Books by Michel Odent

As well as discovering the practical advantages of water during the birthing process, Dr Odent considers the meaning and importance of water as a symbol. Water, Birth and Sexuality examines the living power of water and its erotic connotations.

Until recently a woman could not have had a baby without releasing a complex cocktail of 'love hormones'. 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. Humanity, the author argues stands at crossroads in the history of childbirth.

A multidisciplinary study of water, the oceans and humanity, showing their manifold connections.

At a global scale, love hormones are now redundant in the critical period surrounding birth ... reasons for questions?

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.

A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the future of birth by renowned obstetrician Michel Odent who takes the question 'Do we need midwives?' as a starting point.

With maternal love as the prototype for all types of love, Odent examines the short, but critical time just after birth which has long-term consequences for our future capacity to love. The author looks at love holistically and in terms of the hormones which affect it in different parts of life.

Michel Odent, the leading pioneer for natural childbirth, indicates that the period between conception and a child's first birthday is critical to life-long health. Here, he argues that different parts of the 'primal adaptive system' develop, regulate and adjust themselves during foetal life and the time around birth and infancy.

How did a magnificent rescue operation become such a common way of giving birth? And how safe is it really? Why do some countries have 10 per cent of caesarian births, and some more than 50 per cent? Why have risky procedures, such as forceps deliveries, not been eliminated by the C-section? What is the birthing pool test?