Search results for ""Author Michel""

Set amid the perils of illegal border crossings, The Iguana Tree is the suspenseful saga of Lilia and Hector, who separately make their way from Mexico into the United States, seeking work in the Carolinas and a home for their infant daughter. Michel Stone s harrowing novel meticulously examines the obstacles each faces in pursuing a new life: manipulation, rape, and murder in the perilous commerce of border crossings; betrayal by family and friends; exploitation by corrupt officials and rapacious landowners on the U.S. side; and, finally, the inexorable workings of the U.S. justice system. Hector and Lilia meet Americans willing to help them with legal assistance and offers of responsible employment, but their illegal entry seems certain to prove their undoing. The consequences of their decisions are devastating. In the end, The Iguana Tree is a universal story of loss, grief, and human dignity.

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This book is part of a set of books which offers advanced students successive characterization tool phases, the study of all types of phase (liquid, gas and solid, pure or multi-component), process engineering, chemical and electrochemical equilibria, and the properties of surfaces and phases of small sizes. Macroscopic and microscopic models are in turn covered with a constant correlation between the two scales. Particular attention has been given to the rigor of mathematical developments.

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Strategy-to-performance gaps foster a culture of under-performance Unrealistic plans create the expectation throughout the organisation that plans simply will not be fulfilled. This book shows how to overcome such failings and implement strategy effectively. Common failings include: Companies rarely track their performance against long-term plans - less than 15% of companies make it a regular practice to go back and compare the business' results with the performance forecast for each business unit in its prior years' strategic results Results rarely meet projections - when companies do track performance, it rarely matches the prior years' projection. The consequence is year-after-year of under-performance relative to the original plan A lot of value is lost in translation - a combination of poor communications, misapplied resources, limited accountability and lack of information creates an in-built strategy-to-performance gap

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Drawing on a diversity of fast-developing disciplines including genetics, physiology, pathology as well as the history of canoeing and studies of the fluctuation of sea levels, revolutionary thinker and birth pioneer Michel Odent examines the case for viewing the genus Homo as a ‘marine chimpanzee’ – particularly adapted to coastal areas. By exploring the practical implications of this vision of our species, including in the period surrounding birth, the author raises questions about the very survival of humanity. At a time in history when human domination of Nature is more profound than ever before, are we on the cusp of a ‘symbiotic revolution’? With his characteristic ability to look at the ‘big picture’ and ask questions that challenge conventional thinking, Michel Odent once again manages to persuade readers to view themselves, and their species, in a new light.

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Since the middle of the twentieth century, the development of plastics has been one of the main factors influencing the history of medicine. For example, an anaesthesiologist was formerly an expert in delivering drugs by inhalation. Today, this expert delivers drugs through plastic catheters, in particular via intravenous and epidural routes. Traditionally, the scalpel was the symbol of surgery. Today, surgeons operate on internal organs with flexible plastic endoscopes - without cutting the skin. A typical modern woman in labour has one of her arms connected to a plastic bag through a plastic tube, while a plastic catheter is inserted in the epidural space in her spine. Focusing on obstetrics, this first book about the history of medicine in relation to the plastic revolution asks vital questions about childbirth today - and tomorrow - and demonstrates that the current turning point in the history of childbirth is also a turning point in the history of humanity. Introduced as a medical student to the surgical unit of a Paris hospital in 1949, and still involved in several fields of medicine, Michel Odent has the authority to study contemporary history from this new perspective.

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For nearly two decades, the area surrounding the French port of Calais has been a temporary staging post for thousands of migrants and refugees hoping to cross the Channel to Britain. It achieved global attention when, at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, all those living there were transferred to a single camp that became known as ‘the Jungle’. Until its dismantling in October 2016, this precarious site, intended to make its inhabitants as invisible as possible, was instead the focal point of international concern about the plight of migrants and refugees. This new book is the first full account of life inside the Jungle and its relation to the global migration crisis. Anthropologist Michel Agier and his colleagues use the particular circumstances of the Jungle, localized in space and time, to analyse broader changes under way in our societies, both locally and globally. They examine the architecture of the camp, reconstruct how everyday life and routine operated and analyse the mixed reactions to the Jungle, from hostile government policies to movements of solidarity. This comprehensive account of the life and death of Europe’s most infamous camp for migrants and refugees demonstrates that, far from being an isolated case, the Jungle of Calais brings into sharp relief the issues that confront us all today, in a world where the large-scale movement of people has become, and is likely to remain, a central feature of social and political life.

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Experience significant results in a remarkably short period of time thanks to the unique Michel Thomas Method, perfected over 50 years by celebrated psycholinguist Michel Thomas. The method works in tune with how the brain prefers to receive, store and then retrieve information. You'll stick with it, because you'll love it.* Improve your French naturally and unforgettably, without strain* Learn from listening and speaking, without the pressure of writing or memorizing* Build up your French in manageable steps by thinking out answers for yourselfHow does it work?During this two-hour one-to-one seminar, Michel Thomas widens your vocabulary and teaches authentic phrases and expressions. It is the ideal course for brushing up on your language skills, or as a follow-on to the Michel Thomas Foundation French course. By the end of the lesson, you will be able to express yourself more fully by using idiomatic phrases and language that will give you the edge when it comes to communicating.What's new?This new edition includes remastered audio and comes in new, eco-friendly recyclable packaging.Why is it so successful? 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' - Michel ThomasMichel Thomas believed that the greatest barrier to any form of learning was stress: stress from worrying about remembering what you are being taught, stress from being afraid to make a mistake, stress from failing.With the Michel Thomas Method, all the attention is focused on removing stress and tension from the learning environment. The teacher takes on full responsibility for your understanding, and therefore your remembering, of what is being taught. In fact, the Michel Thomas Method forbids you from trying to memorize. There's no writing, no books, no homework.The Michel Thomas Method works by stripping away all inessential language and breaking down the most important language into its component parts. Crystal-clear building blocks are then presented, and only when they are absorbed and understood is the next piece of the puzzle introduced, enabling you to reconstruct the language for yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want.What's in the Course?*Language Builder French comprises two course CDs. The booklet is available to download from www.michelthomas.com.*Note that the course content is the same as the previous French Masterclass edition, with remastered audioLearn anywhereMichel Thomas Method audio courses let you learn whenever you want: at home, in your car, or on the move. The audio CDs are MP3-compatible.What learners are sayingI experienced the same sort of pleasure that you got from suddenly getting a crossword clue right or cracking a code...the finger-snapping moment of, Oh My God! I've just understood what you've said to me in Spanish or you've just understood me! -Peter LØVSTRØM , Actor, 2017I've used Michel Thomas to get off the starting block for French, Italian and Spanish and I'm always surprised by how much I can say after only a few hours of listening. The Michel Thomas Italian course organises verbs into logical groups which helps you pick them up fast. And perhaps more importantly, it shows you how to use this grammar to build useful sentences. -Katie from Joyoflanguages.com

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The differences between Old-Roman, Ambrosian, Aquileian, Gallican, and Hispanic chant, and their interconnections with each other and the Gregorian chant occupied Michel Huglo in his early career, although he returned to these questions in the 1980s and 1990s. The present volume, the second in the set of four to be published in the Variorum series, brings all this work together. Huglo's 1954 article, the first to describe the sources for Old Roman chant, recognized as distinct from Gregorian chant, is of primary significance for the historiography of Western plainchant, because it opened the debate on the relationship between Old Roman and Gregorian chant. The final section presents articles on the Latin version of the Akathistos hymn and on Byzantine chants translated into Latin that became part of the Western plainchant repertory. Les différences entre les répertoires Vieux-romain, Ambrosien, Aquiléien, Gallican et Hispanique, leurs influences réciproques et leurs relations avec le chant grégorien ont occupé Michel Huglo au début de sa carrière: il revint sur ces questions dans les années 1980 et 1990. Ce volume, le deuxième d'une série de quatre dans la collection Variorum, réunit toutes ces études. L'article de 1954 de Michel Huglo sur les sources du chant Vieux-romain, considéré comme distinct du grégorien, est de première importance pour l'historiographie du plain-chant occidental, car il a ouvert les débats sur le rapport entre Vieux-romain et grégorien. Les articles sur la version latine de l'Hymne Acathiste et sur les pièces de chant byzantin traduites en latin dans les répertoires occidentaux du plain-chant achèvent ce volume.

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Interest in constitutionalism and in the relationship among constitutions, national identity, and ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity has soared since the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since World War II there has also been a proliferation of new constitutions that differ in several essential respects from the American constitution. These two developments raise many important questions concerning the nature and scope of constitutionalism. The essays in this volume—written by an international group of prominent legal scholars, philosophers, political scientists, and social theorists—investigate the theoretical implications of recent constitutional developments and bring useful new perspectives to bear on some of the longest enduring questions confronting constitutionalism and constitutional theory. Sharing a common focus on the interplay between constitutional identity and individual or group diversity, these essays offer challenging new insights on subjects ranging from universal constitutional norms and whether constitutional norms can be successfully transplanted between cultures to a consideration of whether constitutionalism affords the means to reconcile a diverse society’s quest for identity with its need to properly account for its differences; from the relation between constitution-making and revolution to that between collective interests and constitutional liberty and equality. This collection’s broad scope and nontechnical style will engage scholars from the fields of political theory, social theory, international studies, and law. Contributors. Andrew Arato, Aharon Barak, Jon Elster, George P. Fletcher, Louis Henkin, Arthur J. Jacobson, Carlos Santiago Nino, Ulrich K. Preuss, David A. J. Richards, Michel Rosenfeld, Dominique Rousseau, András Sajó, Frederick Schauer, Bernhard Schlink, M. M. Slaughter, Cass R. Sunstein, Ruti G. Teitel, Robin West

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In contrast to traditional systems of thought which regarded evil as a supernatural force that explained human misfortune, Michel Wieviorka develops a sociological analysis of evil phenomena. His aim is to explain evil, to reveal its social, political, and cultural sources, and to clarify the processes through which the present-day forms of evil - terrorism, violence, racism, and active hatred - are constituted. A synthesis of the author's detailed studies of these forms of evil, this book offers a fresh approach to the understanding of the darker regions of human behaviour. If we wish to live in an open, democratic world in which each individual constructs his or her own experience and leads his or her own life in a spirit of respect for and solidarity with others, then we must understand the processes that lead in totally different directions, negating the individual's subjectivity and moral and physical integrity. Michel Wieviorka invites us to do just that in this highly topical and engaging book.

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Official figures classify some fifty million of the world's people as 'victims of forced displacement'. Refugees, asylum seekers, disaster victims, the internally displaced and the temporarily tolerated - categories of the excluded proliferate, but many more are left out of count. In the face of this tragedy, humanitarian action increasingly seems the only possible response. On the ground, however, the 'facilities' put in place are more reminiscent of the logic of totalitarianism. In a situation of permanent catastrophe and endless emergency, 'undesirables' are kept apart and out of sight, while the care dispensed is designed to control, filter and confine. How should we interpret the disturbing symbiosis between the hand that cares and the hand that strikes? After seven years of study in the refugee camps, Michel Agier reveals their 'disquieting ambiguity' and stresses the imperative need to take into account forms of improvisation and challenge that are currently transforming the camps, sometimes making them into towns and heralding the emergence of political subjects. A radical critique of the foundations, contexts, and political effects of humanitarian action.

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In this important and stylish book, Michel Maffesoli argues that it is impossible to reduce knowledge to a conception of science inherited from the nineteenth century. Instead, he argues, we must go beyond intellectual conformities based on limited and archaic moral or political foundations. This approach emphasizes the growing importance of information and communication in modern societies. Maffesoli suggests that sociologists have too often succumbed to the "positivist fascination" of analytical formalism and dualistic thinking. Rather than viewing society as a finished product, he develops an approach which seeks to analyse, in all their nuances and contradictions, the new forms of social life - particularly everyday life - which are beginning to emerge in the late twentieth century. A timely contribution to current debates, Ordinary Knowledge will be welcomed by students and researchers in sociology and social theory.

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Black--favorite color of priests and penitents, artists and ascetics, fashion designers and fascists--has always stood for powerfully opposed ideas: authority and humility, sin and holiness, rebellion and conformity, wealth and poverty, good and bad. In this beautiful and richly illustrated book, the acclaimed author of Blue now tells the fascinating social history of the color black in Europe. In the beginning was black, Michel Pastoureau tells us. The archetypal color of darkness and death, black was associated in the early Christian period with hell and the devil but also with monastic virtue. In the medieval era, black became the habit of courtiers and a hallmark of royal luxury. Black took on new meanings for early modern Europeans as they began to print words and images in black and white, and to absorb Isaac Newton's announcement that black was no color after all. During the romantic period, black was melancholy's friend, while in the twentieth century black (and white) came to dominate art, print, photography, and film, and was finally restored to the status of a true color. For Pastoureau, the history of any color must be a social history first because it is societies that give colors everything from their changing names to their changing meanings--and black is exemplary in this regard. In dyes, fabrics, and clothing, and in painting and other art works, black has always been a forceful--and ambivalent--shaper of social, symbolic, and ideological meaning in European societies. With its striking design and compelling text, Black will delight anyone who is interested in the history of fashion, art, media, or design.

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In recent years the significance of Gaussian processes to communication networks has grown considerably. The inherent flexibility of the Gaussian traffic model enables the analysis, in a single mathematical framework, of systems with both long-range and short-range dependent input streams. Large Deviations for Gaussian Queues demonstrates how the Gaussian traffic model arises naturally, and how the analysis of the corresponding queuing model can be performed. The text provides a general introduction to Gaussian queues, and surveys recent research into the modelling of communications networks. Coverage includes: Discussion of the theoretical concepts and practical aspects related to Gaussian traffic models. Analysis of recent research asymptotic results for Gaussian queues, both in the large-buffer and many-sources regime. An emphasis on rare-event analysis, relying on a variety of asymptotic techniques. Examination of single-node FIFO queuing systems, as well as queues operating under more complex scheduling disciplines, and queuing networks. A set of illustrative examples that directly relate to important practical problems in communication networking. A large collection of instructive exercises and accompanying solutions. Large Deviations for Gaussian Queues assumes minimal prior knowledge. It is ideally suited for postgraduate students in applied probability, operations research, computer science and electrical engineering. The book’s self-contained style makes it perfect for practitioners in the communications networking industry and for researchers in related areas.

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Since the 1990s, Chinese literary enthusiasts have explored new spaces for creative expression online, giving rise to a modern genre that has transformed Chinese culture and society. Ranging from the self-consciously avant-garde to the pornographic, web-based writing has introduced innovative forms, themes, and practices into Chinese literature and its aesthetic traditions. Conducting the first comprehensive survey in English of this phenomenon, Michel Hockx describes in detail the types of Chinese literature taking shape right now online and their novel aesthetic, political, and ideological challenges. Offering a unique portal into postsocialist Chinese culture, he presents a complex portrait of internet culture and control in China that avoids one-dimensional representations of oppression. The Chinese government still strictly regulates the publishing world, yet it is growing increasingly tolerant of internet literature and its publishing practices while still drawing a clear yet ever-shifting ideological bottom line. Hockx interviews online authors, publishers, and censors, capturing the convergence of mass media, creativity, censorship, and free speech that is upending traditional hierarchies and conventions within China-and across Asia.

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From the author of After the Crash comes a gripping new thriller about one woman’s descent into grief and madness after her ten-year-old son disappears without a trace.Maddi Libéri is a successful doctor living an idyllic life in the South of France. On the morning of her son’s tenth birthday, they walk to the beach together. The boy presses for a quick swim, but when the surf is too rough, she sends him off to buy a baguette instead.He never returns.Ten years later, Maddi stands at the spot where she last saw her son. A pilgrimage of sorts. And she can’t believe her eyes. There, standing at the water’s edge, is a young boy—and he looks exactly like her son. Same face, same suit…even the same birthmark.Rattled, Maddi becomes obsessed with the boy. She upends her life to get closer to him. And the more she learns about her son’s doppelgänger, the more unhinged she becomes. Dangerous s

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This book provides for the first time an insider’s view into ITER, the biggest fusion reactor in the world, which is currently being constructed in southern France. Now in its second edition, it updates readers on all developments at ITER and those at competing fusion initiatives worldwide, at the National Ignition Facility (US), the Joint European Torus (EU) and the tens of start-ups funded by private ventures. The author also shares his personal experience with this unique big science project.Aimed at bringing the “energy of the stars” to earth, ITER is funded by the major economic powers (China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA). Often presented as a “nuclear but green” energy source, fusion could play an important role in the future electricity supply. But as delays accumulate and budgets continue to grow, ITER is currently a star partially obscured by clouds. Will ITER save humanity by providing a clean, safe and limitless source of energy, or is it merely a political showcase of cutting-edge technology? Is ITER merely an ambitious research project and partly a PR initiative driven by some politically connected scientists? In any case, ITER has already helped spur on rival projects in the USA, Canada and the UK. This book offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at this controversial project, which France snatched from Japan, and introduces them to a world of superlatives: with the largest magnets in the world, the biggest cryogenic plant and tremendous computing power, ITER is one of the most fascinating, and most international, scientific and technological endeavours of our time.

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After having explored the structure of the long sura 5 in his book The Feast (2007), Michael Cuypers applies the same rhetorical analysis to the thirty-three small suras (81 to 114) of the end of the Qur'an. Reading the text using the principles of Semitic rhetoric makes it possible to grasp the internal coherence of each of these suras, and also the semantic links that link them together. These suras (chapters), usually treated as small independent textual units, actually form a semantically coherent set composed of several hierarchical subsets. This results in new interpretations for suras, of which more than one raises questions because of their extreme brevity. Two major themes dominate: eschatology (Day of Judgment and resurrection) and the life of the Prophet, evoked by small discontinuous touches, from the awakening of his prophetic mission to the triumph of his preaching. The rhetorical analysis is enriched by intertextuality, confronting the Koranic text with the sacred literature circulating in late antiquity: the Bible, in the first place, but also several intertestamental writings, the Book of Enoch, the Testament of Moses and others. The image that emerges from these suras, dating from the Meccan era, is that of a messenger in charge of announcing the Day of Judgment.

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From the acclaimed author of The Foundling Boy, The Great and the Good is a 1950s American classic about a tranformative journey by sea. ''Slyly funny, yet still touching'' The Sunday Times Arthur Morgan is aboard the Queen Mary bound for the United States, where a scholarship at an Ivy League university awaits him, along with the promise of a glittering future. But the few days spent on the ship will have a defining effect on the young Frenchman, when he encounters the love of his life. 

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The Courage Consort, possibly the seventh best-known a cappella vocal ensemble in Britain, are given two weeks in a Belgian chateau to rehearse their latest commission, the monstrously complicated Partitum Mutante. But can the piece be performed? Does it matter that its composer is a maniac best known for attacking his wife with a stiletto shoe at the baggage reclaim of Milan airport? Can the five members of the Consort endure their own sexual tensions and wildly differing temperaments? And what is the inhuman voice that calls out to them from the woods at night?The esoteric world of avant-garde classical music is the unlikely setting for a story of rare power - perhaps the most moving Michel Faber has yet written.

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The conquest of the Americas inaugurated the slow accumulation of resources and the imperceptible structural transformations that culminated in the Industrial Revolution. From that moment on, capitalism grew and expanded with a dynamism and adaptability that are now all too familiar, profiting from wars and even managing to rebound after a series of devastating economic crises. In this highly-anticipated updated edition, Beaud extends one of the major strengths of the original: the interweaving of social, political, and economic factors in the context of history. At the same time, Beaud's analysis provides a realistic and thorough examination of the developments of capitalism in the last twenty years, including globalization, the accelerating speed of capital transfer, and the collapse of the Soviet empire and the subsequent absorption of its population into the world market. This new edition also offers a completely revised format that integrates diagrams and flow-charts not previously available in the English-language edition. Beaud offers a synthesis of this history of capitalism over five centuries, showing how it has been "simultaneously economic and political and ideological; simultaneously national and multinational; simultaneously liberating and oppressive, destructive and creative." Interweaving the history of key events, movements, and ideas with both theoretical modeling and carefully selected quantitative data, Beaud shows how capitalism grew and expanded, to whose benefit, and at whose expense.

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With the loosening of restrictions on the Chinese economy in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of the middle class, many observers thought that Western-style democracy would soon follow. Instead, China has adopted its own version, with a market-driven economy where actions that might call into question the decisions of the governing party are strictly forbidden. In this fascinating account, Cormier chronicles numerous failed attempts to bring democracy to China in the last century, starting with a handful of brave souls who tried to move China towards a constitutional monarchy at the turn of the century and peaking with the student uprising of 1989. Using historical research (including surprising transcripts from Party meetings) and candid interviews with many of the dissidents -- some now living in exile, others under house arrest in China -- Cormier tells the very human story of real people struggling for human rights and freedoms. The Legacy of Tiananmen Square was originally published in French as Les héritiers de Tiananmen. This updated edition was translated by Jonathan Kaplansky.

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This catalogue of the Andres Serrano retrospective presents the work of an artist from New York regarded as one of the major figures on the contemporary scene, tracing his creative trajectory in over a hundred photographs. The question of the portrait in the exploration of signs of the times, the dead body in a classical presentation of pictorial inspiration, the abstract space of the studio and the artist's recent immersion in the city, violence in the relationship with the other on the path from procreation to creation, poverty and its relation to place, religious feeling and the collective dynamics of the group portrait are some of the subjects Andres Serrano addresses. The questions he poses give rise to debate and sometimes violence. These freely chosen subjects are thus joined by themes imposed on the work, namely vandalism and censorship. Four experts develop an original discourse on Serrano's work: Nathalie Dietschy, PhD in art history at the University of Lausanne, a specialist on the figure of Christ in contemporary art; Jan Koenot, Jesuit, theologian, PhD in philosophy and specialist on contemporary art; Germano Celant, art critic and specialist on contemporary art, currently artistic director of the Prada Foundation in Milan; Quentin Bajac, curator of photography at the Musée d'Orsay and currently chief curator of photography at the MoMA in New York.

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them . . .'So begins this irresistible voyage into the dark side of Victorian London. Amongst an unforgettable cast of low-lifes, physicians, businessmen and prostitutes, meet our heroine Sugar, a young woman trying to drag herself up from the gutter any way she can. Be prepared for a mesmerising tale of passion, intrigue, ambition and revenge.

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Improve your skills and techniques for drawing mammals! This small, portable book presents more than 500 drawings for 100 species of mammals, collected into categories of habitat land, water, and air. In this book, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella defines the anatomical characteristics that are common to this class of animals (to which humans also belong) and demonstrates the links between form and function for mammals based on their behaviors, such as burrowing, walking, running, leaping, climbing, flying, and swimming. The instruction and drawings in this book offers profound insights for artists of all kinds, helping you in both your observational drawing of mammals and your creation of imaginary animals so that they will appear realistic and believable. Geared toward artists of all levels, from beginners through professionals, this handy, pocket-sized book will help spark your imagination and creativity. Publisher's Note: This book features an exposed binding style. This is intentional, as it is designed to help the book lay flat as you draw.)

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A chronological overview of one of modern cinema’s most celebrated directors, featuring interviews with Jane Campion herself Jane Campion on Jane Campion offers a unique perspective on the creative process of one of cinema’s greatest contemporary film directors. Through a series of interviews from the early days of Campion’s career to her most recent projects, conducted by Michel Ciment, each chapter contains the study of a film: starting with the short films that Campion made during her studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, then moving through the Academy Award–winning The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut, Bright Star, the TV series Top of the Lake, and ending with her most recent film, the Academy Award–nominated The Power of the Dog. Organized chronologically, film-by-film, the interviews are illustrated with film stills and photographs taken on set, as well as with annotated scripts, storyboards, and personal documents lent by Campion. The book also reproduces three short stories and a text about the poet John Keats written by the director, along with actress Holly Hunter’s “Scattered Memories” of their collaboration on The Piano and Top of the Lake. A detailed bibliography and filmography of the filmmaker complete this volume, which contains more than 300 color and black-and-white illustrations.

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Stanley Kubrick died on 7 March 1999 at his Hertfordshire home, having finished the editing of his last film. Eyes Wide Shut was released later that year. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 Viennese novel Dream Story, relocated and updated to contemporary Manhattan, Eyes Wide Shut stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a prosperous couple whose marriage is tested in the aftermath a series of sinister events. The film baffled many of its first audiences. It had all the lavish attention to detail of a Kubrick film but it seemed slow, enigmatic, too much of a dream. Michel Chion's extraordinary study of Eyes Wide Shut makes the case that it is one of Kubrick's masterpieces and a fitting testament. To appreciate this, though, it is necessary to look at what happens on the screen without bringing preconceptions to bear. The film needs to be taken at face value. Looked at this way, Eyes Wide Shut reveals itself to be a deeply moving film about characters who are not so different from real people, a film about life in which questions of meaning and motive lose their value.

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'After the historic student revolt in France a period of audacious creativity resulted. The watchword was: "It is forbidden to forbid". We took advantage of this transient cultural folly to do what would have been impossible ten years before or ten years after, introducing in the maternity unit of a state hospital an inflatable outdoor pool as a way to replace drugs during birth.' - from the Introduction In this groundbreaking book, Dr Odent takes as his starting point the world-famous work on childbirth at Pithiviers, where he first noticed the strong attraction to water that many women have during labour. As well as discovering the practical advantages of water during the birthing process, he began to consider the meaning and importance of water as a symbol. Water, Birth and Sexuality examines the living power of water and its erotic connotations. Odent evaluates what water meant in different cultures throughout history, through myths and legends, and what it means for us today: from an advertiser's tool to a metaphor for aspects of the psyche. He also studies humanity's special relationship to dolphins, and the related 'aquatic ape' theory.A practical section on the use of water during birth and in various therapies, particularly sex therapy, is included. This edition of this classic work features a new Introduction.

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Humanity, argues Michel Odent, stands at a crossroads in the history of childbirth - and the direction we choose to take will have critical consequences. Until recently a woman could not have had a baby without releasing a complex cocktail of 'love hormones'. In many societies today, most women give birth without relying on the release of such a flow of hormones. Some give birth via caesarean section, while others use drugs that not only block the release of these natural substances, but do not have their beneficial behavioural effects. 'This unprecedented situation must be considered in terms of civilization', says Odent, and gives us urgent new reasons to rediscover the basic needs of women in labour. At a time when pleas for the 'humanization' of childbirth are fashionable, the author suggests, rather, that we should first accept our 'mammalian' condition and give priority to the woman's need for privacy and to feel secure. The activity of the intellect, the use of language, and many cultural beliefs and rituals - which are all special to humans - are handicaps in the period surrounding birth. Says Odent: 'To give birth to her baby, the mother needs privacy. She needs to feel unobserved. The newborn baby needs the skin of the mother, the smell of the mother, her breast. These are all needs that we hold in common with the other mammals, but which humans have learned to neglect, to ignore or even deny.' Expectant parents, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, those involved in public health, and all those interested in the future of humanity, will find this a provocative and visionary book.

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...this is a glorious and luxurious book, surely one of the finest collections of polar bear photography published in recent times" - BBC Wildlife A symbol of strength, survival despite hardship and - more recently - the perils of global warming, the polar bear wears many different faces across the world. Polar Bears: A Life Under Threat is an uncompromising exploration of the animal behind the mythos. Rawicki's anthology transports us to the Arctic: the bears' home territory. His photographs depict playful cubs, hunting mothers and solitary adults on their yearly migration. The bears' innate curiosity shines through, as they peer through windows and rear up on their hind legs to study the camera. As well as trekking across miles of dazzling snow, they forage in forests and towns - leading to a striking series of photographs that document the relationship between bear, man and environment. Accompanying these images are a series of essays, poems and even a quiz, from the minds of Michel Rawicki and his contributors: Hubert Reeves, astrophysicist, and Remy Marion, author of several books about the polar regions. They explain the challenges encountered by polar bears in the modern age, and explore the future of a species threatened by climate change and pollution.

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The Eurozone crisis since 2010 has instilled political disunity and generated a long period of economic stagnation. The cyclical recovery enjoyed in 2017 is no cause for complacency. It should act as an impetus to undertake long-overdue reforms, which require a change in perspective to develop a medium-term orientation for the next decade. There is no future for those incapable of investing. There is no stimulus for innovative investment in countries that have been converted to the hegemony of finance at the expense of productive investment. Europe must confront the challenges of the 21st century by recovering its ideological autonomy in the community spirit of its origins,which can be summed up as social progress.This book demonstrates the need for a long-term vision with two goals: reconstructing a social contract based on an entrepreneurial partnership and investing in the ecological transition. This political vision will restore to citizens of the member-states a sense of belonging to a wider community. To attain this, argues Michel Aglietta, one of the most important heterodox economists today, we must strengthen European institutions at the financial and fiscal levels. This involves making the euro a full currency, endowed with democratic legitimacy.

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Did you know that pomegranates help reduce dental plaque? That fridges are germ factories? That those little everyday movements can wreck your back? The mega French bestseller that reveals the truth about healthy living, and why it's never too late.Good health is an invaluable gift. But how can you maximise your own individual potential? How can you give your body the best MOT it has ever experienced?This fantastically accessible and helpful book is based on 4 basic and essential principles:1) understanding superfoods - what they are, how they benefit your body and your mind and how to eat them;2) breaking harmful habits - how to change those bad habits of a lifetime;3) being fit - the importance of exercise, and how to incorporate it into your daily life;4) essential tips to stay in shape - from good sleep to cold showers, from gut health to brainfood, everything is covered!No one escapes their genetic heritage, nor their upbringing. But we are all responsible for what we decide to do about them. And what Michel Cymes promises is that it doesn't take much to go from a life marred by bad patterns of behaviour, to a life enhanced by good ones. In matters of health, in the end you reap what you sow. And what is special about this book is that it stimulates our capacity to think and act differently.This book is the friend who wants to see you succeed, the mate who knows you inside out. Whether you are a gym bunny or starting from scratch, Live Better and Longer gives you the best advice by France's most established doctor.

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As the 2022 French Presidential election looms, two candidates emerge as favourites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and the charismatic Muhammed Ben Abbes of the growing Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the political left to block the Front National’s alarming ascendency, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. This proves to be the death knell of French secularism, as Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for our narrator François – misanthropic, middle-aged and alienated – life is set on a new course. Submission is a devastating satire, comic and melancholy by turns, and a profound meditation on faith and meaning in Western society.

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COPRA returns with the long-awaited OCHIZON SAGA! Collecting the Image-released issues plus the subsequent Copra Press chapters, Michel Fiffe pits his cast of mercenary misfits up against cruel cyborg turncoats, reanimated doomsday agents, and a reality-warping cosmic dynasty. Jump into the thick of it with the world’s greatest superhero revenge machine.Collects COPRA #32-41

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Summer, 1989. Corsica. Fifteen-year-old Clotilde is the sole survivor when her family's car plunges off a narrow road into a ravine. Twenty-seven years later she returns to the island with her husband and teenage daughter in an attempt to come to terms with her past. But then she receives a letter - from her mother, as if she were alive. It seems impossible. Clotilde watched her parents and her brother die that day in the ravine. She has lived with their ghosts ever since. But then who sent this letter - and why?

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