this book was interesting in a way. Learning about sleep was fascinating, but I was expecting more practical application and suggestions for sleeping better together with my partner. There were a few tidbits here and there, but nothing that was beyond just the basics.

So somewhat helpful and interesting, but overall a disappointment. ( )

I had looked forward to learning some handy tips from this book; my spouse snores and sleeping together doesn't always result in a restful night for both of us. Alas, I found little here that I would carry forward.

The book is a translation from the German, and the grammatical errors scattered throughout are distracting. But that is a minor issue.

More distressing is the characterizations of men and women. I suspect this is a translation issue, but I felt this book was not addressed to me.

If one is interested in learning more about why we sleep, this book is interesting. If one has already done reading on that topic, this book will add little to it, while failing to offer little on the subject promised by the title. ( )

This book tries to tackle a very common problem among couples and their sleep habits. It does go into the scientific basis of sleep to understand the foundation of sleep and the quandary of the definition of "what is really good sleep". In other words, some define good sleep as how long they sleep versus the quality of sleep and how refreshed they feel in the morning. What is most interesting is the history of how socio-cultural norms have changed over centuries and how sleep differs in various parts of the world. This book concentrates on western society perspectives in general. It does get into boggy details and is redundant at times. The best feature of the book is the bullet point summaries at the end of most chapters offering practical tips for couples to use. Some of the research the authors allude to may surprise regarding the male and female perspective regarding sleeping alone versus together, and how these "norms" are changing over time. If you are a couple complaining about each others sleep, this book can offer some insight and decent pointers. ( )

I was nicely surprised by this book. I don't think we actually know a lot about why we need to sleep and certainly haven't explored the details of how sleep is different for all of us.

This book does a great job of hitting the highlights of the authors' research without lingering too long in any one area. I think everyone that takes the time to read this book will come away with new knowledge on sleeping patterns and how these are affected by gender, relationships, nationality and environmental influences.

A well crafted book. ( )

Disclosure: I received a copy of this via the Library Thing Early Reviewer program.

I wanted to like this book. The wife and I have a fairly old mattress and we both have some, thankfully minor, sleeping issues. We were hoping that it might give us some good advice on how to sleep better together. I read this book aloud to my wife.

One point should be mentioned as it may mitigate a small portion of some of my issues: this book is a translation from German of Ein Bett für zwei.

The book has some grammar issues throughout. They are not excessive but they do distract. Another related issue is the sometimes strange word formations/choice, and the sometimes simply wrong choice. For example, "Aside from the complex methodical problems involved in measuring sleep quality, …" (17). I do not mean to deny that sleep researchers are methodical, but this should without a doubt be 'methodological.'

An issue which greatly disturbed the wife and did bug me, which primarily but not only plagued the introduction, was the issue of 'men' versus 'housewife,' 'working women,' and so on. Men were men and women were something specific. As I pointed out to my wife, I believe that these are primarily reports of other people's research and that if that is how the studies were conducted then that is how they have to be reported. Certainly though, cultural biases and assumptions are easily seen in many of these studies, and in the authors' assumptions regarding gender roles throughout. So the issue is there; it may not necessarily be the authors' doing though.

Chap. 2, "The Cultural History of Sleep," which discusses the history and sociology of sleeping naked, how many to a bed, etc. had the potential to be quite interesting. The biggest issue for me is that almost none of their claims--primarily historical, anthropological, and sociological--have any citations to back them up. In the few cases where there is a citation that resource is not in the bibliography. Contra to this, almost every one of their sleep research claims in the book has a citation and seems to be in the bibliography. [I did not check every single one.] This is simply unacceptable!

Another issue, clearly evident in this chapter, but also when one considers the sleep studies, is that the book is highly focused on the Western European and, less so, the American. Somewhat understandable considering where well-funded sleep research labs are but, nonetheless, people sleep the world over. And in the historical, anthropological and sociological section there is no excuse for breezing past these issues while we get descriptions of Greeks and Romans sleeping.

Once we get into the meat of the book, Chap. 3 onward, we get seemingly contradictory statements in lots of areas, and questions stated as to why something might be when based on what has been stated earlier in the chapter (or book) it is easy to see a possible explanation. I must wonder whether these contradictory statements exist throughout the German edition or whether they came from a translator who simply doesn't understand the research. I assume that some of them come from the "hedging of bets" by the authors. Sleep research is an area with lots of contradictory 'knowledge.' But if you are going to make a claim in one area of your book do not claim the opposite later, or even allude that we don't know. Some readers are paying attention.

Also, it is extremely heteronormative. Lesbians are mentioned once in a discussion of the menstrual cycle and its effect on sleep behavior. Gay men not at all.

All in all, this book could easily be as half as long as it is. If it were boiled down to the actual advice that can be acted on it would be only 10% as long.

If you can read German then I'd suggest getting your hands on the German edition if you really want to read it. Perhaps some of the issues, grammar ones at a minimum, are not present.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this book. There is little of value in it, and much of what might be is presented contradictorily throughout the text.