Jonathan White has a few things to share about the way the ocean ebbs and flows. For his new book, “Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean,” the writer, sailor and surfer completed a worldwide study that spanned 20 years to absorb the rhythmic patterns of where the ocean greets the land. West Marin residents will have the chance to hear him detail his vast findings on March 12 at the Red Barn Classroom, at Point Reyes National Seashore headquarters. The event is a partnership between the Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Point Reyes Books. Mr. White, who lives in Washington State with his family, drifted around nearly every continent to write the book: he visited the French monastery Mont St. Michel to meditate on the spiritual and scientific relationship mankind has had with tides for centuries, gathered mussels beneath Arctic ice and embraced the Silver Dragon, a 25-foot bore, or tidal wave, that zooms up the Qiantang River in China. Elsewhere, in places like Chile and Scotland, he explored the efforts underway to produce renewable energy through underwater tides by using 60-foot blades similar to a windmill. He admitted he was initially concerned about potential environmental impacts but has since “come along.” (The problem plaguing this alternative energy, as he explained, is that underwater tides can carry a force akin to a hurricane and equipment can be ripped into pieces.) Mr. White has a trove of intriguing tidal tidbits: the height of the water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Reyes is two feet lower than it is across the sea on coastal China, due to trade winds, for example. He also noted the influence tides have on all living creatures. “Our biological rhythms are trained to a 24-hour day cycle but there are animals trained to circatidal rhythms,” he said. A California grunion, for example, lays its eggs on the beach and protects them in accord with the monthly shifts in size of ocean tides. Erica Heimberg, director of development for Turtle Island, said she is looking forward to learning how rising sea levels could threaten sea turtles’ nesting areas. “Changing tides are very relevant to conservation work,” she said. The appearance will be a return for Mr. White, whose family would water ski on Tomales Bay when he was a child, and the tidal predictions for the day he visits forecast low tide at 6 p.m. “Maybe I’ll get a chance to kick around in the inner tide,” he said. Author Jonathan White discusses “Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean” on March 12 at 6 p.m. in the Red Barn Classroom in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The event is free.