Overview

A brilliant overview of that most vital, most underrated and most elusive of human activities, sleep. Using the approach and skills he deployed to such successful effect on the relationship between mind and body in the prize-winning ‘The Sickening Mind’, likeable British popular science author Paul Martin here tackles the science of that most mysterious, elusive and alluring of human activities, sleeping, and draws on both cutting-edge neuroscience and classic literature to do so. We spend one third of our lives asleep, but know hardly anything about it, and can remember so little of it as we come out of it. Why? Are dreams the place we go to resolve our problems, emasculate our fears and rehearse our hopes? Why are we paralysed when we dream? Why did sleep evolve? And is anybody getting enough sleep?

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9780006551720

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Reviews

'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

An explication of sleep that not only reveals its mysteries but sings its praises. For Martin (The Healing Mind, 1998, etc.), a behavioral biologist, sleep is a form of behavior so familiar to us that we take it for granted, remaining woefully ignorant of its significance in our lives. His mission is to enlighten, to share with nonscientists what science has learned about the phenomenon, and to encourage us to value sleep and revel in its pleasures. Sleep deprivation is a sad fact of too many lives in the industrialized world, he notes, and the consequences can be alarming, especially when the sleep-deprived are making life-and-death decisions in hospitals, vehicles, or the corridors of power. Excerpts from Charles Lindbergh's account of his solo transatlantic flight show just how dangerous sleepiness can be. Martin frequently turns to literature to illustrate his points. His text is larded with apt quotes and examples from Shakespeare, Pepys, Coleridge, Dickens, and a host of others. After a thorough examination of sleep deprivation and its hazards, he considers and explains the mechanisms of sleep, the various factors that promote or prevent sleep, and the nature of dreams. The latter includes a fascinating discussion of lucid, or self-aware, dreams and of how to foster them. Martin looks at various theories of the biological function of sleep, seeing as plausible the idea that the two different stages of sleep are involved in the storage and consolidation of two different kinds of memory: declarative, or knowing that, and procedural, or knowing how. Students pulling all-nighters before exams are advised to get a good night's sleep instead. Sleepwalking, nightmares, insomnia, snoring, apnea, and other nighttime problems also get his attention. An unexpected bonus is a capsule history of beds from the elegant royal ones of King Tutankhamen of the 14th century b.c. to Howard Hughes's mobile bed, a sleeping machine powered by 30 electric motors and equipped with hot and cold running water. A choice example of science writing that entertains as it educates. (Kirkus Reviews)

Ronald Reagan was apparently famed for his love of sleep and hated to be disturbed during the night. Paul McCartney dreamed some of his best songs while asleep, including Yesterday, Yellow Submarine and Let It Be. Paul Martin's book tells you everything you ever wanted to know about sleep. Although a recent study suggested that too much sleep might be bad for us, Martin is firmly of the opinion that we don't get enough of it. Looking at the long-hours culture of British politics, he suggests it's hogwash to believe it's both feasible and admirable to sleep only four hours a night. Sleepiness, he points out, is partly responsible for many of the world's worst major accidents including the Supertanker Exxon Valdez and the Three Mile Island Power Station. Sleepiness results in more deaths on the road than alcohol or drugs. What is sleep for? Martin examines the various theories. Is it simply the best thing to do during darkness? Is it for brain maintenance? Are dreams merely waste products? He examines remedies for insomnia from opium through to valerian, to having your feet tickled. He looks at sleep walking, night terrors, nightmares and snoring. There is a whole chapter on the curious phenomena of nocturnal emissions and yawning. We just don't appreciate our beds enough. Winston Churchill worked in bed all morning. John Bayley writes his books in bed. Benjamin Disraeli used two beds in hot weather, keeping cool by moving back and forth between them. An American psychologist has even suggested that George Bush's gaffes and garbled sentences are the result of lack of shut-eye on the part of a man who needs a lot of it. The book deplores the way society wilfully ignores the problem of sleep. Sleep disorders are given only five minutes in a medical education syllabus, and the prime importance of sleep for the recovery of hospital patients is totally ignored in the organization of most hospital routines. Challenging, enquiring, liberally seasoned with quotations from Shakespeare to James Joyce, this is the ideal bedside book, especially if you can't sleep! (Kirkus UK)

'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

Author Information

Paul Martin was educated at Cambridge University and at Stanford University, California, where he was Harkness Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences. He lectured and researched in behavioural biology at Cambridge University, and was a Fellow of Wolfson College, before leaving academia to pursue other interests including science writing. His previous books include The Sickening Mind and Counting Sheep.

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