Catalog All books

Ginette Raimbault
When a child disappears
When a child disappears, the parents of that child have to first of all relearn how to live their lives. How can they face up to this task ? What routes, both conscious and subconscious do they take in order to do this ? Ginette Raimbault explores the mental processes of these devastated parents using the spontaneous testimonies of those who have relied on writing to get them through their bereavement such as Victor Hugo who mourns Léopoldine, and Isadora Duncan and Geneviève Jurgensen who both lost two children at once. Through the anguish of these famous examples, this book movingly asks the universally relevant question : what does a child mean for the parent ?

Catherine Reverzy
Women of Adventure From Dream to Self-Realisation
More and more women are becoming involved in extreme sports, accomplishing major feats, participating in dangerous expeditions and unorthodox adventures. Who are these intrepid women who are willing to face great physical dangers, push their own limits, or even risk their lives, for the sake of a cause, an ideal or simply a powerful desire? Why and how do these women succeed in returning safely from dangerous expeditions that most people would be unable to cope with? What in their past made them capable of taking such risks? Is there an explanation for their great self-confidence and for their trust in the world around them? Catherine Reverzy is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.

Alain Séguy-Duclot
Defining Art
The general consensus is that art is impossible to define and that the evaluation of works of art is always subjective. Countering these affirmations, Alain Séguy-Duclot shows in this work that art can, in fact, be defined. Duchamp's readymades (industrial objects in series, snow shovels, wine racks, etc) constitute a point of departure for this reflection. He argues that, rather than showing that art was undefinable, the readymades proved that art was definable. It is this that Séguy-Duclot sets out to prove in this incisive and passionate work. Alain Séguy-Duclot is a philosopher, and a professor at the University of Tours.

Jean-Pierre Sueur
Changing the City For a New Urbanity
Twenty years after France introduced its urban policy, the situation in the cities leaves much to be desired. Widespread problems include insecurity, violence, inequality, unemployment, pollution, poor housing or housing in hideously ugly tower blocks, traffic jams, and the emergence of ghettos. The author gives a critical reading of the various remedial urban policies introduced during the past few years and points to ways in which the underlying causes of todays urban problems may finally be confronted, so as to ultimately and truly change our cities. Jean-Pierre Sueur, a former government minister and member of Parliament, is the mayor of Orleans.

Éric Crubézy
At the Origins of Funerary Rituals Seeing, Hiding, Making Sacred
From prehistory to history, descriptions of funeral rituals, known or less so, with first-hand documentation.

François Dalle, Jean Bounine
Education in Business Against the Unemployment of the Young
Each year in France, 250,000 young people come out of the education system without even a shred of a diploma. The German example and that of Japan shows that the work situation and economic performance are better when schools assure proper instruction and enterprise takes charge of paving the way to employment. François Dalle, President of l'Oréal from 1957 to 1984, and Jean Bounine, advisor to the general directors of this group, are the authors of a 1987 report on employment.

Sophie Morin
Live Better at Work Focused advice for a better life at work
The number of people affected by stress or burnout is increasing. The tools of cognitive and behavioral psychology adapted to professional life: affirmation of self, self-confidence, management of emotions.

Alain Braconnier
How to Listen and to Be Heard
The right questions to ask ourselves and the qualities to develop in order to be heard. Feeling like we are being heard contributes to our psychological equilibrium, as well as to our self-confidence. This book proposes a method for being heard properly. A reader-friendly book that offers practical advice and recognizes the true value of dialogue in human relations.

Michel Drancourt
The Voluntary Economy The Example of Japan
The Japanese economic success inspires both fascination and irritation abroad. It is high time for the Western world to put feelings aside and to learn from its Eastern partner. M. Drancourt, economist and head of the French Institut de l Entreprise, believes that Japanese success is due to one predominant social trait: willpower.

Willy Pasini
Liberated and Sometimes Brazen Every nuance of female sexuality
A book that aims to help women overcome the barriers that inhibit them and to show them the way to sexual fulfilment.

Luc Montagnier
Viruses and Man
Luc Montagnier is the person who, with his team of the Pasteur Institute, discovered in 1983 the virus responsible for AIDS. He tells about the research work which led him to this discovery. He sums up the knowledge we have of this virus, its origin and the way the disease develops. He gives the state of research today and his hopes.

Lucy-Anna Kukstas
Shape and Show The Powers and Limitations of Diets and Exercise
Were we really meant to spend our lives depriving ourselves of what we want to eat while forcing ourselves to do painful physical exercises ? In this lively, humorous book, mixing common-sense with the latest findings in medical research, Lucy-Anna Kukstas exposes the folly of the ideology of suffering and deprivation. She urges the reader to follow a new life-style for the third millennium based on a new golden rule - that of pleasure.

Jill-Patrice Cassuto
From Mad Cow Disease to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Jill-Patrice Cassuto examines the precursors of BSE and reviews some of the early research into the disease. He also studies the human form of BSE, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, and addresses the highly controversial question of ways the disease may be transmitted. This book is not only a scientific overview of current knowledge about BSE. It is also a thorough inquiry into the BSE scare and an examination of the issue of responsibility and of how health issues and risks are dealt with within the European Community. Jill-Patrice Cassuto teaches medicine and heads a clinical hematology service in a university hospital.

Janine Thibault
The Air We Breathe
What is air? What is pollution? Whether with regard to the atmosphere, the effects of pollutants, or the weather, teachers will find in this book elementary theoretical information on air, and the essential foundation needed to instruct their pupils with a civic-minded, and preventive attitude to the air they breathe.

Léo Bersani
Homos Reassessing the Identity
What does it mean to be homosexual today ? Is it necessary to form communities and if so, why ? Is the primary aim equality in society such as it is, or the challenging of society itself ? Up to what point do homosexuals distinguish themselves ? Must there be a link between sexual claims and political dispute ? The gay and lesbian communities necessarily ask themselves these questions. On a wider scale, they also encourage a redefinition of the human being in contemporary societies. Already considered a classic in the United States, Homos presents an innovative, critical reflection on identity and the dangers in the withdrawal of a community from society. An expert in French literature, Leo Bersani is a professor at the University of California. He has notably published Baudelaire and Freud, and Theory and Violence.

Philippe Lazar
The Health Explorers Voyage to the Centre of Medical Research
Research is a keystone of modern medicine, and is a critical factor in the independence of the nation, and yet medical research is still not well-known to the general public. How do researchers work? How is research organized in France? What are the links between the various public players and researchers? Since 1982, Philippe Lazar has been director-general of the French National Health and Medical Research Institute.















