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Alain Prochiantz
The Anatomies of Thought What do squid think about ?
When we watch a squid facing up to a predator, we see it recoil, agitate the tentacles, spray a jet of ink, and then make use of the temporary blindness of the predator in order to escape to a safe hiding place. Are we able to say what it is thinking ? Evidently, we know that this behaviour is not the result of a reflex unleashed by the sight of an enemy. The mollusc is not however conscious of its acts, at least not in the sense that we, as human beings, understand this term. It is true that we are the product of a evolution of species, and that, although this may not be welcome news for everyone, we share a common ancestry with the octopus, or even the fly. Even if the structure of our cortex, and the invention of language allows us to write about octopuses (or flies), and not the other way round, the fact remains that these evolutive roots, in the same way as other animal species, including invertebrates, have something to teach us about the nature of our thoughts. Alain Prochiantz
Alain Prochiantz
Biology in the Bedroom
Inspiring himself from La Philosophie dans le boudoir by Sade and the major philosophical works of the 18th century, Alain Prochiantz, who is a neurobiologist, explains by means of a dialogue, the progress of embryology and neurobiology and gives us the elements so that we can understand and measure the stakes of the recent discovery of the genes of development. Alain Prochiantz heads the Laboratory for the Development and Evolution of the Nervous System at the École normale supérieure. He is notably the author of Strategies of the Embryo, and Claude Bernard, the Physiological Revolution.
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.
Gilles Godefroy
The Adventure of Numbers
Numbers never cease to fascinate. The Adventure of Numbers recounts the history of the gradual discovery of numerical characteristics, from the early days of arithmetic to the most sophisticated recent issues: Could a robot be created that would reduce all mathematics to simple sums? Are we sure that arithmetic does not conceal contradictions? Can all mathematical truths be demonstrated? The surprising answers given by Gilles Godefroy are the latest in an on-going saga that will doubtless continue to astound us. Mathematician Gilles Godefroy is a research director at the French Centre National de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).
Michel Cassé, Edgar Morin
Children of the Sky Between Nothingness, Light and Matter
What is the universe, which we regard as "ours" not only because we live in it but because it produced us? This book is in the form of a dialogue on cosmology between the astrophysicist Michel Cassé and the philosopher Edgar Morin. It is a profound work which revels in the joy of knowledge and restores us to the universe that is in all of us, as it celebrates the "anthropo-cosmos". Michel Cassé is an astrophysicist at the Atomic Energy Commission. Edgar Morin is an internationally renowned writer and thinker.
