Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

The book is an interesting read and provides a lot research on sleep (and dreaming), but I could not get rid of the feeling that the author is overstating his case - the a good night's sleep is a cure for basically everything.

I found the citation of literature a bit lacking - sometimes he provides a source for something as mundane as a website with car crash statistics, but he fails to provide it for some hard-to-believe research that shows that having a few drinks 2 full days after learning completely messes up recall 7 days (!) after learning.

His attempt to explain effects of alcoholism and delirium tremens through lack of dreams also seems very speculative.

What most bothered me is his insistence on the magical number of 8 hours of sleep. I totally get the point of needing to sleep enough, but why a round 8 (also exactly a third of the day)? Why not 7h 45 min, why not 8h 30min? How come it's not dependent on your body (sex, constitution), your psychological character, the type of work you do (intellectual vs physical), larks vs night-owls... The only difference that the author seems to acknowledge is age - teens need more sleep and their schedule is shifted compared to adults.

Anyway, I read this a few months ago, so I seem to only remember the annoying parts. Nevertheless, there's plenty of informative and inspiring stuff in this book, so do read it ;)