François Derrey examines mankind's relationship to the Earth, and in so doing takes a step back from what we think we know about our planet and re-investigates some of the more obscure theories out there, some seem too fantastical; and yet you find yourself being slowly drawn in.
What if rocks, crystals, or even metals could be considered alive?
This concept seems strange, and in fact when Chevrel-Dessaudrais recorded a conversation he had at the beginning of the nineteenth century...
"Doctor, please examine. They say I'm going crazy."
"For Heaven's sake, why?"
"Because I know that the earth is a live animal."
...in his book 'The Key to Nature's Phenomena or The Living Planet' (published in 1805) he was widely regarded as a lunatic.

It must be said that the author promotes the pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact hypotheses based on such 'indisputable' evidence as the Piri Reis map, stressing it's authenticity based on claims made that it describes the Queen Maude area which by 1929 lay under two thousand metres of ice; however it is a view which had been largely denounced by mainstream scholars, even at the time this book was published.

This book covers a broad selection of subjects to do with the mysteries of our planet. Often the science behind them is contradictory or exaggerated in much the same way as those Arthur C. Clarke's mysterious world books are. More Pseudoscience, but a lot of fun to read regardless. Amoung the hollow earth theories, biblical flood, and lost continents, there may even be the grains of truth if you look hard enough. ( )