In ten brief chapters dotted with the occasional black-and-white cartoon illustration and inset factlet, Scott relates a great deal of interesting information about the nature of sleep. She explains what happens in the body to induce sleep, describes the brain waves involved in sleep and the machines that can measure them, discusses what science knows about dreams and why humans seem to need them and even touches on sleep disorders, explaining why some people snore and others sleepwalk. The narrative closes with some useful tips to help the reader get a good night’s rest, such as having a warm bath before bed and keeping the bedroom dark and cool. The tone is conversational and engaging, although the too-frequent use of dashes and exclamation points becomes a little distracting. The lack of index and the fairly vague chapter titles make it difficult to locate specific topics, so this one is definitely aimed at the leisure reader rather than the student on a quest for specific information (afterword, sources). (Nonfiction. 8-12)
