New Releases by Pierre Boulle

Il s''agit de la réédition d''un ouvrage publié initialement en 1974 par Flammarion, et par le Livre de Poche en 1976. Il n''est plus disponible depuis de nombreuses années. Cette édition paraît à l''occasion du 20e anniversaire de l''Association des Amis de l''oeuvre de Pierre Boulle. ====== Toxicomane velléitaire et minable revendeur de drogue à New York, John Butler parvient à valoriser ses compétences de chimiste raté auprès d’un gang de trafiquants de drogue. Apprécié par ses «employeurs», il est envoyé en Birmanie afin d’y transformer une grosse quantité d’opium en une héroïne de première qualité, destinée au marché étatsunien. Butler y vivra une aventure extraordinaire qui le transformera profondément et qui lui permettra de s’extraire de son enfer personnel. Pierre Boule nous entraîne des Etats-Unis dans le jungle birmane, région qui lui est familière pour y avoir combattu les Japonais durant la 2e Guerre mondiale. Avec une aisance diabolique, il met en scène de multiples personnages aux destins croisés jusqu’à un dénouement final et tragique sur la côte est américaine.

The magnificent story of Colonel Nicholson, who built the perfect bridge - for the enemy. On its publication in France, this brilliant novel was awarded the Prix Ste. Beuve. Since its appearance in the USA and its presentation as a film, this compelling story has been awarded a succession of prizes in both the fields of entertainment and literature. This is a historical novel. It is based in part on factual events. It was made into the greatest movie ever made. Although hard to believe, the book is based on actual real historical events, except that vastly more people died building the real bridge and the railroad to the bridge than are shown in the movie. The book and movie have slightly different names. The book is "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." The movie is "The Bridge On the River Kwai." In Thailand, they call it the River Kwae.

Explorers in space find a planet that is identical to Earth, with the exception that on the planet Betelgeuse the roles of ape and human are reversed.

60 anos do ícone da cultura pop que já vendeu mais de 20 mil exemplares no Brasil Uma das histórias mais conhecidas da ficção científica, O planeta dos macacos inspirou a primeira grande franquia de filmes do cinema e é um enorme sucesso desde sua publicação em 1963. Esta edição em capa dura celebra o sexagenário da obra e é fundamental na biblioteca de qualquer leitor. Aqui, acompanhamos o jornalista Ulysse Mérou e uma tripulação de cientistas que, ao chegarem em um planeta muito parecido com a Terra, descobrem uma sociedade dominada por macacos onde os seres humanos não passam de animais rudimentares que mal conseguem se comunicar. Desde as primeiras páginas até o desfecho surpreendente – ainda mais impactante do que a famosa cena que encerra o filme de 1968 –, o livro levanta questões perturbadoras, como o que define o ser humano e o que o diferencia dos animais. A edição conta ainda com: card colecionável, acesso a órbita – uma plataforma de conteúdo expandido –, entrevista com o autor concedida para uma edição especial da Cinefantastique em 1972, um ensaio da BBC publicado em 2014 sobre a atuação do autor na Segunda Guerra e um texto escrito pelo autor, compositor, estudioso de cinema e pesquisador de literatura fantástica Braulio Tavares.

Long before Battle Royale or The Hunger Games, the author of The Planet of the Apes imagined a world governed by science and brutality gone mad in this long-neglected, dystopian sci-fi classic, now in a new translation Despairing at the state of world degeneration, a group of the world''s most renowned intellectuals form the new Scientific World Government, aiming to put the world to rights. Elected into power, they quickly start making changes for the better, eliminating world hunger and cancer, encouraging scientific thought, and banning frivolous entertainment. But while congratulating themselves on a job well done, they fail to notice that actually, people are not happy. The suicide rate has sky-rocketed and, strangely, it turns out the public wants a little risk and conflict in their lives. So to cater to the masses, the Department of Psychology forms a plan: they will stage an entertainment show the likes of which the world has never seen before. It starts with gladiatorial style battles, bloodthirsty and brutal, where the victors become celebrities of unseen proportions, and quickly escalates into entire historical battle re-enactments involving chemical warfare and mass destruction. The Scientific World Government has unleashed a monster. What has the world let itself in for?

In einem Raumschiff, das mit Lichtgeschwindkeit durch das Weltall fliegt, begibt sich der Journalist Ulysse Mérou zusammen mit zwei Wissenschaftlern auf eine Mission, die die Erkundung des nächstgelegenen Sonnensystems zum Ziel hat. Zu ihrer goßen Überraschung finden sie einen Planeten, der unserer Erde gleicht. Doch eine noch größere Verblüffung erwartet sie: Auf Soror, so der Taufname durch die Entdecker, leben menschenähnliche Wesen! Diesen scheint jedoch jedwedes rationale Denkvermögen zu fehlen, und kaum ist eine erste Verständigung hergestellt, werden sie allesamt gejagt und gefangen genommen von der herrschenden Zivilisation auf dem Planeten: Affen! Schreckliche Experimente und einen schmerzvollen Tod vor Augen muss es Ulysse gelingen, seine haarigen und hochintelligenten Entführer davon zu überzeugen, dass er anders ist, von einem fremden Planeten kommt und vor allem, dass er keine Gefahr darstellt. Besonders von Letzterem lassen sich aber nur die Wenigsten überzeugen ...

En un futuro cercano, tres astronautas aterrizan en un planeta que parece idéntico a la Tierra. Aunque su exuberante naturaleza, su clima templado y la atmósfera respirable hacen de él un paraíso, pronto descubren la terrible verdad: en este mundo los humanos son bestias salvajes y los simios han desarrollado inteligencia. Ulises Mérou tratará, por todos los medios, de descubrir el secreto de tan temible civilización, sin saber si eso lo convertirá en el salvador de la raza humana o en el último testigo de su desgracia. Publicada por primera vez hace casi medio siglo, la escalofriante novela de Pierre Boulle ha dado lugar a una de las mejores sagas de la ciencia ficción audiovisual.

The original novel that inspired the films! First published more than fifty years ago, Pierre Boulle’s chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history. In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems. They soon discover the terrifying truth: On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while wondering: Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense.

¿Hay seres humanos en otro lugar, diferente de la nuestra galaxia? Es la pregunta que se hacen los pasajeros de una nave espacial que sobrevuela un planeta cercano a Betelgeuse: se divisan ciudades, carreteras curiosamente parecidas a las de nuestra Tierra. Después de haberse puesto, los tres hombres descubren que el planeta está habitado por simios. Estos los capturarán y se dedicarán a experimentar con ellos. Ante los simios, tendrán que confirmar su humanidad… Con millones de ejemplares vendidos en todo el mundo, reeditado ininterrumpidamente desde su primera aparición y adaptado en el cine, El planeta de los simios, la obra mundialmente conocida de Pierre Boulle, es uno de los grandes clásicos de la ciencia-ficción y de la novela de aventuras. Esta versión, traducida por Juli Avinent, incluye un texto introductorio de Alberto Giráldez sobre la experimentación con animales.

Autour du maître-livre qu'est La Planète des singes, ont réunis ici les romans, contes de l'absurde ou nouvelles assez peu charitables qui constituent l'oeuvre de science-fiction de Pierre Boulle. En moraliste, à la manière d'un Swift ou d'un HG Wells, Pierre Boulle utilise les ressources de son imagination débordante pour interroger le présent en dessinant un avenir pavé de paradoxes. Humaniste ironique, il nous invite à nous regarder dans d'étranges miroirs pour survivre aux contradictiçns de notre époque.

British prisoners of war are forced by their Japanese captors to build a bridge in the jungles of Burma.

Autour du maître-livre qu''est La Planète des singes, sont réunis ici les nouvelles, contes de l''absurde ou histoires assez peu charitables, et les romans qui constituent l''œuvre de science-fiction de Pierre Boulle (1912-1994). A travers elle, cet écrivain très particulier, qui fut ingénieur, planteur et espion, qui s''inscrit dans la lignée de Swift, de H.G. Wells, de Stevenson, nous invite à nous regarder dans d''étranges miroirs pour survivre aux paradoxes de notre temps.

One of the finest war novels ever written, it tells the story of three POWs who endure the hell of the Japanese camps on the Burma-Siam railway. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

The anti-hero is John Butler, back from the war in the Far East branded a coward, a man for whom heroin had become a means of retreat from the horrors of battle. An addict now, he seeks help at a clinic and listens to the oft-repeated exhortation to find a consuming interest into which he can channel all his energies and aspirations. Butler concentrates on the one interest the war has left him - heroin. The combination of his past contacts as a chemistry student at University and his present contact as a drug pusher pave the way to an obsession. Provided with a secret laboratory by the head of the drug organization which employs him, he succeeds in perfecting a technique for producing the purest heroin ever refined. This however, is only the beginning of Butler''s cure.