Dreamland

Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep

By: David K. Randall

Narrated by: Andy Caploe

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

An engrossing examination of the science behind the little-known world of sleep.

Like many of us, journalist David K. Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep.

In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives. Taking listeners from military battlefields to children’s bedrooms, Dreamland shows that sleep isn't as simple as it seems. Why did the results of one sleep study change the bookmakers’ odds for certain Monday Night Football games? Do women sleep differently than men? And if you happen to kill someone while you are sleepwalking, does that count as murder?

This book is a tour of the often odd, sometimes disturbing, and always fascinating things that go on in the peculiar world of sleep. You’ll never look at your pillow the same way again.

©2012 David K. Randall (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

The reader ruins this book

As a psychotherapist I found the material of this book helpful in supporting my clients with sleep challenges. The reader of this book ruined my experience of the book. His use of accents was offensive, unnecessary, and distracting. Many of these voices not only felt cartoonist, but often like sexist, racist, and just plain annoying stereotypes that made what was an interesting read almost untenable. Audible should never use readers like this and should give refunds.

Inspired me to build a healthy sleep practice.

There is a wealth of information here. This overview helps give a solid understanding on what sleep research has been done.

Interesting book, awful reader

Would you try another book from David K. Randall and/or Andy Caploe?

I would read another book by Randall, but not one read by Caploe.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader put on annoyingly goofy voices for people quoted in the book. He read many passages as if they were punchlines in a joke. Really off-putting.

Melodramatic narrator and rambling narrative

Though there are some interesting factoids and bits of research in this book, the narrative is not tight enough. I enjoy "pop science" (as well as more serious works), but there was too much pop and not enough science in this book. The author rambles a bit and belabors his points. In the end, I didn't feel I'd learned very much.

The narrator was very poorly chosen for this book. He would probably be great for a fiction work as he has wide range of character voices. However, he read this book as if it was a drama, every phrase fraught with urgency or conspiracy. And the character voices felt really jarring in a serious book. French accent for the researcher with a French sounding name, a German accent for the German researcher, etc. It was like listening to a parody of a non-fiction book.

Interesting but not as scientific as I'd hoped

Dreamland by David. K. Randall was an interesting foray into the subject of sleep, and it did have scientific merit (I particularly enjoyed the part about sleep studies), but it fell off the deep end in a couple of places, especially where dreams are discussed.

There is a lot to be said for the amount of research that went into this book. The explanations of what physically happens when we sleep, the discussion of various sleep medications, and the evidence used to support the importance of sleep were well presented.

The narrators performace was good - not stellar - but good.

The problem that I had with the scientific merit of the book came primarily with the discussion of dream interpretation. First of all, I should say that I studied that topic in college - I don't have a degree in it or anything - but I studied it enough to write a well-researched paper about dreams.

There are a myriad of factors that can influence dreams including, but not limited to: allergies, bedding, sounds you hear while you're sleeping, effects of medications, foods you've eaten (particularly the acidity of the foods), things you've experienced that day (like watching a weird TV show or movie), the weather, etc. I don't recall any of these factors being seriously presented. If they were, it was in passing to the point that I don't remember it with the exception of a limited discussion about things you've experienced that day. The author did account for that one factor, but the other factors are so important that to dismiss them and concentrate solely on Freudian and superstitious interpretation was, in my opinion, downright irresponsible.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in studying sleep, just note that some of it is, at best, poorly researched.

Fairly interesting book hurt by comical narration

Would you try another book from David K. Randall and/or Andy Caploe?

Yes to Randall, probably not for Caploe. Randall has a solid writing style, approachable and informative. Caploe's narration, especially the voices he used quoting people, was downright comical. It sounded like a co-worker who is terrible at impressions mimicking people.

How could the performance have been better?

Different narrator who was capable of some subtlety with voices. This guy vacillated between exaggerated accents and nasally nerdiness.

Any additional comments?

Very readable book covering what we know (not a ton) about sleep - its mechanics, its impact on health, its history. Written for laymen and easily understood, sometimes the author contradicts himself a bit (quotes someone as saying lack of sleep won't kill you a few chapters after they discuss how extreme sleep deprivation can do just that), but you will likely still learn something. The author has a sense of humor and the book is a quick, if not earth shattering, read. Interesting enough to pass the time but it won't keep you up all night.

Terrible performance of an average book

There have been many recent advances in sleep science and the author takes you on a slightly dreamy tour of them. The performance assaults your ear with bad foreign accents an unnecessary caricatures.

The material is disjointed and the author repeats himself in different sections--possibly because he expected people to jump around to the chapters they were interested in. Not being a scientist he makes the various sources understandable for the layperson. But this also makes it difficult for him to analyse the material and he often presents conflicting points of view without any effort to say which is more likely to be correct. He's basically serving up everything he read and letting you sort through it.

I had to skip certain sections because the reader adopts a nasal, whiny voice whenever he's quoting a study or an interviewee--even ones that are clearly authoritative or completely correct. It's like he's saying "this is how all geeks and nerds talk." He also feels obliged to use British, French and Austrian (Freud) accents if the source material allows.

Without good synthesis or a critical eye for the data you could do almost as well for yourself by Googling "sleep science."

Worst narration ever

The narrator's cutesy voices were totally off-putting. They were in no way appropriate for a serious adult non-fiction title. I wound up cringing every time the author quoted someone, knowing that the reader was going to do another of his whiny, nasal voice characterizations. It was so bad it distracted from the content of the book. I will avoid any other books narrated by this reader in future.

Annoying narration

The book itself presented interesting information and was well written. The narrator was good in his own voice, but he used affected voices for different people which was really ridiculous and distracting. The stereotyping used to select those voices was, at best, obnoxious.

Great book, but I can't deal with the narration

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. Seriously annoying narrator. If it's fiction, I can appereciate a voice for a character. This isn't fiction and whenever the author quotes someone, the narrator comes up with a voice. Sometime it's a bad British accent. About half the time, it's a breathy, horrible feminine voice. The worst part is that he editorializes with the voices. Whiny ones for people he doesn't like, authoritative for others. Buy the book, not this audiobook.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dreamland?

That awful lisping child's voice he used.

Would you be willing to try another one of Andy Caploe’s performances?

I would pay extra for anyone who is not him!