Skip the sleeping pills...just read this book instead
352388
I had high hopes for "The Heiress of Winterwood."  The beginning piqued my interest, but then it was all downhill from there.  The story slowed to a snails pace after the first few chapters and didn't pick up until about three fourths of the way through. By then, I cared so little for the characters that I skimmed the ending.

There were aspects of the book that just didn't make any sense to me.  For instance, Graham goes to the trouble of getting a special license so that he and Amelia can quickly marry, but then they don't.  Also, if I understand the details correctly, the book takes place over the period of a few weeks.  The reader discovers at the end that Helena is pregnant with Edward's child. She would have to have been at least a month pregnant to know such a thing. But, during the entire book, Helena keeps trying to keep the engagement between Edward and Amelia in tact.  If Helena was with Edward behind Amelia's back, wouldn't she want him for herself?

Overall, this book was dull and boring.  But, I did enjoy a good nap one afternoon while trying to get through it.
1298962
I won't go into detail about the major flaws of this book as they are already amply covered by other reviewers (i.e, it is self-contradictory, cruel at times, not open to inevitable deviations in the author's proposed schedule, dense and disorganized and therefore inappropriate for its sleep-deprived reader). What I want to contribute is the effect that it can have on the parent by describing my own experience.

1) Scare tactics: the author states in one of his text box "warnings" that sleep deprived children end up with ADD, get hurt more, do worse in school, have behavioral problems, end up becoming miserable adults, etc. This statement alone caused me to completely obsess over my child's sleep for 2 months, to the point that I could no longer just enjoy her while she is little since I was so worried all the time.

2) Undermining of parental instincts: this book gave me such a complex that every time my baby got fussy I started thinking that it was because she didn't nap for exactly 2 hours or went to bed too late the previous night and so forth. I would try to put her down for a nap instead of trying to figure out from her behavior what was upsetting her. On more than one occasion after I had given up on trying to get her to sleep and just started playing with her or something, her fussiness stopped.

3) Self-doubt: I never felt like I was doing the right thing. I would feel guilty letting her cry all day long after trying to put her down for a nap during the "window" of time when she was allegedly supposed to be tired. But then if I didn't let her cry and just let her stay up or comfort nurse or something, I felt like I was depriving her of needed sleep.

The only helpful things that I took from this book were the following: 1) Sleep is important for babies, 2) It's a good idea to plan your errands around naps to ensure that they actually take good ones, 3) If they don't nap well during the day, make bedtime earlier.

I think that what is seriously lacking in this and other comparable literature is a proper definition of what an infant "sleep problem" is. I read somewhere online that "70% of babies and toddlers have a sleep problem." Really? 70 percent? If this many babies don't sleep "normally" then we more likely need to redefine what "normal" infant sleep is. Infant sleep training is starting to turn into an institution, and too often it seems like a "sleep problem" is just whatever is inconvenient for the parent. In the case of this book, it is anything that deviates from the baby getting 12 hours of sleep at night and naps of exactly 2 hours in duration starting at exactly 9 am and 1 pm. Does your 8 month old get up 10 times a night and nurse for 30 minutes each time? Yeah, that it probably a sleep problem. Does your 5 month old go the entire day without taking naps and get cranky in the evenings but sleeps well at night? That is obviously less than ideal but he probably won't end up having ADD or become a serial killer. Parents need to know at what point they should actually be worried so that they don't pull their hair out just because their baby isn't a textbook sleeper.

Parents also need to know how they can actually tell if their child is "sleep deprived" or not. Adults don't all sleep the same way, and neither do babies. Babies don't all eat the same way, either. My daughter is almost 6 months old and during the day eats every hour, like she was still a newborn. She has never eaten for more than 10 minutes at a time and only nurses from one breast at a feeding. According to the books, she should be eating every 4 hours, from both breasts, for 15 minutes from each breast. Am I worried about it? No, because she has always gained weight well and has had plenty of diapers. It doesn't really matter HOW she eats as long as she is thriving in this manner. By contrast, I feel like the way this book is written, there is no way of knowing if the baby is ok or not with the sleep they are getting. If they are not on the author's schedule, they will have a horrible life, period.
4032732
This is a big, big book full of information about sleep and sleep disorders. If you are researching sleep disorders, or just want to know a more about sleep and the general issue of sleep disorders and the effect that these problems can have on quality of life, this would be an excellent choice.

However, if you are (like I was) looking for a book to help you sleep better, then this is probably not the book for you. I learned nothing new about how to actually help me sleep better. I don't have sleep apnoea, or any of the more unusual sleep disorders - I just wanted to be able to get over my insomnia. It is a massive book about sleep, and how important it is.  But if you have a real sleep problem and you want to cure your insomnia, you'd be better off with The Effortless Sleep Method or Say Goodnight to Insomnia because of all the insomnia books, I found these two the most helpful.
194554
If you're having trouble sleeping at night, insomnia issues, stress from the day bogging you down, get this book.
It's so simple, and plain, and boring that it's the perfect remedy. Its like listening to your 10th grade math teacher drone on about
mathmatical equations. I found that the writing wasn't horrid, and certain descriptions of Montana were peaceful and accurately pleasing to read about. That's why I gave it two stars. The characters needed more defining moments, less chatter about inane subjects, absolutely MORE drama (it's a BOOK that readers are reading for a reason remember?) Why the author drags the story on for so long, I'll never know, there were times when I was literally flipping pages to get to a good scene.
1779081
Wow. I started reading this book and quickly realized that reading it at night before going to sleep was a mistake.  Easy to see how this would translate into a captivating movie as well.  There some mid-level science'y stuff in here so if that turns you off you can skim through those sections.  I might consider reading it again.
4204700
The paranormal world is one of ups and downs...For example, you can read 6 or 7 fantastic books in a row and then BLAH you run into a swamp. You would think that over the years my love of reading and my somewhat educated mind would learn that anticipation is a horrendous habit, yet there I was 12:30am Monday morning, hopped up on caffeine and waiting not so patiently for the Kindle faeries to bring me a prize.

"Light Beneath Ferns" was supposed to be a smash, I didn't just decide this for myself, it has been splashed across the literary world for a few months now making several (including mine) lists of what to read in 2010. So as I sat on the edge of my bed, freezing my ass off cause my husband steals the covers, I opened the well worn cover on my Kindle and began to read.

The first chapter was brilliant. Spouting warnings like..."If death and the dead make you afraid, you better just stop reading and go take a nap." and I loved the heroin of the book, she was brooding, witty, sarcastic and an overall pain in the ass (kinda like me) but as for the remainder of the book? Yes, thanks....I think I'll go take that nap you suggested.

The concept of this book was captivating...very quiet girl who would rather spend time with bones than live people moves to town and meets mysterious disappearing boy. Great right? Just reading that sentence alone could spin a million different scenarios into your head, unfortunately...the book spent more time focusing on the emotional instability of Elizah and her screwed up family than it actually did with the "supposedly" scary scenarios.

Elizah likes to be alone, to her, talking is unnecessary and "fitting in" is the last thing on her list. After her father gambles all of the family's money away and then jumps trial, Elizah and her equally as quirky mother hoof it out of town only to turn around and take up residence in a old house that borders a cemetery. Elizah, wanting nothing more than a little peace and quiet wanders the property eventually running across a human jaw bone. With bones on her mind and a mother on her back Elizah set out to find the truth, but instead finds Nathaniel, a boy that speaks like a fortune cookie and dresses like a pauper.

After the first chapter the plot becomes a tangled mess of witty but sloppy writing. All the questions are... in the end answered, (some very abstractly) but with the book being so short (it took me only a few hours to read it) there was hardly time for proper character developement leaving me with a somewhat distant or lost feeling. "Spollen's" YA moments were lacking the push/pull that is necessary to keep an audience enthralled and the so called "scary" was almost completely non-existent. What was supposed to be a bright shining mark in this years literary catalog was nothing more than a mild jog through the woods with an overbearing guidance counselor and paragraphs of sloppy descriptives.

My suggestion? Save your money...if you require substance in your reads than this book is just to short to make any sort of lasting impression.

Happy reading my fellow Outcast and remember: if you find a random human bone in the ground just leave it there... picking it up and turning it into your pet is just plain weird.
3402375
Every other memoir I have read focuses almost exclusively on the waking life of its author -- the life of the mind.  By selecting out memorable and important events from their waking states, their authors ignore the third of their lives they spend asleep.  What could possibly happen during that sleeping time of any interest to anyone?  It turns out, quite a lot.

In writing his own memoir, sleep and dream researcher Dr. J. Allan Hobson sets out to correct the impression that our lives consist only of our waking experiences.  He addresses his own life story as not only the product of a mind, but as the product of a brain as well.  So for instance, he uses his own protoconsciousness theory of dreaming to describe how he likely developed from a nonconscious fetus to a fully conscious child.  He gives examples of his dream experiences and not only relates them to his waking preoccupations but treats them as novel experiences in themselves.  He addresses how a car accident gave him temporary amnesia, how a brain stem stroke killed a part of his total self, and how the medications he has taken in his old age altered his perceptions -- and how such experiences affected his sleep and dream life as well.

So one meaning of Hobson's subtitle An Experimental Memoir is that the form of his account is novel in including such detail.  Another is that his lifelong preoccupation was with replacing the inaccuracies of Freudian psychoanalytic assumptions with perspectives derived from careful brain science.  The experiments Hobson and his associates performed were successful in doing exactly that, yet the world has largely not yet caught up with the facts they learned.  This memoir can therefore be read as an introduction to the whole range of such contributions to sleep and dreaming science, to Hobson's many other books and to the scientific articles he and his associates produced.  Although few people may agree with or even understand the full range of his professional opinions (including me) Hobson is always thought-provoking.

A third meaning of his subtitle is that as a skeptic from an early age, Hobson treated much of his life as experimental.  Not only did he become a scientist who challenged the ideas in his field, but he treated himself and the other people and things in his life as experimental subjects as well, as fit objects of careful observation.  It is this stance which reminds me of a quote from Walden, Henry Thoreau's own experimental memoir: "Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me...  If I have any experience which I think valuable, I am sure to reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about."

With its distinctive voice and striking perspectives, Allan Hobson's latest book has earned a place among my favorite memoirs.
4858158
My daughter started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks old (thankfully!!). Leading up to that point, I was exhausted from being up in the night several times, and very concerned about how the transition from the bassinet to crib would go, and how we could instill good sleep habits in our baby. I was not in love with the idea of 'cry it out', and wanted to find an approach that was as least traumatizing for both of us, as possible. I bought this book, hoping to find a way to achieve this, because I was a little hesitant to follow our pediatrician's advice. We both needed a good night's rest, but I didn't want to feel like a horrible parent.

My first problem with this book is, there's a lot of talk about nothing for too long. It goes on and on saying how it will help, without actually getting to any suggestions. I couldn't find the help, and if you're reading this book, you're likely exhausted and in desperate need of answers- a  concrete game plan to help everyone sleep and be happy. It just doesn't happen here. My second issue is, the author seems to have a bit of attachment issues with her own children. I'm not judging her relationship whatsoever, but if she's saying herself that she's not sure she'd practice what she preaches, then why should we? To be honest, I just couldn't get through this book- it took too much time and energy to gain absolutely nothing, and I wasn't about to invest more of myself into the words of someone who didn't even seem confident enough to follow their own advice.

So, how did I get an amazing sleeper by 9 weeks? I followed the pediatrician's advice, and I promise- as someone who was afraid of being 'heartless' to their child- it really wasn't that bad. You can say I got lucky with my daughter, but I was up 3-5 times each night feeding her before we did 'sleep training' (hate that term, by the way- makes her sound like a dog!). I put my daughter to sleep in her crib at 8:30pm, and wasn't supposed to come back until morning. Well, at 2am, I felt absolutely horrible. She was crying, and inside I was too. I couldn't help myself- I went in to get her, feed her, and love her. The next night we tried again. She cried again, but this time I paused. I gave her a few minutes to cry, and she did, and then fell back asleep. This was a huge step for all of us, because she learned to self-soothe. I went back to get her at 6am, and a happy, smiling baby looked up at me. I've never before gotten such a happy baby in the morning. It's now part of our routine. I'd say once every two weeks, she cries in the middle of the night while connecting her sleep cycles, and usually calms down in a few minutes and goes back to sleep. Every other night she sleeps straight through. Last night I had 10.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep (she's 3 months old now). It's been a game changer.

If you're looking at reviews for this book, you're probably feeling a lot like I did. Wanting the best for your baby, and trying to get all of the information you need to do it as sweetly and tenderly as possible. I'll say this-- this book is a lot of work, and I'm not sure it's worth it. It doesn't have to be as complicated as we make it. Will your baby be hungry? You bet. We're all hungry at night. But we learn that nighttime is for sleep. It's what we all need, baby included. You included. You need sleep. You deserve it. Just give your baby the opportunity to do so, and they will. It's hard the first couple of nights. You might not do it perfectly, but it's the best way, in my opinion. We chose to try this at 2 months because between 2 and 4 months is the best time to get the good habits in. After that, if you're jumping at every peep your baby makes, the reason the baby has poor sleep habits is because you're encouraging them. Sometimes we're waking our babies up, and don't even realize it. Babies make sounds when they sleep. When you learn to let them sleep, things will get easier for everyone. Good luck!
4732557
Luckily, aside from some incredibly vivid dreams (and an occasional bizarre/nonsensical mumbling), my sleep habits are really quite normal . . . which would make me utterly inappropriate for the sleep studies conducted by Sylvie Patterson and her fellow researchers in Chloe Benjamins debut novel, The Anatomy of Dreams.

We meet Sylvie, our first-person narrator, when she is a boarding-school student in Eureka, California, in 1998. She is a junior, and shes falling in love for the first time. Gabe is short, mischievous, and vaguely Napoleonic (in fact, other students call him Napoleon in jest, but he accepts the moniker with pride).

The two hang out together all the time (Tucked between the redwood trees in the forest behind school, we traded stories: our secret plans (To be a physicist, I whispered, hot-cheeked), our childhood fears (Pill bugs, said Gabe), our families.). But, before long, Gabe begins acting oddly, wandering around the backyard garden of their teacher, Mr. Keller, at night, and being vague and cagey when Sylvie asks questions.

And then, one day, Gabe is gone. He has withdrawn from school without a word or farewell.

A few years later, he returns as abruptly as he left, finding Sylvie at the end of her junior year at Berkeley. He has been doing research with their former teacher, Mr. Keller, at his new lab, and Mr. Keller needs another assistant. Their research is cutting edge and not yet widely accepted, so he needs someone he can trust. Gabe convinces Sylvie to withdraw from school and join them in their research.

Their research is about the positive effects of lucid dreaming on people with sleep disorders. They study only those patients with severe sleep issues, like somnambulism and RBD (REM behavior disorder) ("They can attack their bedmates, trying to fight off intruders who aren't there. Some have even jumped out of windows. These people are disturbed at a subconscious level.").

In order to assist people who are disturbed at a subconscious level, Keller, Gabe, and Sylvie attempt to meet them thereto assist them on the subconscious level. They teach them lucid-dreaming techniques to try to help them become aware that they are dreaming, to recognize that the situations are not real, and to control their impulses to react physically.

The Anatomy of Dreams is part mystery, part suspense, part love story. The books concept and the moral questions it raises (for example, is it right to mess with the subconscious mind?) were certainly interesting. But the execution didn't do them justice. The book took a LONG time to get going, and, at the beginning, I found myself bored frequently. Too many pages are dedicated to exposition without enough pay-off. Potentially poignant plot points are handled too vaguely. And the pace is further mired down by the books clunky split chronologies.

A little less than two-thirds of the way through the book, things finally started to pick up, and I realized where the book was headed. Comparatively speaking, the last third of the book flies. It is far more interesting, exciting, and suspenseful than the rest of the book. But having to wade through so much to get there almost doesnt seem worth it.

Final assessment: great idea that fell far short of its potential.
3577698
Warning: this review may contain spoilers.

PROS:

1. Entertaining read.
2. Well-developed characters with satisfying arcs: Dan, Abra and Concetta, among others.
3. Very realistic and believable dialogues.
4. Interesting plot. Page-turner to be honest.

CONS:

1. If you purchase and read Dr. Sleep thinking it'll be on a par with The Shining, you'll be very disappointed. This is not a horror book. There's no horror story here.
2. The members of the True Knot (the bad guys) are too cartoonish, which sorta ruined the book for me. They're the sort of villains you'd expect to find in a B movie, to be honest. Most of the time, they're one dimensional and laughable.
3. The ending: I've read some of the books Stephen King has written in the past few years (Under the Dome, Bag of Bones and the Kennedy assassination book come to mind) and for some reason he just cannot seem to be able to write a satisfying ending anymore. I don't know what is going on here, but it feels as if he didn't know how to finish the story in a way that makes perfect sense. I was disappointed by the ending, to be honest.

While I would recomend it, I would suggest you read The Shining first, if you haven't already. And if you have, I warn you: do not read Dr. Sleep expecting it to be as scary or as great as The Shining. This is an ok sequel to that masterpiece. Entertaining, but not great.
4275238
Just read it! OK, its heavy in places and gets tedious but its worth it. I'm sleeping better, not as hungry and optimistic about success.
2781952
After plowing through 'Naked Lunch' completely bewildered, 'Junky' was a much more palatable read. Also, as a former 6-year OxyContin Junkie due to my runaway rheumatoid arthritis and easy access to Oxycodone through my doctor instead of the shady characters detailed in this book, this was a great read for me and my amazing wife to understand the bizarre behaviors I was exhibiting during my 5 days of hell whilst kicking Oxy.  (Not once, but twice.  I took a year off and went back! No rehab, at home. In the winter.)
  Oxycodone and Heroin have pretty much the same effect on the same part of the Junkie Lizard Brain, but Oxycodone has a much, much, longer half-life.  So for anyone who thinks they have either of these drugs "Under Control", or just play around with them every now and then...Good luck with that.
  Like the book says: (I'm paraphrasing) "One day you wake up sick and realize you are a Junkie."  Truer words are rarely spoken.

  Anyway, if you find yourself romanticizing the Junkie Lifestyle, stick to reading books about it.  The buzz never lasts, and like the song goes: "I used to do a little, but a little wouldn't do it, so the little got more and more..."  In other words, Welcome to Hell; if not now, very soon...
2723010
I read N.P. and was impressed by the thoughts, careful translation, and  almost campy combination of subject matter (lesbians, incest, suicide,  etc.). Asleep touches on some of this, but somehow without developing a  single memorable character. I read and read and lost interest with every  page. B.Y. gets hung up on the main characters' man problems, and after a  while it just isn't engaging to read about how sleepy she is, or how weird  her dreams are.
2019720
Certainly was a bedtime story...put me right to sleep!  She needs to find a new job!  btw,check this link out about the author!  Seems like she's way too "enchanted" in her own mind and ego to be taken seriously!  https://maddannouncer.wordpress.com/
3077375
I've struggled with whether or not to leave a review for this book, but it's been sitting in the back of my mind since I finally put it down a week ago. I'll be honest and say that I only made it through 3/4 of the book before I quit reading, so maybe the final 1/4 redeems it - but I genuinely doubt it. I knew when I bought BLE that is was ultimately a book about weight loss, but it is heavily marketed as a book about the science behind weight loss - which I thought would be interesting. And the first half is interesting! I have no doubt that overly processed foods do strange things to our systems, but I think the second half of the book made the first half lose all credibility. This is genuinely a gimmick. The second half is all about following her "proven" method --- a method that you have to pay for. It's not a lifestyle, it's an obsession with food...or the lack there of. Sure you'll lose weight when you cut out all sugar and flour for the rest of your life and only eat 1,000 calories a day - but then food becomes your master. You're a slave to what you can and cannot eat. I just kept thinking while reading "this is the opposite of wisdom and freedom..." I knew I was done when I read a testimonial from a woman who mentioned that she loved being able to feel her hips bones and ribs - what??? And when the author talked about getting used to hunger as a funny little feeling that we just need to learn to live with, I was out. Do we eat too much sugar in our every day lives? Most likely. Do we eat more food than we really need? I'm sure I do at times. But this book is not the answer. It's really just upsetting. If I never hear the phrase "happy, thin and free" for the rest of my life, it will still be too soon.
1606775
Reading this book showed me how to take a huge step forward in my overall health.

I feel tired all the time. Worn out.  I don't want to live this way and have been investigating all possibilities about its cause. Fatigue and sleep are obviously related, and I researched many sources trying to learn to improve my rest. I found Dr. Park's internet postings, and became very intrigued by his approach to diagnosing sleep problems, and the number of different solutions he could recommend. I pursued more of his writing on the net, and came across this Kindle book.

I categorically recommend that everyone, everyone, read this book. Kindle books are often impulse purchases, and yeah, maybe the price of this book is higher than most Kindle Books. But I'm absolutely positive that the information in this book will help you (or someone who will listen to you!) in an invaluable way.  Get it, read it. It's like a "CPR course" for sleeping. Someday you will really help someone with what you know.

This book shows that, although we only have one word for "sleep", sleep itself is a vast array of different of mental and physical processes. All these processes must work together in order for me to wake up feeling good. If one of these processes malfunctions, symptoms show up, not only as short term fatigue, but also in many other long term, seemingly unrelated, aches and pains.

"Sleep Interrupted" describes entire chain of sleep processes, and how sleep malfunctions show up. Dr. Park writes with great clarity and detail, and describes therapies specific to my problems. These aren't "warm milk" remedies. I sought a doctor's care to move forward. But even before I found the right doctor, learning what might be happening to me was a huge boost to my mood. I understood that I might have reasonable, measurable problems which can be fixed. I wasn't defective in some way, and doomed to eternal fatigue. Doctors' examinations since I finished the book have confirmed that I suffer from many of the phenomena Dr. Park describes. I'm very grateful for having found, and for being willing to spend the money to buy this book.
3413762
I read this book with no preconceptions. I just saw it in a book shop, flicked through, bought it on spec. I'd not heard the hype, hadn't seen the Oprah Show, had never heard of the author or the book. Was attracted by the cover.

I read it virtually in one sitting, stayed up way past my normal bedtime to finish it. Was profoundly struck by some of the thoughts and philospohies in it. First reaction was 'what an amazing book'.

Naively presumed that it was probably mostly true, 'til I went web surfing to find out more and read all the stories about how he made up most of it and embellished other bits and that he's just some poor little rich boy who is using the trauma of things that didn't happen to line his pockets. Even though there is a bit of me that does feel let down that it's more fiction than fact, I don't think it's fair to write off the book and the thoughts in it just because the facts aren't there to back it up as non-fiction.

I've just read several reviews that absolutely slate the book and say that it's full of cliches, paints a totally unrealistic picture of addicts and would have you believe that they're all violent, scarred, dirty street people. All I can say is, in the book I read that wasn't the message I got. The picture I saw from reading it was that addicts come from all walks of life, for any number of reasons all the way from the cliches of escape from mental and physical childhood abuse (and don't forget that they may be viewed as cliches but that doesn't mean they don't happen in reality) to the most mundane and pointless gentle slide from boredom and experimentation to dependancy. And that a criminal dealer/addict addict on crack and heroin in some ways is no different to a middle class career driven alcoholic. And that the pschology of addiction itself is not terribly well understood and that treatment success rates are not very high. And that maybe encouraging belief in addiction as an incurable illness is not helpful to everybody.

As your average middle class non-addicted Brit, all I can say is, fact or fiction, it seems much more balanced than half the reviews slating it. And I still think it's an amazing book.