The Science of Sleep

Reviewed by Kristen Genet, Unlimited Full Time Faculty in Biology, Anoka-Ramsey Community College on 1/29/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book comprehensively introduces the biology, psychology, and cultural context of sleep, but it does not include reference material at the end such as an index (although there is a table of contents at the beginning) or a glossary. Throughout, references are provided as footnotes, but I think students and faculty alike would benefit from more thorough listing of references as well as the index/glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The material presented is clear, objective, and supported by references from scientific literature.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Up to date when published, but references to "new" research will benefit from updates, especially for the topics that represent new developments as of the publication dates.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written clearly and logically. The technical parts are explained in simplified terms, figures are provided, as well as references for more information.

Consistency rating: 5

Terms and concepts are introduced and then referenced in multiple chapters. This helps to reinforce the concepts and repetition makes the meanings and connections clearer.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is broken into logical and manageable sections that could be assigned/considered as individual modules. Some sections are much longer and more complex than others, however.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are presented in a logical and clear order.

Interface rating: 4

I evaluated the PDF version, and also looked over the MS Word version. The PDF version would be best viewed either as whole page or printed, so the placement of figures and the formatting of the columns does not require scrolling back and forth to read and interpret things that don't fit together on one screen. Images were not included in the MS Word downloaded version and formatting was not reader-friendly, so I would not suggest that version. An interface that would allow continued flow of text with thumbnails of figures that could be expanded so they're visible at the same time as reading the relevant text would be better, and that's one of the benefits of other online texts that I have used.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Well written and edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The cultural context and social justice component was one of the best features of this book. Clearly this book was written from the Hawaiian perspective, and predominantly for an audience of Hawaiian students, but the references to indigenous culture and the integration of social justice issues and action items woven throughout the text were powerful ways to include diversity and culture into the text.

Comments

I am teaching a seminar course on the biology of sleep, and I think this book (at least sections from it) will be a great resource to provide to students for many of the topics we will be discussing.