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The Scientification of Love
Why do all cultures ritually disrupt the first contact between mother and new-born baby? Why has there hitherto been an evolutionary advantage in developing human potential for aggression rather than the capacity to love? Until recently love has been the realm of poets, artists and philosophers. Latterly it has been studied from multiple scientific perspectives. Michel Odent argues that the specialist approach has overlooked the importance of love as a potential new strategy for human survival, and that the old survival strategy, the domination of nature and other human groups, is no longer appropriate. By weaving together data from a multitude of disciplines, Michel Odent, is able to offer a number of insightful, and exciting explanations, and makes the case for the adoption of radical new strategies for human survival.
130 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
15 people are currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Michel Odent
121 books84 followersFor several decades Michel Odent has been instrumental in influencing the history of childbirth and health research.
As a practitioner he developed the maternity unit at Pithiviers Hospital in France in the 1960s and '70s. He is familiarly known as the obstetrician who introduced the concept of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms. His approach has been featured in eminent medical journals such as Lancet, and in TV documentaries such as the BBC film Birth Reborn. With six midwives he was in charge of about one thousand births a year and could achieve ideal statistics with low rates of intervention. After his hospital career he practiced home birth.
As a researcher he founded the Primal Health Research Center in London (UK), which focuses upon the long-term consequences of early experiences. An overview of the Primal Health Research data bank ( www.birthworks.org/primalhealth) clearly indicates that health is to a great extent shaped during the primal period (from conception until the first birthday). It also suggests that the way we are born has long-term consequences in terms of sociability, aggressiveness or, otherwise speaking, capacity to love.
Michel Odent has developed a preconceptional program (the "accordion method") in order to minimize the effects of intrauterine and milk pollution by synthetic fat soluble chemicals such as dioxins, PCBs, etc. His other research interests are the non-specific long term effects on health of early multiple vaccinations.
Author of approximately 50 scientific papers, Odent has 11 books published in 21 languages to his name. In his books he developed the art of turning traditional questions around, looking at the question of “how to develop good health” rather than at that of “how to prevent disease”, and at the question of “how the capacity to love develops”, rather than at that of “how to prevent violence”. His books The Scientification of Love and The Farmer and the Obstetrician raise urgent questions about the future of our civilizations. His latest book ('The Caesarean') has been published in April 2004.
As a practitioner he developed the maternity unit at Pithiviers Hospital in France in the 1960s and '70s. He is familiarly known as the obstetrician who introduced the concept of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms. His approach has been featured in eminent medical journals such as Lancet, and in TV documentaries such as the BBC film Birth Reborn. With six midwives he was in charge of about one thousand births a year and could achieve ideal statistics with low rates of intervention. After his hospital career he practiced home birth.
As a researcher he founded the Primal Health Research Center in London (UK), which focuses upon the long-term consequences of early experiences. An overview of the Primal Health Research data bank ( www.birthworks.org/primalhealth) clearly indicates that health is to a great extent shaped during the primal period (from conception until the first birthday). It also suggests that the way we are born has long-term consequences in terms of sociability, aggressiveness or, otherwise speaking, capacity to love.
Michel Odent has developed a preconceptional program (the "accordion method") in order to minimize the effects of intrauterine and milk pollution by synthetic fat soluble chemicals such as dioxins, PCBs, etc. His other research interests are the non-specific long term effects on health of early multiple vaccinations.
Author of approximately 50 scientific papers, Odent has 11 books published in 21 languages to his name. In his books he developed the art of turning traditional questions around, looking at the question of “how to develop good health” rather than at that of “how to prevent disease”, and at the question of “how the capacity to love develops”, rather than at that of “how to prevent violence”. His books The Scientification of Love and The Farmer and the Obstetrician raise urgent questions about the future of our civilizations. His latest book ('The Caesarean') has been published in April 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 19, 2009
I love Odent's points and philosophy about undisturbed birth, but he makes some giant leaps to conclusions that are not really supported by the *ahem* 'scientific evidence' that he provides. He can be a bit fanatical, but for those who work around birth, this is understandable: we can all be a bit fundamentalist in our thoughts when our objective is to protect and respect the birthing process. A worthwhile read.
December 20, 2020
This was a little too academic for my current taste. I did stop a few times at facts that made me go "hmmm, how come I've never though of it?" I particularly liked chapter 17 - releasing the brakes with water. I don't know how much factual or evidence-based the statements are but I found it appealing to read about labouring women being attracted to water so much so that they would be rushing into the pool while there was no more than an inch of water in the bottom. Attraction to water during labour goes beyond modern practice - aborigines of the west coast of Australia would walk in the shallow water before giving birth on the beach.
"At the beginning of this century, when most babies were born at home, the father used to spend hours boiling water. This ritual could be seen as an unconscious attempt to include water in the process of birth."
What is it that draws us towards [the erotic power of] water? Poets, painters, film makers, novelists, advertising agents, restaurant owners, newlyweds. We built our most populated cities on coastlines.
The author states that it may not be a savannah we emerged from and refers to the Aquatic Ape theory. After all, the oldest known Homo Sapiens footprints have been found on the shore of a South African lagoon. Bipedalism might have been a result of having to wade through water. Our brains have increased in size after ingesting nutrients like long chain omega-3 fatty acids that are abundant and preformed in seafood.
"Nakedness has been identified as one of the most specifically human traits since the biblical book of Genesis. In fact, any attempt to interpret human nakedness should start with a reminder of the main function of fur, which is to protect from variations in temperature by maintaining a layer of air around the body. In water there is no need for fur. Our subcutaneous layer of fat is as mysterious as our nakedness."
Human have the highest sweat production and sweating has long been considered an enigma, or a mistake of nature as it depletes the body of large amounts of water and salt. But maybe sweating makes sense if we were to come from an environment where water and salt are freely available. We weep salt tears when crying - land mammals have no tears or any sort of nasal salt gland but marine iguanas, turtles, marine crocodiles, sea snakes, seals and sea otters weep salt tears too.
And the last one (although there's many more in the book) - two wonder drugs of the last century are fish oils and aspirin.
I went from theist creationist to agnostic atheist to perfectly content I might be a mermaid.
Do You feel the magical power of water now?
"At the beginning of this century, when most babies were born at home, the father used to spend hours boiling water. This ritual could be seen as an unconscious attempt to include water in the process of birth."
What is it that draws us towards [the erotic power of] water? Poets, painters, film makers, novelists, advertising agents, restaurant owners, newlyweds. We built our most populated cities on coastlines.
The author states that it may not be a savannah we emerged from and refers to the Aquatic Ape theory. After all, the oldest known Homo Sapiens footprints have been found on the shore of a South African lagoon. Bipedalism might have been a result of having to wade through water. Our brains have increased in size after ingesting nutrients like long chain omega-3 fatty acids that are abundant and preformed in seafood.
"Nakedness has been identified as one of the most specifically human traits since the biblical book of Genesis. In fact, any attempt to interpret human nakedness should start with a reminder of the main function of fur, which is to protect from variations in temperature by maintaining a layer of air around the body. In water there is no need for fur. Our subcutaneous layer of fat is as mysterious as our nakedness."
Human have the highest sweat production and sweating has long been considered an enigma, or a mistake of nature as it depletes the body of large amounts of water and salt. But maybe sweating makes sense if we were to come from an environment where water and salt are freely available. We weep salt tears when crying - land mammals have no tears or any sort of nasal salt gland but marine iguanas, turtles, marine crocodiles, sea snakes, seals and sea otters weep salt tears too.
And the last one (although there's many more in the book) - two wonder drugs of the last century are fish oils and aspirin.
I went from theist creationist to agnostic atheist to perfectly content I might be a mermaid.
Do You feel the magical power of water now?
May 24, 2012
Of what birth is and what it should be. More a list of references than a book, but very useful. Among a lot of other things he includes the ideas of Elaine Morgan and Candace Pert. I recommend it to both women and men, but especially to doctors.
January 21, 2026
There were a few chapters where Odent lost me, but overall it is a great book. I’ll leave you with some quotes.
“I heard another Professor of Obstetrics who was wondering why there are still women who want to go through the pain and stress of labor while it is possible, with a drip and epidural, to give birth, vaginally, and watch the TV at the same time.”
“Can humanity survive obstetrics?”
“At the beginning of the 21st century, developing the capacity to love and respect each other, as well as Mother Earth, is at long last becoming a prerequisite for global as well as individual survival.”
“Researchers everywhere have agreed that the only constant and significant effect of electronic monitoring on birth statistics is to increase the rate of cesarean sections.”
“Being a mother who has given birth easily seems to be as good a yardstick as any to judge a woman’s ability to be a midwife. An ability to change one’s level of consciousness at the same time as the laboring woman fits perfectly with our understanding of birth physiology – a midwife who is deep in her own prayer, does not disturb the laboring woman to the same degree as someone who behaves like an observer or an expert guide.”
“The authors [of The Bible] mention the sin of consuming the fruits of the tree of knowledge (that is to say, the sin of knowing too much) and, on the same page, they referred to the fact that human beings are condemned to give birth with difficulty. This link indicates that the development of our intellect is a handicap in certain circumstances in life, particularly when giving birth. I would add that at the end of the same book. There is a legend about a man whose mission was to promote love amongst his fellow human beings. His mother found a strategy to cope with a potential handicap and to reduce the activity of her thinking mind when her baby gave the right signal. She gave birth in a stable, among other mammals, separated from the human community…
[Jesus] was welcomed in an unviolated sacred atmosphere, and was able, easily, and gradually, to eliminate the high level of stress hormones he had produced while being born… with the support of Mary, he was able to emerge victorious from one of the most critical episodes of his life.”
“Finally, the most urgent problems humankind has to face are all related to different aspects of the capacity to love, including a compassionate interest in unborn generations… until recently a woman could not have a baby without releasing a complex cocktail of ‘hormones of love’. Today, for the first time in the history of humankind, most women, in many countries, become mothers without having their brain impregnated with such hormones… Can humanity survive obstetrics? The priority is to radically and urgently reconsider how babies are born in order to disturb as little as possible the interaction between the mothers and their newborn infants.”
“The EEG studies tend to confirm that a reduction in the activity of the neocortex is a prerequisite to reach an out-of-space-and-time reality, and a sense of Oneness.”
“… a laboring woman needs first to be protected against any sort of neocortical stimulation.”
“ it was obvious that fear is the most common cause of difficult and painful labor.”
“In societies where genital sexuality is highly repressed, women may not be capable of having easy births.”
“I heard another Professor of Obstetrics who was wondering why there are still women who want to go through the pain and stress of labor while it is possible, with a drip and epidural, to give birth, vaginally, and watch the TV at the same time.”
“Can humanity survive obstetrics?”
“At the beginning of the 21st century, developing the capacity to love and respect each other, as well as Mother Earth, is at long last becoming a prerequisite for global as well as individual survival.”
“Researchers everywhere have agreed that the only constant and significant effect of electronic monitoring on birth statistics is to increase the rate of cesarean sections.”
“Being a mother who has given birth easily seems to be as good a yardstick as any to judge a woman’s ability to be a midwife. An ability to change one’s level of consciousness at the same time as the laboring woman fits perfectly with our understanding of birth physiology – a midwife who is deep in her own prayer, does not disturb the laboring woman to the same degree as someone who behaves like an observer or an expert guide.”
“The authors [of The Bible] mention the sin of consuming the fruits of the tree of knowledge (that is to say, the sin of knowing too much) and, on the same page, they referred to the fact that human beings are condemned to give birth with difficulty. This link indicates that the development of our intellect is a handicap in certain circumstances in life, particularly when giving birth. I would add that at the end of the same book. There is a legend about a man whose mission was to promote love amongst his fellow human beings. His mother found a strategy to cope with a potential handicap and to reduce the activity of her thinking mind when her baby gave the right signal. She gave birth in a stable, among other mammals, separated from the human community…
[Jesus] was welcomed in an unviolated sacred atmosphere, and was able, easily, and gradually, to eliminate the high level of stress hormones he had produced while being born… with the support of Mary, he was able to emerge victorious from one of the most critical episodes of his life.”
“Finally, the most urgent problems humankind has to face are all related to different aspects of the capacity to love, including a compassionate interest in unborn generations… until recently a woman could not have a baby without releasing a complex cocktail of ‘hormones of love’. Today, for the first time in the history of humankind, most women, in many countries, become mothers without having their brain impregnated with such hormones… Can humanity survive obstetrics? The priority is to radically and urgently reconsider how babies are born in order to disturb as little as possible the interaction between the mothers and their newborn infants.”
“The EEG studies tend to confirm that a reduction in the activity of the neocortex is a prerequisite to reach an out-of-space-and-time reality, and a sense of Oneness.”
“… a laboring woman needs first to be protected against any sort of neocortical stimulation.”
“ it was obvious that fear is the most common cause of difficult and painful labor.”
“In societies where genital sexuality is highly repressed, women may not be capable of having easy births.”
November 17, 2019
Dlouho jsem neviděla tolik oslích můstků a nelogicky navazujících odstavců v jedné knize. Jednotlivá témata jsou zajímavá a Odent jako vždy nabízí nezvyklý úhled pohledu (sám některé části deifnuje jako postavené na hlavu a spekulativní). A přestože se každá kapitola tváří jako pečlivě podložená vědeckými informacemi, což má ilustrovat seznam citací, většina tvrzení je nepodložených nebo naopak není vůbec diskutovaná s opačnými názory.
Osobně v jednotlivých kapitolách ono všeobecné propojení s Láskou nevnímám a nevidím. Obsah mi přijde jako nahodilá sbírka neobvyklých myšlenek, z nichž některé určitě stojí minimálně za hlubší úvahu.
"Pobavilo" mě, že už řed 20 lety si byli vědomi závažnosti situace okolo ekologie a udržitelnosti, apelovali na brzké radikální řešení a my dnes se stále musíme dohadovat o tom, jestli je oteplování reálné nebo ne.
Osobně v jednotlivých kapitolách ono všeobecné propojení s Láskou nevnímám a nevidím. Obsah mi přijde jako nahodilá sbírka neobvyklých myšlenek, z nichž některé určitě stojí minimálně za hlubší úvahu.
"Pobavilo" mě, že už řed 20 lety si byli vědomi závažnosti situace okolo ekologie a udržitelnosti, apelovali na brzké radikální řešení a my dnes se stále musíme dohadovat o tom, jestli je oteplování reálné nebo ne.
December 15, 2020
Fascinating
November 19, 2025
super easy to digest book, but so profound. love the way odent describes the intersection of sexuality and birth and all the animal studies 💖
January 29, 2016
"Can humanity survive obstetrics?" asks Dr. Odent. He seems to think that it can, the question might be restated as, "Will humanity survive obstetrics?"
Good book. Short (in spite of the amount of time it took me to finish) and easy to read, I don't completely agree with all of his ideas (global warming, for example) but for the most part, I just love it.
As we are now a short two weeks away from Christmas, his Interlude 3: Nativity revisited is very good. Everyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ did indeed live upon the earth knows that he had to have been born; we read the account of his conception and in very general terms his birth. But what was it really like? Who was, or wasn't, there? What really happened?
Most definitely worth the read.
Good book. Short (in spite of the amount of time it took me to finish) and easy to read, I don't completely agree with all of his ideas (global warming, for example) but for the most part, I just love it.
As we are now a short two weeks away from Christmas, his Interlude 3: Nativity revisited is very good. Everyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ did indeed live upon the earth knows that he had to have been born; we read the account of his conception and in very general terms his birth. But what was it really like? Who was, or wasn't, there? What really happened?
Most definitely worth the read.
January 30, 2013
Fantastic book that any mother-to-be should read. It puts in perspective everything that we already knew in an instinctive way that we didn't trust. Love it.
April 7, 2017
Bylo to poněkud starší a techničtějši čtení, než jsem čekal. Ale nakonec to bylo milé. Víc mě zaujala druhá polovina knihy, např. vědecké zkoumání mystických stavů.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews