Mapping the darkness : the visionary scientists who unlocked the mysteries of sleep
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-398) and index.

"The definitive story of the scientists who set out to answer two questions: 'Why do we sleep?' and 'How can we sleep better?' A century ago, sleep was considered a state of nothingness--even a primitive habit that we could learn to overcome. Then, an immigrant scientist and his assistant spent a month in the depths of a Kentucky cave, making nationwide headlines and thrusting sleep science to the forefront of our consciousness. In the 1920s, Nathaniel Kleitman founded the world's first dedicated sleep lab at the University of Chicago. For years he subjected research participants (including himself) to a dizzying array of tests and tortures, but the turning point came in 1938, when his cave experiment awakened the public to the unkown--and vital--world of sleep. Kleitman went on to mentor the talented but troubled Eugene Aserinsky, whose discovery of REM sleep revealed the astonishing activity of the dreaming brain, and William Dement, a jazz-bass-playing revolutionary who became known as the father of sleep medicine. Dement, in turn, mentored the brilliant maverick Mary Carskadon, who uncovered an epidemic of sleep deprivation among teenagers and launched a global movement to fight it. Award-winning journalist Kenneth Miller seamlessly weaves science with history to tell the story of four outsider academics who carried the study of sleep from fringe discipline to mainstream obsession through spectacular experiments, technological innovation, and single-minded commitment. Readers will walk away with a deeper understanding of how sleep works and why it affects so much of our lives." --,Dust jacket flap.