The Twenty-Four-Hour Society: Understanding Human Limits in a World That Never Stops

This vitally important book offers insights and advice relevant to most anyone who works for a living. Moore-Ede, a physiology professor at Harvard Medical School and CEO of Circadian Technologies, makes the point early on that contemporary technological society collides with the physiology humans have developed over eons, ill-adapting us physically to deal with the demands of jobs that can require us to be alert at 4 a.m. He shows how the employees in the airline business, the medical profession and the nuclear power, trucking and railroad industries, for example, suffer disastrous accidents because their circadian cycles have been disrupted. In amelioration, however, Moore-Ede notes that if fatigue cannot be measured, alertness can. If put into effect, his strictures could well save many lives and billions of dollars. (Feb.)