Nightmareland: Travels at the Borders of Sleep, Dreams, and Wakefulness

This engrossing look at the stranger aspects of sleep—a state of being that the average person spends a third of their lives in—runs the gamut from night terrors to UFOs. Nover, Web producer for overnight radio show Coast to Coast AM, shares firsthand experience with sleep paralysis, during which one is fully aware of one’s surroundings but unable to move, often perceiving a threatening creature lurking in the room. Other sleep phenomena recounted here include delusional behavior among the chronically sleep-deprived; sightings of the “black dog” as a portent of approaching involuntary sleep, as described by long-haul truckers; and reports of nocturnal alien abductions, which, Nover observes, often resemble medieval accounts of demonic incubi. He also delves into the night terrors that occur in deep sleep, sometimes making people capable of feats of adrenaline-fueled strength that they cannot duplicate while awake. The more garden-variety—but still terrifying—phenomena of nightmares and fever dreams receive their full due as well. Filled with documented and fascinating stories of slumber gone awry and explanations of the science behind sleep issues, Nover’s book will be received by readers as a riveting invitation to sleep at one’s own risk. (Oct.)