All about Sleep from A to Zzzz

There was an old song that went something like, "wake up you sleepy head, get up, get out of bed!" There are so many things that happen when you fall asleep, but even scientists find the process to be quite mysterious at times. Scientists are always trying to gain a further understanding of sleep. Every living creature needs to sleep, even plants! Did you know that birds can sleep when they fly and that dolphins sleep while they swim, one eye open, the other shut? Some amazing things can happen when you are asleep. Dr. Otto Loewi had a dream about an experiment. He woke up, wrote it down, but when he awoke his handwriting was indecipherable and he couldn't read it. The next night he had the same dream, but when he woke up he remembered the experiment he ran in the dream. This experiment garnered him the Nobel Prize in Medicine! One of the more fascinating stories was the one about the girl who climbed onto a 130-foot crane and fell asleep. You'll have to read the book to find out what happened to her! This book briefly covers a wide range of "sleep" topics from circadian rhythms (our biological clocks) to narcolepsy and sleep terrors. Did you know that "only a quarter of people's dreams are pleasant?" Did you know that sleep deprivation can hurt you and that one called fatal familial insomnia can actually kill you? This book can even tell you what grades you might be getting based on how much sleep you get. Hmmmm, how about that one! I found this book to be concise, fun, factual and very interesting. It can be a stepping stone to further research for the student (there are additional resources listed in the back) or can be simply read for fun. John O'Brien has illustrated this book in his b/w inimitable New Yorker Style. Here and there bits of unusual "sleep" trivia keep this book from being dry. Have you ever heard of a hypnic jerk? No, you might say, but I assure you, you've experienced one!