Planet Ocean

At the age of over 90, Michel is still publishing new books bringing his unique interdisciplinary perspective to our connections with water, drawing on anthropology, history, geology, palaeontology and medicine, all with an emphasis on Mother Ocean. He considers huge fluctuations in sea levels and their effect on navigation indicating that our ancestors were able to travel far further than we give them credit for, whether in the Mediterranean or the Pacific Rim. He compares our connection with dolphins and dogs – the Maori people apparently called dolphins the human beings of the sea; Michel also supports the aquatic ape hypothesis though we are the mammal that cannot swim. He is best known for his pioneering work on birthing pools and favours neocortical inhibition during the birth process. He presents the foetus ejection reflex, the milk ejection reflex and the sperm ejection reflex as highways to transcendence or the oceanic feeling - an absence of limits. The book certainly encourages readers to think about water in a new way.