Dement's Sleep and Dreams by William C. Dement

Dement's Sleep and Dreams Reviews

• 
  Arshia

  Before I begin, I should note that I am of mixed feelings with regards to the rating I’ve given this book, but more on that below:
  
  Sleep seems to be the last thing on our minds in this 24/7, always on the go society we find ourselves in. With the pressures of everyday life pulling us every which way and the demands to constantly deliver, most of us barely find the time to eat let alone get a proper nights rest. However, this is the precise point stressed by Dr. Dement, a giant in American sleep research, and probably the major motivating reason for the existence of this book.
  
  The book covers two main topics: 1) dreams (good or bad), their meanings, benefits and our understanding of their underlying mechanisms; and 2) proper sleep, the disorders that can arise when things don’t quite go as they should and their treatments.
  
  This textbook is packed with a ton of useful and invaluable information that most of us are simply unaware of (to our own detriment); and if we as a society were more cognizant of the issues raised in this text and the problems that could arise from our ignorance of it, it is my belief, that we, as a society, would begin to implement some drastic changes to the way our day to day lives are structured.
  
  However, here in lies my main issue with the book and my apprehension with my rating of it. On the one hand I wish to praise this book so more will read it and glean its benefits, yet on the other hand I feel it’s a dish not yet properly cooked. This book tries to be too many things and does most of them inadequately. It is one part college text, one part autobiography, one part clinical handbook and another soap box. I agree with its mission to raise public awareness in the minds of its readership, as I also agree with its wish to educate those in universities and colleges that might one day be in positions capable of bringing about societal change. However, I feel that most of these goals would be better pursued via a smaller popular science book that can reach more of the masses at a much lower price point.
  
  This is something the author has already done and could continue to do, however, as a university textbook, one which cost nearly $100, this book has some serious flaws. For starters, it is self published (not that self-publishing in and of itself is problematic) and as such lacks the level of professionalism and publishing standards one expects from a large and expensive college text; one that the student has no choice but to purchase. Not only can a publishing house make a book like this available to more universities, it can also offer the author a second set of eyes to help proofread and edit. There were so many grammatical and stylistic issues with the writing that at certain points the task of trying to decipher the writing took precedence over the understanding of its content. Certain sections were clear copies of earlier sections and many graphs and tables that were referred to in the text, were completely left out of the book! At times, ironically, it felt like reading the work of a seriously sleep deprived individual. The second benefit of a publisher is its ability to force focus on a book, which I sadly think was lacking here.
  
  Overall, I still think that this book is very informative and could be greatly beneficial to those who undertake its reading, but as is, based on its intended demographic and its price tag, I can only rate it a 2.