Bishop and Levy have produced a masterful work that combines rigorous and fascinating research with a deft, humorous, and writerly hand. This highly entertaining compendium is an absolutely delightful melange of state-of-the-art academic insights, wonderful literature (everything from Raymond Chandler to William Shakespeare), and edgy graphics. Highly recommended!
It's difficult to build a coherent presentation out of a potpourri of quotes and anecdotes, but the authors (and their invaluable partner, a smart graphic designer in tune with the text's ever-changing moods) have turned this obstacle to its best advantage. Their source material -- which ranges from pop song lyrics to the musings of Balzac, Kerouac, and Hemingway -- is designed to be dipped into randomly. Ultimately, the book's structure mirrors the way my mind works when I'm awake at 3 a.m.: skipping from one thought to another, by turns amused or terrified, morose or elated.
Behind this "open-any-page-&-discover-what's-there" strategy, there is a master plan by which the authors artfully investigate the many facets of this strange and uniquely human phenomenon. Insomnia can be a muse, a mistress, an omen of madness, a stimulus to imagination, a chance to get work done, a temporary malady or a lifelong obsession. All of these states of mind -- plus a number of amusing historical, biographical, cultural and scientific anecdotes -- are celebrated quite nicely in this unusually diverting volume.
Ultimately, the book is something like insomnia itself -- not a road you travel from A to Z, but a world you experience in bouts of agony, ecstasy, and wry amusement.
in the wee hours
For people to whom sleep comes easily, the night is a welcoming place. For those who hold no visa for the state of REM, minutes pass like hours. The brain of the insomniac defies sleep with endless musings and ramblings, recriminations and replayed conversations.
Here, then, is a mini-Baedeker for the dream-deprived, designed to divert your gaze from the leering glare of the digital clock with soothing diversions and charming distractions, including:
Pithy reflections on insomnia from thinkers and writers ranging from Job, Dorothy Parker, and Marcel Proust to Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Leadbelly Eye-opening facts about famous insomniacs, including Marilyn Monroe's explanation of her relentless wakefulness 85 topics of regret, remorse, resentment, and recrimination, from the age-old question "What if everything my mother told me turns out to be true?" to the timeless favorite "Why did I have unprotected sex with my personal trainer?" A tongue-in-cheek guide to sleeping aids, from herbs and pharmaceuticals to sex and Wagner