In a discourse fired by lively inquiry and vivid personal anecdote, she looks to art, literature and science to demonstrate the profound effect these eerie and surprisingly common nocturnal states have had on the human imagination. In a discourse fired by lively inquiry and personal anecdote, [Vernon] looks to art, literature and science to demonstrate the profound effect these eerie and surprisingly common nocturnal states have had on the human imagination. The book encourages us all to change the way that we talk about sleep, arguing that there are many benefits to exchanging sleep stories – socially, culturally and in terms of our wellbeing.

The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. A welcome addition to the vast library it cites and celebrates, Vernon's work is a compelling guide to the uncanny grammar of our dread and desire. She is now a Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature, and Creative Writing in the department, teaching students the fundamentals of storytelling. She is also interested in comics, especially regarding depictions of the body, and gave a talk on her work in this area at the Wellcome Collection in March 2020. Fascinating and entertaining, I feel like this book nails unpicking the complexity of humans' relationship with sleep in a way that feels relevant and easy to read.Famous novels such as ‘Dracula’, ‘Jane Eyre’ and the Brother Cadfael mysteries all make reference to parasomnias, as does Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Alice Vernon's writing: her historical accounts of parasomnia are fascinating and I found the way she was extremely open and honest about her own experiences made me warm to the book even more.

Like Alice I’ve seen ghost like people standing over me when I’m in that barely awake moment and experienced the weight of something holding me down when I was in bed by myself one time.The author grips the reader with the first page with her beautifully descriptive writing that remains engrossing until the end, and yet manages to balance with perfection emotions of humour, sadness and fear. I just heard Dr Alice (the author) on Radio Wales and her voice was far superior for doing this type of content. Dr Alice Vernon is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, where she teaches students the fundamentals of storytelling. On the other hand, it sometimes veers into unconfortably personal material that feels like a live therapy session happening in front of our eyes, with the author figuring things out as they come up. Parasomnias have also been the subject of extensive scientific investigations with many medical theories and treatments recommended over the centuries.

A wonderful deepdive into the world of dreams and the science to explain them throughout the centuries. Dr Vernon said: “Over the centuries, parasomnias have had a profound effect on the human imagination, shaping both art and literature. For insomniacs, the bed is a cruel tormentor; for those of us with parasomnias, the bed is a haunted crypt.And in the course of such eerie stories, Vernon proves to be an empathetic guide, too, using humor and quips to bring the horrors to a welcome halt. The book has left me feeling I need more answers about the workings of the human brain, which is a positive outcome. I think it shows how essential it is for us teachers to remember how we teach is just as important as what we teach and how huge is the impact we can make to a person's life. Apart from interesting discussions about various parasomnias, Alice has a variety of annecdotes that range from hilarious, creepy, and even some that actually made me cry.

This might also be a flaw, as the book is pretty short, and the author clearly has more interest or at least, more things to say, about some parasomnias compared to others. Vernon hasn’t experienced every type of parasomnia, but she gives detailed examples of the ones that are part of her sleep history, including sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and hypnopompic hallucinations. Historical accounts also reveal some particularly odd cures, such as magical ‘mare-stanes’ which were circular eroded rocks occasionally embedded with human teeth, said to prevent sleep paralysis. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.I know it informs her own sleep issues at times, but it still felt a little odd that it kept coming back to that. Along the way she explores the Salem Witch Trials and sleep paralysis, Victorian ghost stories, and soldiers’ experiences of PTSD. Her anecdotes range from funny (while sleepwalking as a teenager, she told her mother that she needed to take a cake to Gwen Stefani) to terrifying (feeling phantom hands on her neck or dragging her out of bed by her ankles).