Catalog All books
Jean-Didier Vincent
Casanova The Diseases of Pleasure
J.-D. Vincent, author of The Biology of Passions, now turns his energetic eye upon the famous Venitian adventurer of the 18th century, whose Memoirs are strangely peppered with glorious descriptions of his diseases: no less than eleven small poxes for a multitude of conquests...
Carlo Rovelli
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Everything you need to know about modern physics, the universe and our place in the world in seven enlightening lessons
Robert Darnton
Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France
At the beginning of 1778, Franz-Anton Mesmer arrived in Paris where he set about expounding his rather exotic theory - that the universe was swimming in a fluid which was responsible for occurences such heat, light, electricity and magnetism, but it was this fluid's relevance to medicine which he wished to highlight. In order to restablish health and man's harmony with nature he undertook strange healing sessions which became the origins of an extraordinary craze. Quickly, mesmerism became a disguised political theory. In demonstrating the links of mesmerism to politics, and the scientific notions of the age, Robert Darnton provides in this work a decisive contribution to the study of the diffusion of ideas in French society at the end of the 18th century. Robert Darnton is a professor at the University of Princeton
Robert Axelrod
How to Succeed in a Selfish World A Theory of Cooperative Behaviour
How can one succeed in a world of selfish people ? This is the question at the heart of the work of Robert Axelrod because if cooperation is the social cement of life, it is also one of its greatest mysteries. Basing his analysis on Game theory, in addition to the trench warfare of 1914-1918, the behaviour of legislative bodies, or international negotiations, Robert Axelrod explores the reasons, in turn simple and surprising, which allows cooperation to take hold even in the worst situations. Strategists, negotiators, decision makers, managers, social reformers, people motivated by common sense, honesty or equally dishonesty everyone will find food for thought in the pages of this book, which is already considered as a classic. An expert in Game theory, Robert Axelrod teaches Political Sciences at the University of Michigan, in the United States.
Nathalie Zajde
The Children of the Survivors (New Edition) The Transmission of Trauma to Jewish Children
"I have terrible nightmares and I would like to know if other children of survivors have the same dreams as me. I think it is crazy to have never lived through the war, yet have these extremely precise dreams." In Jewish families, why do the children of those who escaped Nazi extermination often have the same dreams as their parents, even though their parents have never spoke about the traumas which they lived through ? Reinforced by cleverly recounted stories, this book describes precisely what is called the survivors syndrome, an illness which manifests itself through nightmares, feelings of intense terror and desertion, a particular and incurable annoyance, recurring memories, and unfounded fears. It demonstrates that, thanks to the techniques of ethno- psychiatry, it is possible for these children of survivors to take back their place among the living. Clinical psychologist, and master of conference at the University Paris VIII, Nathalie Zajde is also a researcher at the Georges Devereux Centre.