Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams (Paperback)

The book is divided into seven sections, with titles like "Preliminaries, Mechanisms and Origins". Using this scaffolding Martin confidently builds his thesis, that sleep is an adaptation for resting the weary body, which Homo sapiens has since cannily put to other uses (like dreaming).

But this is no dry Darwinian text. Martin is a plausible and highly engaging writer who has a gift for the telling anecdote: witness the Empress of Russia who employed an old woman specifically to tickle her feet so as she could drop off, or the famous-but-sleepy pianist who could only be roused by his wife playing an unresolved chord. Other enlightening diversions take Martin through the pros and cons of hypnotics, sleepwalking, snoring, late night milky drinks, nightmares, fatigued politicos and bedmates. Every section is enlivened by lots of pithy and well-chosen quotes, like James Joyce's blissfully simple: "warm beds, warm full-blooded life".

The author concludes with a chapter on sleeping problems. Many people have trouble getting the right amount of kip from time to time, and Martin gives sage advice on the best sleep regimens and remedies. But you don't have to be a narcoleptic or an insomniac to enjoy Counting Sheep: almost anyone should find this perfect bedtime reading. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'A fascinating book...which makes a powerful case for spending more time unconscious and explains the damaging effect on our lives of not spending enough. Martin makes an overwhelming case for valuing sleep more... If you read Martin's book, you will be persuaded to buy the most comfortable bed and mattress that you can afford. It could be the best investment you ever make.' Mary Ann Sieghart, The Times 'Energetic and immensely readable... This is as good a popular science book as I have read, which is to say it treads lightly but comprehensively across a relatively complex subject without shirking its responsibility to explain and illuminate. Martin's achievement is to do this with such vivacity and infectious enthusiasm that by the end of the book you'll be racing for your bed to try out a few sleepy experiments for yourself... I've read countless books on sleep, but rarely have I encountered one as sure-footed and hospitable as this.' Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard 'Bracingly clear and thoroughly researched ... a masterpiece of efficiently and entertainingly delivered information. ... you will find no more brisk and intelligible account. ... a compendious celebration of the delights of sleep.' Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman 'Paul Martin's novelty is his polemical verve...He writes what I still rejoice in calling natural history. He knows the research and quotes widely and appropriately from literature. You could see Counting Sheep as an antidote to the symptoms of the frenetic society delineated by James Gleick in Faster. I hope it does as well, either as in instant hit or as a sleeper.' Guardian 'Like many parents of small children, I have become obsessed by sleep, to the point where it strikes me as a more gripping subject for a book than almost any other... Reading Paul Martin's account of Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in 1927 in a one-seater plane, I experienced strong feelings of identification, almost of kinship, with the nocturnal desperado for whom sleep is at once an enemy and an object of desire... Even if you don't buy into the dark side of sleep deprivation, Martin's mourning of the lost pleasures of languor might win you over... To me, at least, it sounds irresistible.' Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph

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• Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Specific Topics > Sleep & Dreams
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