Catalog All books
Serge Tisseron
The Benefits of the Image
Should sex and violence be banned on our television screens ? Is there a danger that their presence can lead to them becoming common-place, or to delinquency ? In light of this current debate, Serge Tisseron argues that as soon as we become accustomed to a type of image, and it ceases to upset us, we invent another type which will once more allow us to confuse image and reality, and thus to shiver again with fear and anxiety. In a society which is flooded with images, it is thus essential to use them as best we can, and to avoid the dangers that are inherent in them. This book aims to contribute to this end. Serge Tisseron is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, doctor of psychology and research fellow at the University of Paris-X. For the past fifteen years, he has worked on the relations that viewers have with different types of images.
Jeanne-Marie Bréchot, Brigitte Joseph-Jeanneney, Martine Ruszniewski
Surrounding Illness The Family, the Doctor and the Psychologist
Should the same information be given to the sick person, and their family ? How can one get through the trauma day by day ? Should the entire truth be told? Should one prepare for mourning? How to say goodbye ? This book is a spontaneous and moving three-way discussion to help those faced with serious illness. Brigitte Joseph-Jeanneney is a general inspector of social affairs. Jeanne-Marie Bréchot is a thoracic cancer and lung specialist at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, in Paris. Martine Rusniewsky is a psychologist working with patients in the palliative care ward at Hôpital de la Salpetrière, in Paris.
Antoine Garapon
Crimes Which Can Neither be Punished Nor Forgiven Towards an International Justice
The creation of a system of international criminal justice was one of the greatest political upheavals of recent decades. The fact that international criminal law has been allowed to question national sovereignty is a revolution in itself. The detractors of international justice contend that it is simply the justice of the victors. Could they be right? Have law and ethics been muddled? Have the trials conducted in its name helped heal the victims? Can justice prevent civil war? A former magistrate, Antoine Garapon heads the Institut des hautes études sur la justice.
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Sandra Blakeslee
Phantoms in the Brain Human Nature and the Architecture of the Mind
How do we make decisions? Why do we deceive ourselves? Why do we dream? Why may we believe in God? Why do we laugh or become depressed? Few scientists have dared address these questions that inform our daily lives with so much acumen and audacity. V.S. Ramachandran is a brilliant Sherlock Holmes of neuroscience. He reveals the strangest case studies he has encountered of patients suffering from serious neurological disorders and the insights they yield about human nature and the workings of the mind. V.S. Ramachandran is professor and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, at the University of California.
Jean-Claude Carrière, Thibault Damour
Reflections on the Mass of the World
Physicists are now faced with the disturbing certainty that the reality of the world is multiple. We do not exist in a single story, with a middle and an ending. Instead, we live in a multitude of superimposed stories although we see only our own because our perception is limited by the narrow beam of light in which we exist.
Didier Pleux
From the King Child to the Tyrant Child
More and more parents are faced with what amounts to a power take-over by their children. The tyrannical child makes constant demands, uses his parents for his own ends and creates a climate of psychological violence. The solution lies in education coupled with authority. This is a lively, clear and polemical work which shows parents how to redefine their parental authority and should enable them to feel less anxious. Besides offering practical psychological advice, it also provides an examination of what living in society means. Didier Pleux is a clinical psychologist
Bertrand Cramer, Christiane Robert-Tissot, Sandra Rusconi Serpa
From Baby to Preadolescent A Longitudinal Study
In 1991, 103 mother-and-infant pairs visited Genevas Guidance Infantile. The infants all displayed functional and behavioural disorders. Ten years later, the same mother-child pairs were re-evaluated by Professor Cramers team, who was thus able to make a number of prospective analyses. What became of the symptoms that the infants had first presented? Did any of the symptoms first displayed indicate a predisposition to other disorders? Can the characteristics that helped them to endure be identified? And what can be said of the role played by cognitive development and parental representations, as well as by protective factors? Professor Bertrand Cramer is a child psychiatrist.
Marc Jeannerod
The Intimate Brain
Today, the brain has ceased to be regarded as existing in isolation in the human body. It is now considered in relation to its sensory, emotional and cultural environment. This book asks the question of what are the mechanisms and chemistry of the emotions? How do emotional states and the consciousness of those states permeate memory and thought? How does depression affect the emotions, and how can it be treated? How is the consciousness of self and of others constructed? Marc Jeannerod teaches physiology at the University Claude-Bernard-Lyon-I, and is the director of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences.
Christian de Duve
Listening to the Living
Everything one should know about biology is explained here by a Nobel Prize winner, including the origin of life, its chemical production and reproduction, the history of life, its earliest forms and also human evolution, the brain, the genius of genetics, and extra-terrestrial life. Finally, the author shows that although biology has undermined arguments in favour of the existence of God, religion and faith are a necessary product of nature selection. Christian de Duve is the director of the Brussels-based International Institute on Cellular Pathology. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 for his findings concerning the structural and functional organisation of cells.
Catherine Clément, Tobie Nathan
The Couch and the Grigri
This work is a fascinating discussion between a practising analyst who has not ceased to confront his discipline with other disciplines of the mind, and a philosopher with great psychoanalytic experience. It aims to show how cultural heritage a debt linking each generation to its ancestors shapes both how we represent reality and our emotional universe. The authors thoughts and conclusions are thoroughly backed up with a variety of specific examples and observations. Tobie Nathan is an ethno-psychologist and teaches clinical and pathological psychology at the University of Paris VIII. Catherine Clément is a writer and philosopher.
Marc D. Hauser
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
A slender loris comes up to a zoo keeper and hugs him. A dog lowers its head and whines when its master is unhappy. Is such behaviour a sign of affection and empathy or are other mechanisms at work, to explain the animals near-human behaviour? Why do chimps and dolphins form coalitions to defend themselves? How do lions determine, from far away, the number of gazelles calmly watering by a stream? How is it that a few species can recognise their own image in a mirror? Marc D. Hauser is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Harvard University, where he is a fellow of the Mind, Brain and Behavior Program. Besides performing laboratory research, he has done extensive fieldwork in Kenya, Uganda and Puerto Rico.
Hubert Montagner
The Child : The Real Question of Education
This ambitious work aims to provide a comprehensive view of the mechanisms, processes, influences, factors, and past and present events that may keep children from constructing, structuring or mobilising their abilities in an academic environment, and from acquiring new abilities and successfully constructing the required learning skills. In the struggle against academic failure, the main tool is understanding the child better. In order to do this, it is essential to base educational practice on the most recent knowledge.
