For readers of Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers and Susan Casey’s The Wave, One Breath is a gripping and powerful exploration of the strange and fascinating sport of freediving, and of the tragic, untimely death of America’s greatest freediver.
Among freedivers —a sport built on diving as deep as possible on a single breath—, few have ever gone as deep as Nicholas Mevoli. A handsome young American with an unmatched talent for the sport, Nick was among freediving’s brightest stars. So when Nick Mevoli arrived at Vertical Blue in 2013, the world’s premier freediving competition, he was widely expected to challenge records and continue his meteoric rise to stardom. Instead, before the end of that fateful competition Nick Mevoli had died, a victim of the sport that had made him a star, and the very future of free diving was called into question. With unparalleled access and masterfully crafted prose, One Breath tells his unforgettable story, and of the sport which shaped and ultimately destroyed him.
“Skolnick shows sharp reportorial instincts in this multilayered narrative…This is a page-turning book…but it’s also about the competitors drawn to the sport, the ones for whom “freediving is both an athletic quest to push the limits of the body and mind, and a spiritual experience.” A worthy addition to the growing body of literature on adventures that test the limits of nature and mankind.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)