Catalog All books
Jean-Pierre Bibring
Alone in the Universe
Since the first observations made with space probes, everything seems to indicate that the Earth, the product of a long chain of coincidences, is unique in its kind. Is life not therefore a generic property of the universe?
Bernard Diu
Do atoms really exist ?
Few scientific notions have aroused the speculative imagination like the thermodynamic entropy. All organised systems - societies, living creatures - are destined without exception to decline and eventual death. This book clearly exposes the historical and conceptual development of thermodynamics. Born from a desire to understand and master steam powered machines - the symbol of our industrialised societies - it became the science of the human body. However, it was suddenly passed over in favour of the theory of atoms. It was thus demolished by statistical mechanics which ceded to the imperatives dictated by the atomical structure of the body. After an epic struggle, sometimes quite ferocious, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics have been reconciled by adopting the base of the second with the techniques of the first. This book reads like a novel about contemporary physics. Bernard Diu, a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieur, is a professor at the University of Paris VII.
Michel Zink
Writing in a Language Other Than Mine
An in-depth study of the works of authors who have chosen to write in a foreign language
Mario Polèse, Richard Shearmur, Laurent Terral
French Territorial Equality Paris and the rest of the country
How in less than half a century France restored territorial equilibrium between Paris and the rest of the country
Alain Louyot
The Future of the Press
The first investigation and assessment of its kind, in order to propose a viable new business model for the press. An analysis of current mutations in the press around the world, and of their good and bad consequences for readers.
Pierre-Marie Lledo
The Brain In The 21st Century
Beyond neurobiology, an analysis of the impact of these discoveries not only on the sciences of education, psychology, medicine, but also on theology, marketing, economics ... An essential ethical reflection on the use we must make of this knowledge so as not to distort the foundations of our humanity and also our freedom.