Science All books
David Elbaz
Another Way of Looking at the Universe The art of seeing the invisible
An overview of the major issues in astrophysics and cosmology. “Dark” matter and energy are undetectable: either they don’t in fact exist, or we don’t know how to see them... Above and beyond the astrophysical phenomena themselves, this book offers epistemological reflections that are only rarely addressed.
Éric Baratay
And Man Created the Animal History of a Condition
In this book, Baratay holds a mirror up to humanity. He reviews the changing status of animals throughout human history: from ancient myths about animal domestication to the invention of bullfighting, from the great pastoral epics to modern slaughterhouses, from the ancient role played by animals in the human imagination to modern laboratory testing. Eric Baratay is a historian specialising in the contemporary world and in the status of animals.
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
Douglas Hofstadter, Emmanuel Sander
Analogy:Surfaces and Depths A New Theory of Mind
Could analogy, which we use unconsciously every day, lie at the core of human thought?
Alain Grandjean, Nicolas Dufrêne
An Ecological Currency to Save the Planet
The economy is being shaped to adapt to the ecological crisis; what is the scope for action? An original solution to save the planet: the ex nihilo creation of a “green currency.”
