"Inconvenient Sleep" is a fascinating look at the effect sleep, or lack of, has on amateur and professional athletes. Even more, it goes into the origins of sleep medicine from Hippocrates to how the discovery of xrays, brainwave machines and lie detectors have influenced current day sleep technology. The discovery of the REM sleep stage and sleep disorders are delved into in a very comprehensive yet understandable way.

The next part of this book goes into specific examples of NCAA, NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL teams and how once they realized how crucial sleep was to optimal performance, they tried to tackle the issue with varied success. Specific examples of team schedules provide us the stark reality of how little sleep many athletes receive. It examines the role bargaining agreements in each sport play in determining how many days off players get, how many home and away games they play, if they fly charter or commercial flights and how many back to back games they must play. It also shows products widely bought to enhance sleep were later proven to have little to no effect. It chronicles how many sleep researchers, knowing or not, published false information and yet many researchers bought into their conclusions without any further inquiry.

This book is much more an examination of how statistics for sleep are generated, and how they many times are used to validate whatever outcome is desired. It will make you really think the next time you see a doubleheader baseball game or a triple overtime hockey game, and wonder - when will these athletes go to sleep? It will also make you examine the claims of sleep products more closely, as well as view your personal sleep history in a new light. It should be required reading for any athlete who is serious about excelling.

Inconvenient Sleep is an excellent book for anyone interested in science or sports. The book delves into the history of sleep science, explaining some of the most formative discoveries in the field happened quite by accident. The authors explore Eugene Aserinsky, Nathaniel Kleitman and William Dement, some of the sleep science pioneers. The sleep science ties back to athletics. I learned Reggie White suffered from sleep apnea. While a football fan, this was new. I also learned the calls athletes, who travel extensively, face when it comes to sleep. Inconvenient Sleep grabs your attention and draws you in with compelling stories. Recommended.

The authors lay out how beneficial sleep is for successful athletes and how it can help anyone be more accomplished. The problem is, so many of us have problems getting to sleep and staying asleep. Luckily, the authors provide advice to assist the reader with those issues. This was an interesting read.

If you ever have to stay up all night for work or travel, don't get behind the wheel of a car, especially in New Jersey! It's a criminal offense there, because your reaction time and concentration will match those of a driver who is legally drunk.

Hippocrates wrote about insomnia more than two millennia ago, and in the 17th century Shakespeare's Macbeth lamented his lack of the "balm of hurt minds," but the scientific study of sleep only began in the mid-20th century. Pat and Suzanne Byrne provide a comprehensive picture of what we now know about sleep and its effect on performance. Along the way they weave in intriguing parallels from the history of science, as well as modern anecdotes about sports teams and their coaches. Do you want your swim team to win? Provide the other team with free coffee, chocolate, and midnight movie tickets!

You'll think about sleep in a whole new way after reading this book. Just don't stay up too late to finish it!