Here are some examples of questions raised in “Planet Ocean: our mysterious connections to water”.
-Why don’t fossil hunters (“paleoanthropologists”) trumpet the fact that before the Neolithic period sea-levels were somewhat 200 m lower than today?
This oversight suggests that, if most human beings were living in coastal areas, it is likely that their fossils will remain lost for ever.
-Why are our palaeolithic ancestors usually described as “hunter-gatherers”, when there is increased evidence that great parts of our planet, particularly the Mediterranean basin & the Pacific Rim, were first colonised by skilled navigators.
-Why are modern humans classified as “Sapiens”, even though they are admixtures of Sapiens, Neanderthal, Denisovan and probably still unidentified huge brained Homos?
-Why don't we try to understand what makes human births occasionally easy & fast?
-Why do human mammals need to learn techniques to be able to swim?
-Why do seals go to dry land to give birth, while a significant number of women use birthing pools?
-Why do the promoters of the so-called “Aquatic ape hypothesis” rarely take as the point of departure the defining feature of Homo, the supersized brain?
The latest book by Michel Odent (“Planet Ocean: our mysterious connections to water”) is now available in paperback and kindle.
Planet Ocean: Our Mysterious Connections to Water
Michel Odent 2021
Kindle $9.24
Paperback $21
After introducing the concept of the birthing pool in the 1970s, Michel Odent has continued to expand his interest in the mysterious connections between humans & water.
"Planet Ocean" shows that the evolution of the oceans (particularly the fluctuations of sea-levels) & the evolution of humankind are inseparable. The oceans are our givers & sustainers of life, containing 95 % of the planet's habitable space within
their immense depths.
Michel Odent steers us toward a radically new vision of human nature.
Our defining feature -- a supersized brain -- becomes a leitmotif that enables links between topics as diverse as our nutritional needs, our relationship with sea-mammals & the way members of our species give birth.
He relates "transcendent emotional states" with what the French writer Romain Rolland calls "oceanic feeling" -- both terms suggesting the absence of limits.
Access to such states can be associated e.g. with "fetus ejection reflex". This leads to the extraordinary conclusion that swimming -- as a learned behavior among human beings -- the birth process & access to transcendence are interrelated topics for
students of human nature.
"Planet Ocean" is a fascinating, interdisciplinary study that demonstrates our manifold connections to water, and suggests their relevance to our everyday life.
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