Michael McGirr always had trouble sleeping. The arrival of baby twins, however, made him realize that hed never before known true exhaustion. And while he celebrated these small children who brought him so much joy and tiredness, he found himself on a desperate and bone-weary journey in search of just a few extra winks a night. It was an adventure that would teach him more about what exactly sleep is, why we need it, and what it means when we dont get enough of it. In Snooze, McGirr delves into the mysterious world of sleep, including its many benefits, its stubborn elusiveness, and exactly what our brains really get up to while were in bed. He offers readers a tour through the odd sleep patterns of some of history's greatest minds, including Aristotle, Homer, Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, and more. He looks, too, at the demise of sleep in our increasingly fragmented modern world-and examines what that means for everyone from the Average Joe in the workplace to those with serious sleep disorders.