Catalog All books
Antonio R. Damasio
Descartes' Error Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
Being rational is not denying oneself emotions. The brain which thinks, calculates, and makes decisions is not a different entity to the one which laughs, cries, loves, and experiences pleasure and annoyance. The heart has reasons that reason itself is far from being ignorant of. In opposition to the old Cartesian dualism and to all those who wish to reduce the functioning of the human mind to detached calculations worthy of a supercomputer stands the results of the latest neurological research : the absence of emotions and sentiments prevents us from being really rational. Antonio R. Damasio heads the department of neurology at the University of Iowa, in the United States, and teaches at the Institute of Biological Studies of La Jolla.
André Green
The Psychic Causality Between Nature and Culture
Without reprieve, we hear of the agony of psychoanalysis. On one hand, neuroscience and the cognitive sciences reduce the psyche to a sum of 'natural' phenomenon. On the other hand, the social sciences see it as an ensemble of 'cultural' process. In this point-by-point discussion of the issues in this debate, and drawing upon his extensive clinical experience as his main resource, André Green shows that the human psyche is the result of a double determinism, both natural and cultural. It emerges as an original and autonomous creation, and that is exactly what forms the specificity of psychoanalysis. Andre Green is a psychoanalyst and the President of the Psychoanalytic Society of Paris.
Dennis Shasha
Mathematical Mind Games and Enigmas I The Amazing Aventures of Dr. Ecco
Under the supervision of Dr Ecco, a modern Sherlock Homes who solves the most difficult, mystifying problems, its your turn to play! No prior knowledge is necessary-- a paper and pencil will suffice. And, of course, some common sense! A researcher in computer science and artificial intelligence, professor Dennis Shasha teaches at the Mathematics Institute at the University of New York.
Claude Lelièvre, Christian Nique
The School of Presidents From Charles de Gaulle to François Mitterrand
What kind of education shaped Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterand? Who were their mentors? What was their opinion of school? What role is played in educational politics by a nationalist "Saint-Cyrien", a conservative "Normalien," a liberal from Polytechnique or ENA, or a socialist from Sciences-Po? How did their different educational experiences affect their actions and their views? A story of four great men who were once just schoolboys like everyone else.
Laurent Douzou
Disobedience History of the Liberation Movement
Not everybody in the world become a Pétainist after the debacle and not all the resistance movements were infiltrated by communists working for the benefit of Moscow. Drawing upon numerous archives, Laurent Dazou explains why several men and women as diverse as a freewheeling navy officer, a normalien philosopher obsessed with maths, a young militant communist from the Latin Quarter and a founding banker from an anti-Semetic league, refused to crack under pressure, joining the ranks of disenchantment, and learning to resist by organizing themselves to fight and to blaze the trail of disobedience. Laurent Douzou is a specialist in the history of the Resistance.
Jean-Marie Bourre
The Performance Diet Intelligence, Memory, Sexuality
How can we stay concentrated all day long? How can we avoid energy drops and sleepiness? How can we keep and develop our memory? How can we stimulate our intellectual alertness? How can we sleep well? How can we improve our sexuality? How can we stay fit and enhance our physical capacities? J.M. Bourre shows that the answers to all these questions and many others can be also found in what we eat.
