From the brilliant psychoanalyst behind Strictly Bipolar and What is Madness, comes a brief and captivating guide to the history of human sleep - and why we can no longer sleep. Mr. Leader highlights a richer and more human understanding of our sleep problems.

One in four adults sleeps poorly. Prescriptions for sleeping pills have dramatically increased over the last three decades, as have the appearances of sleep clinics. Sleep was once a natural state, as easy as breathing, but now it's an increasingly precarious commodity.

Our relationship with sleep emerges and reemerges throughout human history, each time revealing something new about our individual and collective psychology. From the Industrial Revolution to the blue light on our screens, from the ancient art of dream interpretation to Freud's modern science, sleep is connected to broader social patterns and changing norms and expectations. Darian Leader explores the truth of this universal human experience.

Pages: 224, Dimensions: 11x11cm