Sleepfaring: a journey through the science of sleep Jim Horne Oxford University Press, 272pp, £14.99 ISBN 0192807315
Sleep is when we are at our most relaxed and yet, paradoxically, at our most vulnerable. A particularly strange or disturbing dream can convey all kinds of buried insecurities, just as a pleasant or cathartic one is likely to be woken from with a feeling of regret at its passing. In this half-scientific, half-psychological study, Jim Horne discusses every aspect of sleep imaginable, from why the human body needs to shut down for a period every day to why some of us snore.
Horne's arguments are compelling, thoughtful and backed by a wide variety of statistics and facts. He explodes many old wives' tales about dreams being stimulated or inhibited by certain substances, provides some sound anecdotal advice about the benefits of cat-napping (as practised by the likes of Winston Churchill and Leonardo da Vinci) and writes in an accessible and straightforward manner.
Unfortunately, what would be a thought-provoking scientific article or lecture is overstretched at 272 pages. Some of the most intriguing details are those delivered in passing, such as one scientist's fascination with the "transgressive" ideas of sleep eventually leading him to becoming a psychiatrist dealing with transsexuality.
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