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Title details for Breath by James Nestor - Wait list

Breath

The New Science of a Lost Art

by James Nestor
James Nestor
Audiobook
0 of 2 copies available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
0 of 2 copies available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
A New York Times Bestseller
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020
Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR
 
“A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love
No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 26, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593211526
      • File size: 210636 KB
      • Duration: 07:18:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This is two, two, two audiobooks in one. Inspired journalist James Nestor talks us through the million-year history of breathing, telling how large brains and small jaws narrowed human blowholes to the extent that 90 percent of us, including Nestor himself, now have trouble getting air. Breathing properly is an ancient if neglected art, an art he employs to escape his own evolutionary strangulation. Nestor then passes the microphone to Anders Olsson, the founder of Conscious Breathing, who leads exercises in a Swedish accent to get Americans to close their mouths and exhale deeply--though not too deeply--through their noses. The best way forward is back. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 6, 2020
      In this fascinating “scientific adventure,” journalist Nestor (Deep) follows the clues that connect breath to health. After several bouts with pneumonia and resultant breathing problems, Nestor enters a Stanford University experiment that involves spending 10 days breathing with his nostrils plugged, and another 10 with his mouth taped shut. The results are eye-opening: mouth breathing increases his snoring and sleep apnea, and causes raised blood pressure and other issues. His investigation also leads him to a breathing class in Haight-Ashbury, a yoga studio in São Paulo, and to a conversation with a dental researcher, who points out that the skulls of ancient humans have wider airways and perfect teeth. (Subsequently, Nestor learns that the industrialization of the food supply led to softer foods, less vigorous chewing, and thus crooked teeth and narrow airways.) Frequency of breath is crucial; while science reveals that the ideal rate is 5.5 breaths per minute, many people breathe too fast. Nestor argues that proper breathing, though not a panacea, is an important component of preventative health maintenance. While the process of breathing may seem like a no-brainer, Nestor’s fascinating treatise convincingly asserts that it’s easy to get wrong, and vital to get right. Agent: Danielle Svetcov, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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