# Recommend me books to help me sleep **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774 "2018-09-23T08:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/21 "2018-09-25T07:18:55Z")
Try a technical book about a subject that you have no interest in. Something like _Practical Handbook Of Bee Culture with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen_ or perhaps _The American Railroad Freight Car_. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/22 "2018-09-25T07:34:58Z")
The Silmarillon. I probably read it once every two or three years and I still can’t memorize or at least put things in the right groove (ex: distinguish between Eldar and Sindar names and words.) I haven’t even gone beyond the following: Valar: Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Namo, Irmo, Orome, Tulkas Valier: Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Vairie, Este, Vana, Nessa Aratar: Manwe, Varda, Ulmo, Aule, Yavanna, Namo, Neinna, Orome Named Maia: Ilmarie, Eonwe, Osse, Uinen, Melian, Olorin, Sauron, Gothmog Avari: those who refused the summons Eldar: those who heeded under the Eldar: Nandor (Teleri Silvan elves), did not go to Beleriand Sindar (Teleri grey elves), went to Beleriand but not Amman High Elves, went to Amman; included Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri under Olwe. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/23 "2018-09-25T12:08:17Z")
Not a joke or trying to be cute: Try your favorite dictionary and read it in order. Bookmark where you get/got to before falling asleep and start there next time. Jumping around with one word leading you to the next by virtue of some connection between the words will probably keep you awake! So do it in order and see how fast you lose interest and just fall asleep with the book on your lap or the bed or the floor. The phone book (in order) will also work! Another trick is to try to remember the lyrics to a song you liked 20 years ago. (I use this method myself). ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/24 "2018-09-27T04:08:11Z")
I strongly recommend the novels of Marcel Proust. He writes long, meandering sentences about memories, old conversations, and times gone by. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/25 "2018-09-27T07:27:54Z")
The textbook I had for Economics 101 in my undergrad university was pretty boring, and I fell asleep over it a couple of times. If you don’t have such a textbook, then I’d add another vote for _Moby Dick_ or _The Silmarillion_. I cannot get through a few pages of either without nodding off. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/26 "2018-09-27T22:42:13Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Sorry no books to recommend but there are some great podcasts that work very well. > > My go to, free: [https://shazzie.com/free-sleep-app-for-everyone/](https://shazzie.com/free-sleep-app-for-everyone/) +1 on the podcasts. They have the advantage over a book in that you can rest with your eyes closed while listning - as opposed to a book where you’ve got to have the lights on (or a backlit e-reader). An audiobook would have the same benefit. For what it’s worth, you don’t want something incredibly boring. you want something juuuuuuuust interesting enough that your mind can focus on it, but not so fascinating that you stay awake to keep listening. Mind-numblingly-boring stuff will leave your mind free to wander onto other topics which might in themselves keep you awake. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/27 "2018-09-28T00:59:56Z")
I love reading poetry, but if you don’t, that ought to do it. Nature poems especially. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/28 "2018-09-28T10:42:47Z")
The Calm app has sleep stories - I don’t much care for the fiction ones, but the ones that are, say, audio of Bob Ross’s painting episodes or the Welsh dude reciting facts about breeds of sheep are actually very sleep-inducing. Ferris Bueller’s teacher reading GDPR regulations, though, just put me off. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/29 "2018-09-28T17:24:52Z")
How about the year-by-year [United States federal budget](https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGET)? ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/30 "2018-09-29T15:03:53Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Podcasts with boring hosts **in a foreign language in which you can’t understand a word** - gold mine. 🙂 Do you have any examples? It’s hard to research “boring” podcasts in another language. > [@Sailboat](#): > > How about the year-by-year [United States federal budget](https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGET)? That might raise your blood pressure. I used to read an ebook over and over and over again. It worked… but then I started getting stressed by the boredom and had to switch. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/31 "2018-09-29T17:39:58Z")
Based on my med school experience, I recommend a pathology textbook. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774/32 "2018-09-29T21:22:13Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > **The Emperor’s New Mind** by Roger Penrose. Fascinating but like walking in a swimming pool full of marbles. The book also contains a glaring error: Penrose’s “proof” that a human can compute something no computer can is grotesquely wrong. And he still cannot admit it. I lost all respect for him after that. When I was in HS, Silas Marner put me right out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-to-help-me-sleep/821774.md?page=1)