Taking a break from the usual carping about religion or politics to post part of a reply to a friend about a method of dealing with insomnia.



I've had many nocturnal ceiling study opportunities. Usually it's some kind of worry, but too often it's just plain speed. I discovered the audiobook trick after falling asleep listening to audiobooks I'm actually interested in. When that happens it's difficult to find my place again. Since it's so reliable I realized it would work with books where it doesn't matter where I leave off - just as long as I leave. I've got two books on my iPod now that qualify: "The Second Declaration" and "The Slan Hunter." The former is a stiff translation from the Chinese original where the author spouts off all kinds of futuristic expectations. This would be interesting to me but the writing style and some of the content is abysmal. The reader also has a boring voice and appears to not understand what little is coherent in the text. so it has just enough interest to suck me in now and then and all the sleep-inducing qualities of audiobooks. The one problem is that sometimes I get riled up about the incompetence and get back to square one. The other sleeper is "Slan Hunter," a science fiction book written in the 50's that is very poorly written, with a lame and predictable plot. It reminds you of a story. Again, the critic/editor in me sometimes gets too aroused and threatens to keep me awake. But boredom usually wins the night.

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