cover image The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep

The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep

Guy Leschziner. St. Martin’s, $28.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-20270-3

In this revealing and informative debut, British neurologist and sleep physician Leschziner brings readers into the lab to learn about all manner of sleep disorders experienced by people he’s treated, his methods of treating them, and the role sleep plays in health. Disorders discussed range from the relatively common sleep apnea, sleep deprivation, and narcolepsy, to more unusual ones like those suffered by Vincent, diagnosed with non-24-hour rhythm disorder, which results in an ever-shifting sleep pattern; Adrian, a man who collapses into sleep whenever he laughs; and Tom, a “sexsomniac” who sometimes makes unwelcome, aggressive, and, in comparison with his waking personality, out of character sexual advances against his partners while asleep. Leschziner uses these and other cases to not only define the disorders in relatable ways, but to outline his plan of treatment for each patient and extrapolate the significance for sleep in its largest sense: its importance in everyone’s lives. Readers will find Leschziner’s stories fascinating, and might even pick up a few tips for getting a more restorative night’s sleep in the process. George Lucas, Inkwell (on behalf of Luigi Bonomi Associates). (July)