# Is There A Book (Film, etc.) You Wish You Read (etc.) Ten Years Earlier? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724 "2022-10-04T22:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/1 "2022-10-04T22:23:14Z")
Have you ever read (etc.) something enlightening or transformative - and wish you had come across it much earlier? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/2 "2022-10-04T22:29:22Z")
No, but I read this article in _[the Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/09/books-younger-selves-recommendations/671601/)_ this week and thought none of the books it mentions sounds interesting to me. But there are some I wish in retrospect I had understood better. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/3 "2022-10-04T22:31:54Z")
I saw that. Kind of thought the sane thing. But there are many books that may have been helpful years before I got around to reading them. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/4 "2022-10-04T22:52:22Z")
I recently read a book about sleep disorders and found the passages on insomnia particularly enlightening. After a lifetime of insomnia, I’m getting the best sleep of my life. _The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It_ by W. Chris Winter, M.D. As far as fiction goes? I feel like so much of what makes a book transformative is timing. I can’t really think of a fiction book I’ve read recently that I would describe as transformative, but one that stands out is _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving. I don’t think I would have understood that book if I’d read it ten years ago. I don’t think it would have had the same meaning. Some of what moved me about it had to do with relatively recent relationships of mine. And I now have a better understanding of storytelling as a craft, which allowed me to appreciate it more. It’s not enough for it to be the right book. It has to be the right time. ---
**Author:** ![tuesdayweld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@tuesdayweld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tuesdayweld)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/5 "2022-10-05T00:06:17Z")
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankel. Read it for the first time in my 40’s. It straightened out my perspective on pretty much everything. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/6 "2022-10-05T09:32:11Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > _The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It_ by W. Chris Winter, M.D. Eh, I found that one so boring I couldn’t stay awake. (Sorry 'bout that. Would you mind breaking down his advice in a few bullet points? I couldn’t glean the gist of his treatment in the Amazon reviews) > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > …I can’t really think of a fiction book I’ve read recently that I would describe as transformative, but one that stands out is _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving. For the past 30+ years I’ve considered this my favorite novel. This is pretty much the only work of fiction that I regularly re-read. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-book-film-etc-you-wish-you-read-etc-ten-years-earlier/972724/7 "2022-10-07T12:51:47Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > (Sorry 'bout that. Would you mind breaking down his advice in a few bullet points? I couldn’t glean the gist of his treatment in the Amazon reviews) I’d say it’s more about cognitive restructuring than treatment. The book explains the various sleep cycles and hormones involved in healthy sleep, and even shows some sleep study results so you can see what different sleep patterns look like with different conditions. But for the insomnia, he says for 99.9% of people, it’s fundamentally a psychological problem, a fear of not sleeping. And the more you worry about losing sleep, the harder it is to fall asleep. It’s really about how people perceive the sleep they’re getting that makes the greatest impact on performance - and our perception can be really distorted. In one study, veterans with PTSD significantly overestimated how long it took them to get to sleep and significantly underestimated how long they actually slept. So tackling insomnia is about changing one’s perception of it. Recognizing that having trouble falling asleep in not an emergency, that rest without sleeping can still be restorative, and that you can quit trying so hard. Eventually your body will force you to sleep. The more practical tips were: -make your bedroom so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face -get up at the same time every day no matter how long it took you to fall asleep -only use the bed for sleeping/sex -only go to bed when you’re sleepy -don’t check the time when you wake up at night There was some talk of sleep restriction to work out exactly how long you need to sleep every night. I’ve really taken it all to heart. I’m resting easier. I removed as much light as I could from the bedroom, purchased an analog alarm clock, removed my power strips and as many electronics as I could, cleared out the bedroom, essentially creating a sleep sanctuary, and I’ve been getting up around 6am every morning, regardless of how late I get to bed. That one habit is probably the cornerstone. Before bed, I just sit on the couch and read, and when I get sleepy, I go to bed. I’ve stopped pressuring myself to fall asleep quickly, but since implementing these changes I probably average about 20 minutes to fall asleep. Sometimes I am extra tired and go to bed a smidge early. I’m still adjusting to the early schedule, but it’s been much easier than I thought it would be. It only takes a few days of getting up at the same time every day for your brain to adapt. I have never felt this good about my sleep.