%20(8).png?width=2500&height=256&name=Monthly%20newsletter%20section%20dividers%20-%20April%202025%20(1250%20x%20128%20px)%20(8).png)
Good morning,
On 1st January 2026, Penguin Life is incredibly proud to be publishing the updated edition of James Nestor’s multi-million copy global bestseller, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Advance PDF copies will shortly be available, and James will be in the UK for a limited time w/c 2nd February. Exclusive rights (serial and first interview) are available. If you’d like to request an advance copy or discuss a media opportunity, please get in touch.
About the Author
James Nestor is a science journalist and has written for Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, National Public Radio, The New York Timesand more. His first book, Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What The Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves, was a finalist for the PEN American Centre Best Sports Book of the Year and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His collaboration with The Global Classroom, a partnership with the World Health Organization and supported by UNICEF, teaches millions of children around the world to breathe better. He lives and breathes in San Francisco.
- BBC Maestro: The Power of Your Breath
- Penguin Books UK: 5 Ways To Improve Your Breathing with James Nestor (2.6M views)
- Diary of a CEO: The Breathing Expert (1.6M views)
- Feel Better Live More: The Four Breathing Secrets That Will Transform Your Health
- Modern Wisdom: Change Your Breath, Change Your Life
- Virgin Radio with Chris Evans: Breathe Easier, Live Better
- Instagram: @mrjamesnestor (166K)
About the Book
In 2020, James Nestor wrote an international bestseller that changed how we think about our most overlooked and essential function: breath. Since its release, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, has spent 20 weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List and sold more than 3 million copies in over 44 languages. It was an Amazon No. 1 Bestseller, a Sunday Times No. 3 Bestseller, was included in the Top 100 Hardback Non Fiction Titles of 2020, was a finalist for the Royal Society Science Prize, and a winner of the American Society of Journalists and Authors award.
Breath revealed the science of something right in front of us, yet so misunderstood. There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing, yet - as a species - humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Your snoring, high blood pressure, asthma, even ADHD – all these common chronic conditions, and many more – are related to how you intake and exhale air. With cutting-edge science and immersive storytelling, Breath taught millions of readers why modern populations are suffering from so many chronic conditions – and how to fix them.
In this updated edition, James presents a new preface with brand new research on the impact of high CO2 levels (i.e. why it’s so difficult to think in classrooms, hotels, airplanes, offices and more – hint: it has to do with the air you’re breathing). He includes new insights on how to diagnose and reduce symptoms of ADHD at home, the most effective strategies to control anxiety and panic, how to work out harder, sleep better, and ensure that your kids don’t end up with your same crooked teeth.
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.
Through Breath we can:
- Reverse snoring: Fifty percent of the population snores. Few of us knew (or would believe) that most snoring is exacerbated and often caused by open-mouth breathing. In Breath, we learn how to close our mouths at night and restore our bodies and brains with deep sleep.
- Regulate weight: For every 10 pounds of fat we lose, eight pounds is released through our breath. The lungs are the weight-regulating system of the body. Developing proper breathing techniques can actually help us lose weight more efficiently.
- Control anxiety: The single most effective intervention for anxiety and panic in the moment isn’t a pill – it’s learning how to control your breath.
- Boost performance: Nasal breathing significantly enhances mental, physical, and psychological health, as demonstrated by athletes such as Lebron James and Novak Djokovic who both improved endurance through this practice.
- Change how we think and feel: New studies show that breathing better will significantly improve decision-making and critical thinking processes while helping us to better regulate emotions.
- Live longer: Deep and frequent breathing can lower blood pressure, increase circulation, and expand lung capacity – for everyone, at every age.
- Control immune function: Rigorous and rhythmic breathing allows us to control aspects of our autonomic nervous systems, reducing autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis, and arthritis. It all sounds impossible, but modern science has shown it is true.
Advance PDF copies will shortly be available, and James will be in the UK for a limited time in February 2026. If you’d like to request an advance copy or discuss a media opportunity, please get in touch.