Catalog All books
Paul-Henri Rebut
Energy of the Stars Controlled Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion can be likened to God or the devil. Out there among the stars, it is godlike, creating atoms and giving birth to life. But down below, on earth, nuclear fusion is the devil: it has been used to make bombs that can annihilate everything, including all forms of life. Now that the devil of thermonuclear destruction seems to have been locked back in its box, nuclear fusion kept under tight control in civil reactors offers the hope for long-term economic development. Isnt it the only inexhaustible, non-polluting form of energy that offers no limits except that of human technical knowledge? Paul-Henri Rebut is a member of the Academy of Science.
Philippe Conticini, Jacques Fricker
Eat Desserts Freely Pleasure Without Weight Gain
Highly unusual, delicious desserts, created by one of the most creative pastrycooks at work today. Easy-to-make desserts that open the way to creative improvisation. Light recipes: believe it or not, it is possible to eat marvellous desserts made with real sugar and butter without gaining weight. Jacques Fricker explains how you can stay in shape and eat your favourite desserts without losing your figure or your health. Philippe Conticini works for the Petrossian restaurants in Paris and New York. Jacques Fricker is a nutritionist at the Hôpital Bichat, in Paris.
Nicolas Offenstadt
Shot at Dawn : The Executed of the Great War And the Collective Memory (1914-1999)
Why were some soldiers tried and executed by their own military authorities during World War I? Using previously unpublished source material, the author has been able to throw light on one of the most sombre episodes of the Great War. Besides reviewing the history of the events themselves, the author also examines the struggle with the military authorities to clear the soldiers names, beginning in the period between the two world wars. By the 1960s, the public image of the executed soldiers had begun to change. It would culminate in the British campaign to grant them an official pardon and in the French decision to remember them a ceremony. How, he asks, did these changes come about? Nicolas Offenstadt is a graduate of the Institut des Etudes Politiques, in Paris. He holds an agrégation in history and is a member of the Thiers Foundation.
Claude Fischler
Of Wine
The true wine lover is a rare breed. He doesnt pontificate, instead he asks questions and reflects. When faced with a pompous connoisseur he shuts his eyes so he can sip and taste undisturbed. Which of the two categories do you belong to, reader? Are you a true lover of Bordeaux or a connoisseur of burgundy? What is it that you like about wine? Is it the knowledge that surrounds it or the pleasure it affords? Is it the prestige of a label or the authenticity of its origin? What do all these categories really stand for? The mythology of wine is examined and deciphered in loving detail. Claude Fischler is a sociologist and researcher at Frances Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Georgina Souty, Pascal Dupont
Destinies of Mothers, Destinies of Children From abandon to reunion
What does a mother show by giving birth anonymously ? What is it that drives her, sometimes, to again look for the child she has abandoned ? And what drives the latter the former abandoned child himself to go in search of his origins ? Are the goals and expectations of the child the same as those of the mother ? For the first time, children born by X, today adults, bear witness. Georgina Souty coordinates a French organization which seeks the right to the origins of abandoned children Pascal Dupont, who was born by X , was adopted when he was four months old.
André Holley
In Praise of our Sense of Smell
Disparaged by the great philosophers and even by Darwin, who considered it useless, yet praised by Proust and Baudelaire for the richness of the emotions it inspires, the human sense of smell is generally considered secondary to the other senses. But is it really? André Holley makes a scientific argument for this powerful yet ambiguous sense. He also examines the tendency on the part of our society to deodorise to refuse accept that smells are sometimes bad, on the other hand inventing entirely new smells with the help of chemistry. Researcher at the CNRS, André Holley is a professor of neuroscience at the university Claude-Bernard in Lyon.
Denis Vincent
Asthma
"This little book will help demystify an illness that can be highly stressful; it should also encourage an easier form of dialogue with the patient's doctor." Impact Médecin
Maurice Tubiana
Education and Life
This book is a reflection on the alarming fact that France has the highest level of violent deaths (from suicide, drugs, and road accidents) in all Europe among young people between 18 and 22 years old. Tubiana analyses the pleasure principle which runs through our culture and our values, the Freudian principle that demands the immediate satisfaction of our impulses. This brings him to denounce postmodern individualism which does not make any room for the collective interest. Maurice Tubiana is a world-reknowned oncologist and member of the French Academy of Science and the Academy of Medicine.
Étienne-Émile Baulieu, Françoise Héritier, Henri Leridon
Contraception : Constraint or Liberty ? (Work of the Collège de France)
It is now generally accepted that contraception should be readily available.
Walter J. Gehring
Master Control Genes in Development and Evolution: The Homeobox
What can be more amazing than an embryos development? How do the cells know that the eyes go on the face and not on a leg or some other part of the body? And why does this information sometimes go awry giving rise to a deformed creature? Walter J. Gehring, a renowned specialist in the genetics of embryonic development, traces recent developments in the field. Walter J. Gehring teaches cellular biology at the University of Basle, Switzerland.
Édouard Zarifian
The Will to Be Cured
Here is the most anachronistic and conservative book that could be written on medicine. Here I defend an idea which is too often forgotten, even if it is at the base of all practical medicine that no treatment can be really whole if the patient, those close to him, and his doctor dont establish a special relationship based on trust. Compassion, understanding of suffering and devotion all have a place in the therapeutic relationship. How should we best care for the sick? Why heal? Its a lost word that I propose here to recover. Édouard Zarifian is a professor of psychiatry and medical psychology at the University of Caen.