Ein vinsælasta, umtalaðasta og áhugaverðasta bók undanfarinna vikna er án efa hin stórmerkilega Why We Sleep eftir breska svefnvísindamanninn Matthew Walker. Hér fer höfundur um víðan völl um allt sem snýr að svefni: eðli hans og þróun yfir ævina, mikilvægi hans fyrir líkamann og hættur þess að fá ekki nógan svefn.

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in twenty-first-century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep.
In this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters. Looking at creatures from across the animal kingdom as well as major human studies, Why We Sleep delves into everything from what really happens during REM sleep to how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.