Customer Reviews

Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams

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3 star:		(1)
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We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, but we don't like to admit it. We are likely to praise the person who skimps on sleep in order to get the duties of the rest of life, "real life," done. Scientific sleep research was not even considered until recent decades. Correcting this sort of neglect of a biological necessity is one of the purposes of _Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams_ (Thomas Dunne Books) by Paul Martin. The deliberate neglect of sleep manifests itself in many ways, as if, Martin writes, we all somehow "ceased to exist at night." There is an enormous literature about sleep, not just the scientific studies that have been conducted over the past five decades, but also poems, essays, and novels having to do with sleep and dreaming. Martin gives quotations from many authors (especially Shakespeare and Dickens) in epigraphs and also as illustrations within the text to show how universal the literary concern for slumber has been; his reading is obviously wide and rich, and his book is crammed with interesting facts about aspects of sleep that ought to convince anyone that sleeping is more important, and more virtuous, than we currently esteem it.

Sleep is universal, even among other animals besides humans. Humble insects and mollusks sleep. Fruit flies find a location where they can remain immobile for a couple of hours, around the same time of day, and if you keep them from sleeping, they catch up as soon as they can. What is sleep for? Nathaniel Kleitman, the founder of modern sleep research, dodged the question. He said he would explain the role of sleep once someone had explained the role of wakefulness. Most hypotheses of the action of sleep have been shot down, and non is completely convincing or comprehensive, so there are many mysteries still to be solved. Martin makes the case that almost all of us in modern societies are deprived of sleep at least some of the time. "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty," says the Bible, and even Dr. Franklin roused the sluggards with the reminder that there will be sleep enough in the grave. Our eagerness to stay up, our fortitude in setting the alarm so we get an early start, are not virtues at all, Martin shows. Sleep deprivation robs the next day of comfort and productivity, but can also produce disasters. The grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger explosion, the near-disaster at Three Mile Island nuclear power station and the true disaster at Chernobyl might not have happened had the personnel involved all been sleeping well. There are many sleep diseases, but the very worst is Fatal Familial Insomnia, in which sufferers endure worsening sleep until their brains become incapable of generating sleep brain waves. Not even the strongest barbiturates bring sleep, and death invariably results.

There isn't much here about that other bed activity, sex, but there is chapter on the universal phenomenon of nocturnal erections and the equally universal one of yawning. There is a chapter on beds, many of them strange or expensive. Cardinal Richelieu was so devoted to staying in bed that he traveled in his bed, with porters carrying him. If he visited you, you would have to tear down a wall or two so that he could be carried, still abed, into your house where he would begin his meetings, again still abed. There is the story of how the Soviets harnessed sleep deprivation by amplified music and flares to keep Nazis from sleeping and overtaking Leningrad. Famous sleepers are profiled. The pianist Anton Rubinstein would have overslept every morning except that his wife found the perfect solution. She would play an unresolved chord on his piano, and he would leap out of bed to complete it. You can learn here about increasing the likelihood that you will remember your dreams, or how to increase your chances of lucid dreaming, during which you have more control over the dream than usual. Throughout this informed survey runs the recurrent and welcome message: Sleep is important, you probably don't get enough, and you should enjoy a good sleep just as you do a good meal. And naps are good for you. Brightly written, Martin's book cannot itself induce somnolence, but can just make us act upon it more readily and knowingly.

A very good subtitle for this encyclopedic book, also the title of this review, which could have included the words "and everything that can go wrong with sleep and the lack of it". Easy to read, exhaustively referenced (but without numbered references), Martin's dry humor is sparse at the beginning, but expands nicely as the book progresses. There are no picures, tables or graphs. For my taste, too many myths, legends, personal anecdotes, and non-scientific thoughts including poetic fantasies detracted from the many experimental findings that were presented.

Every aspect of sleep was addressed: REM, NREM, deep-wave, insomnia, too little sleep with many warnings about its effect on driving and other activities, alcohol and sleep, falling asleep, snoring, apnea, dreaming, waking up, SIDS...everything! Some conclusions were not surprising - many people in industrialized countries are suffering from too litttle sleep or too little deep sleep, and wake up to alarm clocks, a stress. Many school children sleep through classes because of poor regular sleep.

Martin demonstrated a few lapses in content. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was said to have complex causes, including "malfunctioning immune reactions" (p21). Actually, it is proven that food allergies, especially grain allergies, are a common cause of CFS. People who get sleepy 90 minutes after eating a meal (p157) was not connected with hypogycemia from high-carbohydrate food. ADHD may well be caused by poor sleeping (p232), but no mention of its possible connection with diet was made (J. Am. Phys. Surg. 2003;8(2):58-60). Serum cholesterol levels were said to be a risk factor for heart disease (p263), which they are not when age is taken into account (see The Cholesterol Myths, Uffe Ravnskov). Eating fat, unless it was all trans fat, was not likely to be the cause of Elvis Presley's early death (p280). Grinding of teeth while sleeping was adressed with several types of treatments (p283), yet the simple plastic tooth guard was not mentioned. Irritable bowel syndrome (p284) was not connected with grain allergies. SIDS causes (p328) did not include too many vaccines too early in life as a possible cause.

Despite the caveats, this is a very good book.

"The mere presence of an alarm clock implies sleep deprivation." What's the purpose of sleeping and dreaming? Some would just as well ask what's the purpose of wakefulness, or elegant dining, and I've been happily one of them since I was kid who early understood the delicious and miraculous sensuality of that mere third of our lives spent sleeping and dreaming. (Some of us wish it was an acceptably higher percentage.) With whimsical puns and humor appropriate to any lover of sleep ("Give sleep a chance." "Falling asleep again, what am I to do?"), Dr. Martin covers everything from the art of lucid dreaming to the history of beds -- and everything his delightful and agile mind can squeeze into 432 pages in between. No kidding. Despite the format that already feels like a sad "remainder," no self respecting sleep aficionado will be without this book on a nightstand (or coffee table, perchance to recruit other sleep and dream connoisseurs). Loaded with countless "aha" and "wow" current research facts and implications -- and plenty of encouragement to include the exquisite pleasures of sleeping and dreaming in daily life. Highly recommended educational material for the materially insane Western world. Zzzzzz.

Though seemingly a bit logically circular at times, I highly recommend "Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams." Whether chosen as a leisure read or as a baseline for a sleep researcher, "Counting Sheep:.." is scientific, easy to digest, entertaining, and relevant. Everyone sleeps and this title, like Medina's bestselling "Brain Rules," sets out a neuroscience-based argument for how to treat our brains so they perform best for us. Martin teaches us about forms, functions and special cases of sleep while citing researchers throughout history - from Aristotle to Freud. Simultaneously, he entertains us and reinforces the true respect for sleep that society should show (as opposed to the widespread, toxic deprivation society is structured on). Sell your alarm clock and buy this book.

...Why this book is interesting
As a neuroscience student, this book provides a great, scientific foundation of knowledge on all aspects of sleep. As a being who sleeps (as Martin notes, all animals do), this book is easy and enjoyable to digest and will put anyone to sleep (and that is a good thing).

...What this book will tell you, and how
This book takes us through the importance of sleep and the many terrible consequences of not getting the proper amount of sleep. Martin emphasizes how our society now caters to and most values those who spend as little of their days sleeping (and thus more time working or at 24 hour stores). "A century ago the majority toiled long hours while the affluent few idled away their time. Today, however, the more conventionally successful you are, the less free time you will probably have...according to prevailing cultural attitudes, sleeping is one of the lease productive human activities." He also mentions sleep's dangerous lack of value to most of us and those that insure our safety. "The average amount of time devoted to sleep and sleep disorders in (pre-med) undergraduate teaching was...15 minutes."
The stages and external/electrophysiological mechanisms of human and animal sleep, are then detailed. Martin then pleasantly discusses dreams in an interesting section that will have you looking upon the midnight reveries in a whole new way. Origins (from age to genes) for these mechanisms are discussed before the possible reasons for sleep, which are quite counter-intuitive, are presented with convincing study data to support them.
Martin finally discusses the many problems people can have with sleep and their broad range of consequences. Before discussing the many good things that sleep can bring. These "pleasures" round out the aptly titled "Counting Sheep: the Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams."
This book understandably teaches about these topics in the digestible, chapter-based form of a paperback, while presenting consistent and plentiful evidence in studies (that are entertaining also).

...Things I liked and noticed about "Counting Sheep:.."
I really liked the details presented, in a clear, understandable way, on cycles and stages of sleep. This gives baseline knowledge on how sleep operates before presenting dozens of cases and aspects of sleep pertaining to delta waves or NREM.

The section of the book on dreams was both pleasant and useful -- lightly narrating the reasons for and pleasantries of dreams.

The History that was woven into the book was just wonderful. Martin involved studies and observations throughout the ages, always presented in a convincing way. "Aristotle's was firm in his belief..." "Charles Darwin recorded these observations about the likely existence of dreaming in other species:..." Additionally, the flow of the book and its lack of dryness can be attributed at least in part to the quotes on sleep from dozens of historical figures from poets to politicians. "Is all that we see or seem/ But a dream within a dream? - Edgar Allan Poe"

The book was further made enjoyable and attention-keeping by the strange special cases and jokes craftily presented throughout. "King Louis XIV of France owned a mere 48 day beds..."

I also liked that this book so thoroughly presented information on every aspect of sleep you could think of. "Counting Sheep" has an exhaustive list of references, and after reading the book, I truly feel that all of these were sources of substantial information presented, and that comes to a hugely broad-based knowledge of sleep and sleep research. It seems (almost to a tiring extent) that the book presents nearly every mainstream (and many not so mainstream) study on sleep; though the reliability of the book was reinforced by having heard some of the presented studies in other neuroscience-related literature.

The cover of the book was pleasant and does justice to the excellent quality of the work itself. I also greatly liked how digestible the organization and type set was. Further, the level of jargon, explanations and topics was appropriate for a wide audience.

Some of the studies presented in "Counting Sheep:.." seem to be somewhat relying on conjectures and interpretations. Standing back, it appears as though some uncertainties of causation versus causality may have been ignored by Martin. This ambiguity in the first place, I imagine, is probably a result of the lack of sleep research that has ever been done - thus leaving many aspects and mechanisms foggy.

While Martin teaches about sleep, he also presents information to argue that sleep is dangerously under revered and lack of adequate sleep is/can be the cause of many cruel consequences (though I do not doubt that the evidence is truly lopsidedly in support of this). It cannot be overlooked that there is definitely an argument presented/advanced by Martin.



Overall, "Counting Sheep:..." provides a wide base of research on sleep while teaching of the many aspects of sleep. The book keeps it interesting and light while delivering a sound argument for the importance of sleep.
Take what Martin says to heart, and treat your brains better according to the knowledge you gain from "Counting Sheep:.." Read this book through as bedtime entertainment, but don't let yourself get too engrossed and lose sleep.

I have to say that this book is a little challenging to read. So far I am about 100 pgs in and it is still very interesting. I like all the examples of what sleep deprivation has done to us. Not the best book ever but I would definitely recommend it to people with any interest in sleep and dreams

I suppose there is a certain type of reader who will love this book. Martin revels in long quotations from men of science dating back to the Greeks, and from literary works, as well as historical tidbits in general that pertain to sleep in some tangential way. For the rest of us, I say stick with this book, for it has fascinating, and useful, information on sleep.

Perhaps, start in Chapter 5, "The Shapes of Sleep". While I knew something about the sleep cycle, I had no idea that some of your dreams occur during the hypnagogic and hypnopompic (transition to and from sleep) stages rather than during the REM stage, although this fact correlates very well with experience.

Paul Martin has taken stacks of modern sleep research and turned it into a fascinating, entertaining and easy to read book. I credit his funny chapter on nocturnal erections as my inspiration for the creation of the Dream Director Erection Switch. Great book. I highly recommend it.

This book makes convincing claims that most people give too little thought to an activity that occupies a large fraction of our life.
It has lots of little pieces of information which can be read as independent essays. Here are some claims I found interesting:
"sleepiness is responsible for far more deaths on the roads than alcohol or drugs".
Tired people rate their abilities higher than people who slept well do.
Poor sleep contributes to poor health a good deal more than medical diagnoses suggest, but hospitals are designed in ways that hinder patients' sleep.
Idle time was apparently a status symbol up to a century ago, now being busy is a status symbol. This should have economic implications that someone ought to explore in depth.
People in a vegetative state have REM sleep. This sounds like cause to re-evaluate the label we apply to that state.

While the book has many references, it doesn't connect specific claims to references, and I'm sometimes left wondering why I should believe a claim. How can boredom be a modern concept? When he says "no person has ever gone completely without sleep for more than a few days", how does he know he can dismiss people who claim to have not slept for years?

I almost passed on this book because the title gave me the impression that it was probably a piece of fluff. In reality this is a very comprehensive study on all aspects of sleep. I really liked how the author put many things I already knew, more or less, into perspective. Such as: Driving while having slept too little is like driving after having drunk too much. Alcohol gets all the blame, while people pride themselves on going without sleep. One problem: I often have dreams that foretell some incident that occurs later in the day, and found this true for many others also. Psychic dreams seem to be as common as rain, but the author dismisses them as mere coincidence. I subtracted one star for this factual error.