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The Sleepyhead's Bedside Companion
The Sleepyhead's Bedside Companion
Sep 21, 2024 9:56 AM

Author:Sean Coughlan

The Sleepyhead's Bedside Companion

This is a quirky, amusing, information-packed book for all lovers of sleep. It's a celebration of nature's greatest free gift, the perfect companion for the bedside table. It's the book to curl up with before falling asleep.

It looks at the history, culture, folklore, language and science of sleep. Did you know that the siesta was once a British tradition? Why do we say 'sleep like a top'? Does counting sheep work? What are the very best sleeps? Who invented pyjamas? If dogs sleep so much, why are they always yawning? What are the best films about sleep? Do today's children have less sleep than Edwardian children? Does booze help or hinder sleep?

Not only is sleep a great natural pleasure, it's also essential to good health. The book examines how a lack of sleep is increasingly seen as a health risk.

Sleep is also the place of dreams and nightmares. Why are so many dreams the same and what are the archetypal recurring dreams? What is the origin of the word 'nightmare'? And what do Bugs Bunny, the surrealists and Freud have to do with dreaming?

Sleep is there to be enjoyed. It's not worth getting into bed for anything else.

Reviews

A sweet and diverting book on all things sleep. Part trivia, part history and part practical advice, the gorgeous packaging makes this a perfect gift.

—— Emma Giacon, Bookseller's Choice

The most peaceful bedtime we have had in months.

—— Daily Mail

Not many people are as ready to realize the importance of the senses as Charles Spence

—— Ferran Adria, El Bulli restaurant, Spain

Popular science at its best. Insightful, entertainingly written and peppered throughout with facts you can use in the kitchen, in the classroom, or in the pub

—— Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times bestselling author of 'The Organized Mind' and 'This Is Your Brain on Music'

This is partly serious tome and partly an amusing guide for the layperson to a whole new gustatory world. Gastrophysics is packed with such tasty factual morsels that could be served up at dinner parties. If Spence can percolate all these factual morsels to the mainstream, the benefits to all of us would be obvious

—— Nick Curtis , Daily Telegraph

Spence allows people to appreciate the multisensory experience of eating

—— The New Yorker

The scientist changing the way we eat

—— Guardian

Spence romps around such factoids in the style of a Blue Peter presenter . . . fascinating and provocative

—— Melanie Reid , Times

A fascinating look at the science of food and how our perception is shaped by all our senses, not just taste

—— Sunday Times

If simply changing the name of a dish on a menu or the color of the plate on which it is served can dramatically alter our perception of taste and food quality, then everyone in the restaurant industry needs to read this and take a deeper look at the scientific secrets Professor Spence reveals in Gastrophysics

—— Larry Olmsted, New York Times bestselling author of 'Real Food, Fake Food: What You Don’t Know About What You’re Eating & What You Can Do About It'

Wonderfully curious and thought-provoking . . . brilliant

—— Bee Wilson , Guardian

Spence cheerily whisks the reader through the senses like a magician . . . a mind-bending menu of fascinating insights

—— Nicola Davis , Observer

Revealing, very interesting and well worth understanding . . . highly enlightening

—— Rose Prince , Spectator

Spence takes a jovial pleasure in puncturing our perceptions and showing that there's a lot more going on in our mouths than what we think we're tasting . . . Spence has given us much food for thought

—— Julia Platt Leonard , Independent

A chatty whirl through the latest discoveries and their real-world applications

—— Rachel Laudan , Wall Street Journal

I wanted to reach out and thank you for your absolutely brilliant book Gastrophysics. As a thirty year restaurant veteran just venturing out on my own into the wild world of consulting, I found your research confirmed many of my long-held beliefs while adding tons of things I had never considered.

—— Sean S. Reiter, Chief Synthesist, Sean Reiter Consulting

It can't fail to entertain, inform and ultimately dazzle

—— Heston Blumenthal, chef and owner of The Fat Duck, on The Perfect Meal

This is a book to open the eyes and broaden the mind.

—— World of Cruising

As always, Solomon gets into the far corners of things, including people’s minds… He’s also very sharp on South Africa, China, Libya, Romania, and Brexit Britain, among others. He’s an expert on turmoil.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard
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