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toasternoodle's review
3.0
I think where this book stands out for me and others with narcolepsy is the innumerable testimony of patients diagnosed throughout their lifetimes, from childhood to adulthood, and the unanimity of how traumatizing/exhausting/shamed/misunderstood their disordered wake-sleep states were. Most significantly, this includes the author, who actually has narcolepsy with cataplexy. Some patients turned down full university scholarships because they couldn’t bear to continue working under the accumulated stress and unrelenting shame piled on by judgmental peers and coworkers. Many navigated their later years only by avoiding AM obligations entirely and giving up on traditional careers. Others shared suicidal ideation and attempted to kill themselves.
I would hope that non-sleep disordered readers who read Nicholls’ accounts walk away with empathy for the disabling magnitude of this condition, but better authors have achieved less from their audiences and it continues to scare me how willfully dismissive so many professionals have been of my struggles. I am more thankful than ever for having seen my first doctor of color, the only healthcare provider or neurologist who immediately brought up narcolepsy and dismissed all the depression memos that white doc after white man insisted upon me — a common experience for so many female narcolepsy patients especially. I’m either lucky or unlucky for having lived with my symptoms at least 5-7 years before diagnosis, depending on whom you compare me against.
Where this book succeeds for the public is thanks to Nicholls already operating as a published science journalist, so he tackles a broad range of sleep and sleep-related disorders (insomnia, apnea, restless legs syndrome, etc) in simple scientific language (without dumbing things down) that makes the neurology of sleep accessible to all his readers. I took a Biological Clocks course that explored circadian rhythms and covered all the “hard science” Nicholls writes on, so if you have a background in biology or neurochemistry this is just a fun refresher elective with much better narrative drive.
All in all a good read, but especially so if you have narcolepsy/another sleep disorder or care for someone with one.
I would hope that non-sleep disordered readers who read Nicholls’ accounts walk away with empathy for the disabling magnitude of this condition, but better authors have achieved less from their audiences and it continues to scare me how willfully dismissive so many professionals have been of my struggles. I am more thankful than ever for having seen my first doctor of color, the only healthcare provider or neurologist who immediately brought up narcolepsy and dismissed all the depression memos that white doc after white man insisted upon me — a common experience for so many female narcolepsy patients especially. I’m either lucky or unlucky for having lived with my symptoms at least 5-7 years before diagnosis, depending on whom you compare me against.
Where this book succeeds for the public is thanks to Nicholls already operating as a published science journalist, so he tackles a broad range of sleep and sleep-related disorders (insomnia, apnea, restless legs syndrome, etc) in simple scientific language (without dumbing things down) that makes the neurology of sleep accessible to all his readers. I took a Biological Clocks course that explored circadian rhythms and covered all the “hard science” Nicholls writes on, so if you have a background in biology or neurochemistry this is just a fun refresher elective with much better narrative drive.
All in all a good read, but especially so if you have narcolepsy/another sleep disorder or care for someone with one.
kae76's review
5.0
A good overview of sleep disfunctions, easily readable. Gave some real insight into narcolepsy, cataplexy and other conditions that plague people.
jo_king's review
4.0
A well referenced, fascinating and personal inquiry into sleep, its role and disorders - though a bit disjointed at times.
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