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Rated Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art 4/10

I had high expectations from this book (mainly set by its subtitle and a nomination as best science book of 2020) and I was disappointed.<br/><br/>Overall, I'm glad I read it because it gave me some insights and pointers for further exploration. It was useful to understand counterintuitive science behind hyperventilation and mouth-breathing.<br/><br/>However, I absolutely disliked the writing style of the book. The author writes as if for a lifestyle magazine, not a pop-science book. The fixation on clothing was absolutely unbearable to me: the author describes in detail what every person he meets is wearing, as if it had any relevance to health effects of breathing or gives more (or less) weight to their arguments.<br/><br/>The scientific rigor of the book has not met my expectations either. My one sentence summary would be: "OMG, there are these mysterious breathing practices with documented health benefits which modern science didn't bother to study!" Despite a <a href="https://www.mrjamesnestor.com/bibliography">seemingly long bibliography</a> it's mostly based on other "popular" sources rather than scientific literature. Cited scientific literature mostly records puzzling phenomena rather than trying to explain them.<br/><br/>And the last chapter about author's meeting DeRose in Brazil and the origins of yoga made matters even more confusing. Instead of structuring various practices by their health effects and underlying mechanisms, the author throws all the breathing techniques in one basket and hand-waves some "mystery and magic of life".

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Published 2026-02-15 10:03 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere