James Nestor Recommended Books

"In this landmark book, Robert O. Becker, M.D., a pioneer in the field of bioelectric science, presents a fascinating look at the role electricity plays in healing, challenging the traditional mechanistic model of the body. Colorful and controversial, this is a tale of engrossing research, scientific and medical politics, and breakthrough discoveries that offer new possibilities for fighting disease and harnessing the body's healing powers.

"Unique among survival books…stunning…enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading." ― Denver Post Laurence Gonzales’s bestselling Deep Survival has helped save lives from the deepest wildernesses, just as it has improved readers’ everyday lives. Its mix of adventure narrative, survival science, and practical advice has inspired everyone from business leaders to military officers, educators, and psychiatric professionals on how to take control of stress, learn to assess risk, and make better decisions under pressure.

Get High Now is an illustrated, mind-blowing magic carpet ride of more than 175 ways to alter human perception and consciousness without drugs or alcohol. Culled from science, physiology, spiritual practices, and the audio visual arts, these "all natural" highs playfully and safely explore the mind-body connection to entertaining and illuminating effect. Accessible and well-researched, each entry introduces concepts such as lucid dreaming, optical and auditory illusions, controlled breathing, meditation, time compression, and physical and mental exercises, explaining the ways in which they affect our minds and bodies and how to do them. Readers follow the author and his "HighLab" testing team through mind-bending and sometimes hilarious investigations, such as how to lull the mind into hallucinatory states with audio loops; why multiple bee stings lead to euphoric states; what cheeses to eat to induce psychedelic lucid dreams; how to control your breathing to create an out-of-body experience; and many more. Including solo, tandem, and group highs, Get High Now features hundreds of ways to calm or stimulate the senses and open new windows to experiencing the world.

“An engaging exploration of the depths of the world's oceans and the human connection to the rapidly changing world below. This is popular science writing at its best." — Christian Science Monitor “The reader could not wish for a better guide … Deep is a fascinating, informative, exhilarating book.” — Wall Street Journal “The deeper [Nestor] ventures into the ocean, the more dramatic and unusual the organisms therein and the people who observe them ... It’s a journey well worth taking.” — David Epstein, New York Times Book Review Fascinated by the sport of freediving—in which competitors descend great depths on a single breath—journalist James Nestor embeds with a gang of oceangoing extreme athletes and renegade researchers. He finds whales that communicate with other whales hundreds of miles away, sharks that swim in unerringly straight lines through pitch-black waters, and other strange phenomena. Most illuminating of all, he learns that these abilities are reflected in humans’ remarkable, and often hidden, potential—including echolocation, directional sense, and the profound physiological changes we undergo when underwater. Along the way, Nestor unlocks his own freediving skills as he communes with the pioneers who are expanding our definition of what is possible in the natural world, and in ourselves.

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 Sao 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.

Stress is not in your head, it’s in your body—this is the key to peak performance that Leah Lagos, PsyD, BCB, an internationally known expert in biofeedback and sport and performance psychology, wants us to know. In this book, she shares with readers for the first time the same program that she uses with top athletes, CEOs, business leaders—anyone who wants and needs to perform at their best. What makes her scientifically proven 10-week program unlike any other is that she recognizes the link between heart rhythms and stress to create specific, clinically tested exercises and breathing techniques that allow you to control your body’s physical response to stress. She pairs this training with cognitive-behavioral exercises to offer a two-tiered process for strengthening health and performance, enabling readers to respond more flexibly to stressful situations, let go of negative thoughts and emotions, and ultimately be more focused and confident under pressure.