Jacques Mayol, L'homme dauphin

Reviewed by Rik Rösken

At the 22th day of December 2001, the life of Jacques Mayol came to a sudden end. After seventy-four years, Jacques decided, after a long depression , to end his life. For a large part of the diving community, it was very difficult to accept this and many questions stayed unanswered about his life of this well-known explorer of freediving.

The book of Pierre Mayol, the older brother of Jacques, and Patrick Mouton returns searches in Jacques past for explanations en describes the life of the free dive explorer. Those who have read "Homo Delphinus, the dolphin within man" will recognize many of the events described. However, instead of being based on Jacques experiences, this book recalls how his brother saw everything, and presents a different angle to some events as described or not described in Jacques Mayol´s masterpiece.

The book goes very deep into Jacques personal life, and sometimes it is difficult to discern where the whish of understanding his life ends and voyeurism starts. Nevertheless, the book is one to read for those who want to know more about this famous diver and is search for adventure, knowledge and recognition.

The French book; "Jacques Mayol, L'homme dauphin" counts 254 pages and is written by Pierre Mayol and Patrick Mouton. The reviewed edition is published in paperback by publisher Arthaud in March 2003. The ISBN number is 2700313445 en the book can be bought at amazon.fr and through your local bookstore.

Other articles about Jacques Mayol on this site:
Movie: The Big Blue / Le grande bleu (1988)
(1990) Comme un Dauphin