines, planted by the Germans, the Allies and the Resistance during the conflict. The population were fearful of resuming normal life in the face of this danger: France had to remove the mines. Thus in 1945, mine clearance was invented, as before then no-one had any idea how to defuse these weapons of death! Who would be given the heavy responsibility of leading this task ? What did it involve ? What role did the German prisonners of war play ? Danièle Voldman, a historian, is the research director of the CNRS (Institute of Contemporary History).
Stanley Greenspan, Jacqueline Salmon
The Challenging Child (Coll. Opus) Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five
There always comes a time when parents think that their child has become impossible. Hyper-sensitivity, withdrawal, systematic indiscipline, concentration difficulties, aggressiveness : through five cases of difficult children, Stanley Greenspan explains how to help by emphasising the sensory and motional differences of each of child. Importantly this book allows parents to identify for themselves the personality of their child, in order to find in the childs weaknesses the ingredients for future success. Stanley Greenspan is a doctor of medicine, and a teacher of psychiatry, behavioural psychology et paediatrics at the George Washington Faculty of Medicine in the United States. Jacqueline Salmon is a journalist at the Washington Post.
Michael S. Gazzaniga
The Social Brain
This book investigates the concepts of the "right brain" and the "left brain". According to the author the brain is most certainly made up of relatively autonomous modules which react independantly to environmental pressures. At least one of the modules, situated on the left side of the brain, is responsible for the interpretation of answers which may be contradictory with others, whereas yet another module on the same side translates into words the result of this interpretation. So, instead of being a unique, monolithic system that we imagined, the brain would appear to be a collectivity of systems - a social brain. This approach enlightens us as to the functioning of the human brain, and according to Gazzaniga, affects the very roots of our belief systems and societies. Renowned American neurologist, Michael Gazzaniga is Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of Cornell University and chairman of Neuropsychology.
Jean-Marie Bourre
The Dietetics of the Brain New Edition
How should we eat to think well and work productively? J.-M. Bourre, a neurotoxicologist, celebrates the pleasures of a greedy brain, a gastronomical brain. He takes us on a fascinating exploration of the complex chemistry which links our brain to our plate in the world of proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, and lipids. By providing the keys to proper nutrition, this book shows the way to greater mental awareness, energy, health and fulfilment, while respecting the real needs of both the body and the brain that most crucial organ. Throughout the book, pleasure (adapted to every budget) remains one of the authors main concerns.