A review by nadia
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

informative slow-paced

5.0

Similar to my rating for Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication" book, Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" joins my "everyone should read this book" 5⭐️ pile.

Yes, the book is slow and dense at times, but overall very readable. I spent the book in a state of fear mixed with fascination.

Walker touches on how our sleep has developed, different stages of sleep, the affects of caffeine and alcohol, sleep across a human's lifetime, sleep's link to Alzheimer, cancer, and other diseases, and a lot more.

I've been made aware that the book likely contains factual inaccuracies or overblown claims — e.g. https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/#no-two-thirds-of-adults-in-developed-nations-do-not-fail-to-obtain-the-recommended-amount-of-sleep — but I'm not yet convinced that Matthew's book will cause overall harm. 

I think that the more people that read this book, the more of us that will try and eek out an extra 30-60 minutes in bed, leading to happier and healthier people that are a lot more productive and pleasant to be around.

Let me know if you do think the claims in Walker's book are potentially incredibly damaging. I'm open and willing to have my mind changed on this one!