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More About the Author
Product Description
Carol Cooper, Lancet
Anyone seeking a Travelogue around the Land of Nod will not be disappointed. It is as le Guide Michelin would put it, vaut le voyage
BBC Focus Magazine
an impressive amount of material...a handy tour d'horizon
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enthusiastically recommend this book if you want to find out more about how sleep works, from early experiments to the latest scientific research, it is all here.
The book is very well written and accessible - the author has got the balance just right (from my point of view) between the science and the anecdotal. This makes the book an "easy" read, but at the same time you gain valuable hard knowledge.
I am a prolific reader of both fiction and non-fiction books and this was one of my top reads for 2007. I recall and share many of the insights I gained from the book and can honestly say that it has changed some of my behaviours and anxieties relating to sleep in a beneficial way.
The book is very well written and accessible - the author has got the balance just right (from my point of view) between the science and the anecdotal. This makes the book an "easy" read, but at the same time you gain valuable hard knowledge.
I am a prolific reader of both fiction and non-fiction books and this was one of my top reads for 2007. I recall and share many of the insights I gained from the book and can honestly say that it has changed some of my behaviours and anxieties relating to sleep in a beneficial way.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Absolutely brilliant! It's a thorough look at everything associated with sleep an sleep problems. Not for those that just want a quick "manual" to getting better sleep. This is more for those that want the science and the theories in addition to all the practical tips the author serves up.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I ordered this book with an expectation to learn a lot about what function sleep serves, how it relates to cognition and physical performance, what we know about dreams and dreaming, and other key themes in an argument that affects every day (or more often night) of our lives.
My experience is that books dealing with scientific arguments can be one of two things. They can be well written, easy to read stories with anecdotes and jokes that lead the layman through a complicated argument in a easy to handle way, or they are academic works packed with hard data presented in an objective manner. A rare book is able to combine the two and leave you with a book that is easy to read with an astounding amount of information. This is the first book I've read which achieves neither.
The book is not easy to read and frequently dull. Just when it looks like it is getting interesting it says "but more on this in chapter XX". When you do finally get to that chapter the "more" is entirely unsatisfying. The author frequently offers his own opinions based on what seems no more than a whim, but criticizes other scientists and health workers for their lack of objectivity. He dispatches the question of dreams in a single paragraph suggesting that they are both impossible to study and not worth the effort.
I cannot say that I took nothing away from this book. The author effectively details why much sleep research provides tainted results, and the difficulty of effectively evaluating its affect on cognition. There are also some things which are casually mentioned that I will probably follow up on elsewhere. However, the sum of what is interesting in this book could be packed into 20 pages and the book meanders through almost 200 tedious pages.
I feel bad giving such a negative review, so I will point out that there is a chapter on falling asleep at the wheel which may serve to help save some lives, but I myself traded in my car for a bicycle 7 years ago so it meant very little to me personally.
My experience is that books dealing with scientific arguments can be one of two things. They can be well written, easy to read stories with anecdotes and jokes that lead the layman through a complicated argument in a easy to handle way, or they are academic works packed with hard data presented in an objective manner. A rare book is able to combine the two and leave you with a book that is easy to read with an astounding amount of information. This is the first book I've read which achieves neither.
The book is not easy to read and frequently dull. Just when it looks like it is getting interesting it says "but more on this in chapter XX". When you do finally get to that chapter the "more" is entirely unsatisfying. The author frequently offers his own opinions based on what seems no more than a whim, but criticizes other scientists and health workers for their lack of objectivity. He dispatches the question of dreams in a single paragraph suggesting that they are both impossible to study and not worth the effort.
I cannot say that I took nothing away from this book. The author effectively details why much sleep research provides tainted results, and the difficulty of effectively evaluating its affect on cognition. There are also some things which are casually mentioned that I will probably follow up on elsewhere. However, the sum of what is interesting in this book could be packed into 20 pages and the book meanders through almost 200 tedious pages.
I feel bad giving such a negative review, so I will point out that there is a chapter on falling asleep at the wheel which may serve to help save some lives, but I myself traded in my car for a bicycle 7 years ago so it meant very little to me personally.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Most up to date book about the science of sleeping
Like most people I asked this question to myself too "Why do we sleep?" Here is a book that explains it all. Read more
Published 4 months ago by SonnyK
Sleepfaring
I found this book to be very true to its title's claim: A journey through the science of sleep.
The book is really easy to read and is written in quite a conversational... Read more
The book is really easy to read and is written in quite a conversational... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Skelly
A gem of a book
This is an excellent book. The science, research and theories are explained with a light touch that is never patronising. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Lily
Good Overview of the Science of Sleep
When I saw this book, I knew I just had to get it to while away the long, dark, wee hours of the night. Read more
Published 21 months ago by J. Brown
Not what I expected, but still good.
Enjoyable book. Quite enjoyable. Much more of a self help book for people who have trouble sleeping, and there is a lot of very useful information about sleep in general that can... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by puppets_smile
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