Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep

Description

From bestselling author Michael McGirr comes Snooze, a revised edition of the entertaining and enlightening The Lost Art of Sleep (2009). Michael always had trouble sleeping, but the arrival of twins made him realise he'd never known true exhaustion. While he celebrated these small children who brought him so much joy, he also found himself desperately searching for a few extra winks a night. In Snooze, McGirr delves into the mysterious world of sleep: its many benefits, its stubborn elusiveness and what our brains get up to while we're in bed. He takes readers on a tour through the odd sleep patterns of some of history's greatest figures, including Plato and Homer, Shakespeare and Dickens, Florence Nightingale (who slept a great deal) and Thomas Edison (who hardly slept at all). He looks at the demise of sleep in our ever more fragmented world, and what that means for everyone from average sleepers to those with serious sleep disorders. And he describes his own family's quest to master the ancient art of getting a decent kip. A profound and humorous exploration of the precious resource of sleep-and the causes and consequences of getting too little of it-Snooze is the perfect book for sleepless nights.

Michael McGirr is the bestselling author of Things You Get for Free and Bypass: The Story of a Road, a popular Year 12 English text in Victoria. He has reviewed more than nine hundred books for the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times; his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications in Australia and overseas; and he has been the publisher of Eureka Street and fiction editor of Meanjin. He currently teaches literature and philosophy at St Kevin's College in Melbourne. Michael's expertise in the area of sleep derives not only from having several sleep disorders but also from having three children.

'Amid the stories of famous sleepers and famous insomniacs, McGirr has interspersed personal tales, where he captures a young household very much in need of sleep...A lovely readable tone, highly recommended!' Louise Swinn, Triple R 'McGirr is an inspired synthesiser, serious in intent even while riotous in execution. You could call The Lost Art of Sleep volume three of a complex autobiography (with Things You Get for Free and Bypass). But if the central character embodies the quandaries, the delight of the writing lies in the world around him.' Morag Fraser, Eureka Street 'Although this book is about insomnia and sleep, it will not send the reader off to sleep... It is a happy book. It is a compendium of anecdote about living with small, sleepless children and of moving house.' ArtsHub 'An eyes-wide-open look at the penumbral world of sleep, where we spend so much of our time without quite knowing why...Lively...A good book to curl up with while pondering the mysteries of Morpheus.' Kirkus Reviews 'With Snooze, Michael McGirr has, pardon the pun, produced a wake-up call about the fascinating yet little known history and science of sleep. A delightful read, Snooze takes on the one activity we spend the most time doing, yet still manages to surprise. It's one bedtime read that won't put you to sleep.' Edward Humes, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Door to Door and Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash