This book about sleep is more than just a yawn

RYAN REYNOLDS

June 05, 2008 at 3:04PM AKST

The sun creeps slowly over the northeastern range with its warming glow not far behind.

Tiehacker’s peak melts for a moment, set fire by the coming dawn; an auburn crown of misty vapors snug against its bosom.

The Earth spins, the fire rises. Light slashes through the clouds, across the bay and past the church until it finds my eyelids fixed in slumber through my window.

Here the fire finds me. My world, though in dreams, glows red through the eyelashed curtain, demanding my attention; asking for action.

With a grunt I turn, pulling the covers over my eyes as I try to hide the fact that morning has come, and with it the death of sleep. It is only when my cave of covers threatens to sizzle the sauna out of me that I give up the fight and accept the sun, rise and greet the day.

So I’m not a morning person. Even the 10 a.m. winter Alaska mornings I find troubling at times, and breakfast always seems to taste best after noon.

But you know what? I’m not alone. It’s a said fact that even the Sun King, ol’ Louis XIV of France, had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. So much in fact, that after a while he saw no reason why he couldn’t rule the kingdom without ever leaving his covers.

The man owned more than 400 beds and would entertain friends or hold court, all while snug as a bug in a rug. I bet he had some fancy PJs.

And then there’s Vincent van Gogh, albeit a tad crazy, but that guy sure knew how to sleep in style. On a pillow of hops!

Enter “The Complete Book of Sleep.” Author Dianne Hales reminds us that we are able to go without food, water and companionship more easily than without sleep. If you’ve ever been kept awake by the friendly fellows down at the CIA for several days with an espresso-fed cocker spaniel and a car battery that just never quits, you’ll know what I mean.

And so it pays to take a moment of reflection before jumping into the wild abyss each evening.

Someone stayed up a lot of nights to write this book. A little ironic, don’t you think?

My favorite chapter is “All the Sleepy People: Where Do They All Come From?”

But I’m off to take a nap. We’ll let Eleanor Rigby take it from here.

Ryan Reynolds can be found at the library smelling old books and sometimes wearing argyle socks. He can be reached at 224-4082 or rreynolds@cityofseward.net.