The Sleepyhead's Bedside Companion

''To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub. For in this sleep of death what dreams may come.''
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

The immortal words of the Bard evoke a belief that goes back to the ancient days and the Greek Mythology. Nyx, the goddess of Night, has two twin sons, their names Hypnos and Thanatos. Hypnos is Morpheus, the Winged god of Sleep and Dreams, and Thanatos is the god of Death. It seems to me, my forefathers got something right, for if we come to think of it, how else can the state of sleep be described, similar to that certain greater rest? And to continue with being morbid, isn't sleepwalking a bit as if the human being -made of flesh and blood- becomes a ghost? Worse than that, an automaton with no perception and consciousness? On the other hand, let us think of hibernation, this miracle of Nature that helps sustain the existence of so many species.

Insomnia, night terrors, recurring and prophetic dreams, the effects of sleep deprivation on beings, the notions of Freud and Jung about sleep and many more topics grace the pages of this extremely interesting and innovative book. Written in simple, clear language and with the right amount of quirkiness- let us admit it, sleep can be quite quirky by itself- Sean Coughlan has created a wonderful account of this sweet and frightening thing we call ‘‘Sleep''. It is a book that will make you think, contemplate on questions that are, seemingly, without answers, on something most of us consider a given thing.

''Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care, the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, chief nourisher in life's feast.''
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

Well, after reading this book, William, not so much....