Product Description

This an overview of that most vital, most underrated and most elusive of human activities, that draws on both cutting-edge neuroscience and classic literature. We spend one third of our lives asleep, but know hardly anything about it, and can remember so little of it as we come out of it. Why? This text seeks to answer questions such as: does sleeping keep us sane?; are dreams the place we go to resolve our problems, emasculate our fears and rehearse our hopes?; why are we paralysed when we dream?; why did sleep evolve?; and are we getting enough sleep?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265779 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
A good kip, a nice nap, forty winks--we all know how agreeable it is to hit the hay. In Counting Sheep, Cambridge scientist Paul Martin, onetime Director of Communication at the Cabinet Office, analyses quite why sleep is so biologically and psychologically rewarding.

The book is divided into seven sections, with titles like "Preliminaries, Mechanisms and Origins". Using this scaffolding Martin confidently builds his thesis, that sleep is an adaptation for resting the weary body, which Homo sapiens has since cannily put to other uses (like dreaming).

But this is no dry Darwinian text. Martin is a plausible and highly engaging writer who has a gift for the telling anecdote: witness the Empress of Russia who employed an old woman specifically to tickle her feet so as she could drop off, or the famous-but-sleepy pianist who could only be roused by his wife playing an unresolved chord. Other enlightening diversions take Martin through the pros and cons of hypnotics, sleepwalking, snoring, late night milky drinks, nightmares, fatigued politicos and bedmates. Every section is enlivened by lots of pithy and well-chosen quotes, like James Joyce's blissfully simple: "warm beds, warm full-blooded life".

The author concludes with a chapter on sleeping problems. Many people have trouble getting the right amount of kip from time to time, and Martin gives sage advice on the best sleep regimens and remedies. But you don't have to be a narcoleptic or an insomniac to enjoy Counting Sheep: almost anyone should find this perfect bedtime reading. --Sean Thomas

Review
'A fascinating book...which makes a powerful case for spending more time unconscious and explains the damaging effect on our lives of not spending enough. Martin makes an overwhelming case for valuing sleep more... If you read Martin's book, you will be persuaded to buy the most comfortable bed and mattress that you can afford. It could be the best investment you ever make.' Mary Ann Sieghart, The Times 'Energetic and immensely readable... This is as good a popular science book as I have read, which is to say it treads lightly but comprehensively across a relatively complex subject without shirking its responsibility to explain and illuminate. Martin's achievement is to do this with such vivacity and infectious enthusiasm that by the end of the book you'll be racing for your bed to try out a few sleepy experiments for yourself... I've read countless books on sleep, but rarely have I encountered one as sure-footed and hospitable as this.' Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard 'Bracingly clear and thoroughly researched ... a masterpiece of efficiently and entertainingly delivered information. ... you will find no more brisk and intelligible account. ... a compendious celebration of the delights of sleep.' Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman 'Paul Martin's novelty is his polemical verve...He writes what I still rejoice in calling natural history. He knows the research and quotes widely and appropriately from literature. You could see Counting Sheep as an antidote to the symptoms of the frenetic society delineated by James Gleick in Faster. I hope it does as well, either as in instant hit or as a sleeper.' Guardian 'Like many parents of small children, I have become obsessed by sleep, to the point where it strikes me as a more gripping subject for a book than almost any other... Reading Paul Martin's account of Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in 1927 in a one-seater plane, I experienced strong feelings of identification, almost of kinship, with the nocturnal desperado for whom sleep is at once an enemy and an object of desire... Even if you don't buy into the dark side of sleep deprivation, Martin's mourning of the lost pleasures of languor might win you over... To me, at least, it sounds irresistible.' Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph

Sunday Telegraph 23 June 2002
A fascinating account of what happens during the dark third of our lives, the time with which we are so familiar but about which we know so little.

Customer Reviews

The most important book i have ever bought!
The information contained in this book has allowed me to completely transform the quality of my life! I have for sometime being suffering from depression, tiredness, decreased concentration levels, lack of memory, lack of good judgement and even skin problems (i.e. acne.) And now due to the essential knowledge I have gained from this book into the workings of sleep I can "UNEQUIVOCALLY" attribute all of these problems were due to lack of good quality un-interrupted sleep. Regardless of what conclusion you may have reached by what I have said, I urge you to please read on, it may be a very important 2 minutes for you. I could write an essay of almost unlimited length regarding the knowledge I have gained from this book. But I will try to stick to the fundamentals.
I believe that knowledge should be put to good use, or why on earth should it even be obtained? So I must include within this review exactly what I have gained from reading this book. I have completely got rid of my depression problem, my mental ability and concentration levels have also increased dramatically. I also make fewer mistakes, and have MUCH better judgements. And my acne condition is almost no existent. When reading this, please bare in mind that I have done nothing other than change my sleeping pattern to regular and un-interrupted. Basically, I go to bed at a regular time every night with only the occasional late weekend night, and sleep for as much as I need. This can be achieved my constantly monitoring the amount of sleep you get in relation to how you feel. Eventually you will be able to work out exactly how much you need in relation to your life's activities.
Ok, now I must also tell you why increased sleep has positively affected each former problem area of my life. I have got rid of depression, because various chemicals in my brain are working as they should, and I also have decreased levels of "Cortisol" in my blood stream. Cortisol is the stress chemical... it decreases with the amount of sleep you get. My mental ability and concentration levels have increased, as I wake up every morning feeling refreshed and full of energy and life. Something that I could not even begin to comprehend before changing my sleeping pattern. I had pretty bad acne (I.e. pimples and spots). This problem is almost non existent now that I am getting proper sleep; my complexion has completely cleared up. This I believe can be directly attributed to my hormonal balance returning to near normal, which has directly affected the amount of sebum typed oil being secreted from the sebaceous glands in my skin. Your hormonal balance is regulated mainly when you sleep. Oh and by the way for anyone suffering from obesity, this is an absolute must for you, it will show you links with lack of sleep, depression = comfort eating and sleep apnoea which can stop you from losing the weight you want. Don't laugh this off, read and see! But the main area of my life which has been most positively affected has got to be my ambition. Due to lack of depression and increased energy levels I now feel that I can use this to my advantage and try to create a really good life for myself.
In conclusion, although before reading this book I had a ruff idea that it was my lack of good sleep that was my real problem... gaining knowledge into the real workings of sleep proved every belief I had regarding lack of sleep, and it also disproved many thing others have told me in the past. I urge you to have a read at this book, the knowledge contained in it might just full the missing link in your life.

Counting Sheep by Paul martin
This book I found very hard to put down; There were times I had to force myself to stop reading it! The standard of writing flowed naturally, it had flair and wit. It was a wonderful experience to try out a few of the dream and sleep experiments. What a worthy book to read and a 100% recommendation to all new and yet to begin Paul Martin readers.

Excellent popular science book on sleep and dreams
Counting Sheep is a tantalizing book that tells you lots
of useful and not so useful but interesting facts about what scientists currently know regarding sleep and dreams.
People tend to give over and over again too little thought to
this so important part of our lives.
How dangerous is it really to be sleep-deprived?
How do dolphins sleep? What is there to sex and sleep?
How do cows dream? What can be done regarding sleep apnea?
How can you influence your dreams?
Martin tells about these facts and more sprinkling scientific
facts with excellent quotations of well-known writers and many funny anecdotes.
I hope this book will be translated soon into my mother tongue, Spanish. If you like sleeping or if you don't, if you sleep well or bad, if you snore or know somebody who does, if you remember your dreams or not, this book may interest you.
There were some parts that could have been kept shorter and Martin bit around the bush a wee bit, but in general, it was an excellent book.