Real
Technical and Analytical Readings
- Michael McGirr, Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep (Penguin Books, 2017): “McGirr pursues his chosen subject in a Jesuitical spirit of holistic inquiry, contemplating sleep as it has been considered in literature, science, history and his own experience.”
- Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of sleep and Dreams (Scribner, 2017): “Walker is no dilettante. He presides over Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab, where he and his team, along with their peers at other institutions, have made significant strides over the last 20 years in understanding the restorative powers of sleep, and, correspondingly, the dire consequences of not getting enough of it.”
- Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (Basic Books, 2016): “His central thesis is that rest not only makes us more productive and more creative, but also makes our lives ‘richer and more fulfilling.’ But not all rest is created equal — it’s not just about not-working.”
True Narratives
- Benjamin Reiss, Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World (Basic Books, 2017). “A historical overview of man’s dogged attempts to master sleep.”
Imaginary
Visual Arts
- Kazimir Malevich, High Society in Top Hats Relaxing (1908)
- Theo van Rysselberghe, In the Shade of the Pines (1905)
- Mary Cassatt, Summertime (1894)
- Paul Gaugin, Siesta (1892-94)
- Edgar Degas, Dancers Relaxing (1885)
- Paul Cezanne, Couples Relaxing by a Pond (1875)
- Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 94 Degrees in the Shade (1876)
- Claude Monet, Relaxing in the Garden, Argenteuil (1876)
- Camille Pissarro, Landscape with Strollers Relaxing under the Trees (1872)
- Camille Corot, Rest in the Water Meadows (1865)
- Francisco de Goya, Sleep (c. 1800)
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Hawaii is a great place to vacation. Its music reflects calm ocean waves on a sandy beach. Its musical specialty is the slack key guitar, brilliantly represented by the following artists, among others.
- Tickling the Strings
- Singing In the Bathtub (just try not having fun listening to this)
- Big Feet Rag
Albums:
- Steven Halpern, “Effortless Relaxation”
- Steven Halpern, “Relaxation Suite”
- Liquid Mind II, “Slow World”
- Liquid Mind VIII, “Sleep”
- Liquid Mind XI, “Deep Sleep”
- “Deep Lucid Dreaming Sleep Music”
Compositions:
- Fibich, At Twilight, Op. 39, H306 (1893)
Poetry
O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine:
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait the "Amen," ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities.
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,—
Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.
[John Keats, “To Sleep”]
If sleep is truce, as it is sometimes said, a pure time for the mind to rest and heal, why, when they suddenly wake you, do you feel that they have stolen everything you had? Why is it so sad to be awake at dawn? It strips us of a gift so strange, so deep, it can be remembered only in half-sleep, moments of drowsiness that gild and adorn. The waking mind with dreams, which may well be but broken images of the night’s treasure, a timeless world that has no name or measure and breaks up in the mirrors of the day. Who will you be tonight, in the dark thrall of sleep, when you have slipped across its wall?
[Jorge Luis Borges, “Sleep”]