Insomnia

INSOMNIA is a ' supreme page turner . . . and a plot that will keep you awake at night' (GQ) from the ultimate storyteller. You'll lose a lot of sleep. Ralph does. After his wife dies, he starts waking up earlier. And earlier. Then he starts to observe some strange things going on in the small town of Derry, Maine - auras, coloured ribbons streaming from people's heads, and two little men wandering about after dark. That's when Ralph begins to lose a lot more than sleep. He realises that his hitherto mild-mannered friend, Ed, is getting dangerously out of control. And now he is terrified that his home town is about to become the new Armageddon . . .

INSOMNIA is a ' supreme page turner . . . and a plot that will keep you awake at night' (GQ) from the ultimate storyteller. You'll lose a lot of sleep. Ralph does. After his wife dies, he starts waking up earlier. And earlier. Then he starts to observe some strange things going on in the small town of Derry, Maine - auras, coloured ribbons streaming from people's heads, and two little men wandering about after dark. That's when Ralph begins to lose a lot more than sleep. He realises that his hitherto mild-mannered friend, Ed, is getting dangerously out of control. And now he is terrified that his home town is about to become the new Armageddon . . .

In today’s media-saturated, hyper-connected society, increasing numbers of people are finding it hard to switch off their over-stimulated brains and escape the demands of daily life. We are becoming, it seems, a world of insomniacs – but this condition of perpetual unrest has plagued people for centuries. In this fascinating study, Eluned Summers-Bremner shows that the roots and effects of insomnia are complex, and reveals how humans have employed art, science and witchcraft to understand and treat the affliction. Summers-Bremner’s exploration of sleeplessness begins with the literature of ancient times, and finds its sufferers in prominent texts such as the Iliad , the Odyssey , the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh and the Bible. Insomnia continued to figure large in Romantic and Gothic literature, as well as the ephemeral worlds of nightmares and the Sublime. Meanwhile, throughout the ages insomnia has been variously categorized by the medical community as a manifestation of a deeper psychological or physical malady. As modern medicine and science evolved, insomnia emerged as a distinct symptom of psychological illness or post-traumatic stress disorder. Today’s medical solutions tend to involve prescription drugs, and Insomnia raises important questions about the role of the pharmaceutical industry and the effectiveness of such treatments. Bedside reading of the most useful sort, Insomnia won’t cure your sleeplessness, but it will help you understand the problem and introduce you to its rich cultural antecedents, and to fellow sufferers down the ages.

In today’s media-saturated, hyper-connected society, increasing numbers of people are finding it hard to switch off their over-stimulated brains and escape the demands of daily life. We are becoming, it seems, a world of insomniacs – but this condition of perpetual unrest has plagued people for centuries. In this fascinating study, Eluned Summers-Bremner shows that the roots and effects of insomnia are complex, and reveals how humans have employed art, science and witchcraft to understand and treat the affliction. Summers-Bremner’s exploration of sleeplessness begins with the literature of ancient times, and finds its sufferers in prominent texts such as the Iliad , the Odyssey , the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh and the Bible. Insomnia continued to figure large in Romantic and Gothic literature, as well as the ephemeral worlds of nightmares and the Sublime. Meanwhile, throughout the ages insomnia has been variously categorized by the medical community as a manifestation of a deeper psychological or physical malady. As modern medicine and science evolved, insomnia emerged as a distinct symptom of psychological illness or post-traumatic stress disorder. Today’s medical solutions tend to involve prescription drugs, and Insomnia raises important questions about the role of the pharmaceutical industry and the effectiveness of such treatments. Bedside reading of the most useful sort, Insomnia won’t cure your sleeplessness, but it will help you understand the problem and introduce you to its rich cultural antecedents, and to fellow sufferers down the ages.

A #1 national bestseller--"A yarn so packed with suspense, romance, literary reference, fascinating miscellaneous knowledge, and heart that only Stephen King could have written it. Marvelous--that is, full of marvels" ( Booklist ). Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier, until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep. There's a definite mean streak running through this small New England city; underneath its ordinary surface awesome and terrifying forces are at work. The dying has been going on in Derry for a long, long time. Now Ralph is part of it...and lack of sleep is the least of his worries. Returning to the same Maine town where It took place, a town that has haunted Stephen King for decades, Insomnia blends King's trademark bone-chilling realism with supernatural terror to create yet another masterpiece of suspense.

A #1 national bestseller--"A yarn so packed with suspense, romance, literary reference, fascinating miscellaneous knowledge, and heart that only Stephen King could have written it. Marvelous--that is, full of marvels" ( Booklist ). Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier, until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep. There's a definite mean streak running through this small New England city; underneath its ordinary surface awesome and terrifying forces are at work. The dying has been going on in Derry for a long, long time. Now Ralph is part of it...and lack of sleep is the least of his worries. Returning to the same Maine town where It took place, a town that has haunted Stephen King for decades, Insomnia blends King's trademark bone-chilling realism with supernatural terror to create yet another masterpiece of suspense.

The rock legend tells the story of his wild ride with Martin Scorsese – as friends, adventure-seekers, and boundary-pushing collaborators – with all the heart of his New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony 'Intense, exciting, delirious' THE TIMES 'Thrilling, beautiful, honest' TELEGRAPH 'A wild ride' ROLLING STONE --- For four decades, Robbie Robertson produced music for Martin Scorsese's films, a relationship that began when Robertson convinced Scorsese to direct The Last Waltz , the iconic film of the Band's farewell performance at the Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976. The closing of the Band's story with that landmark concert thrust Robertson into a new and uncertain world. With his relationship with his bandmates deteriorating and his marriage collapsing, Robertson arrived on Scorsese’s Beverly Hills doorstep only to find his friend in similar straits. Before the night was out, Scorsese had invited him to move in. Both men, already culture-transforming stars before the age of thirty-five, stood at a creative precipice, searching for the beginning of a new phase of life and work. As their friendship deepened into a career-altering collaboration, their shared journey would take them around the world and down the rabbit hole of American culture in the long hangover of the seventies. Buffeted on either side by temptation and paranoia, veering closer to self-destruction than either wanted to admit, together they had devoted themselves to a partnership defined by equal parts admiration and ambition. With a cast of characters featuring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Sam Fuller, Liza Minelli, Tuesday Weld, and many more, Insomnia is an intimate portrait of a remarkable creative friendship between two titans of American arts, one that would explore the outer limits of excess and experience before returning to tell the tale.

The rock legend tells the story of his wild ride with Martin Scorsese – as friends, adventure-seekers, and boundary-pushing collaborators – with all the heart of his New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony 'Intense, exciting, delirious' THE TIMES 'Thrilling, beautiful, honest' TELEGRAPH 'A wild ride' ROLLING STONE --- For four decades, Robbie Robertson produced music for Martin Scorsese's films, a relationship that began when Robertson convinced Scorsese to direct The Last Waltz , the iconic film of the Band's farewell performance at the Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976. The closing of the Band's story with that landmark concert thrust Robertson into a new and uncertain world. With his relationship with his bandmates deteriorating and his marriage collapsing, Robertson arrived on Scorsese’s Beverly Hills doorstep only to find his friend in similar straits. Before the night was out, Scorsese had invited him to move in. Both men, already culture-transforming stars before the age of thirty-five, stood at a creative precipice, searching for the beginning of a new phase of life and work. As their friendship deepened into a career-altering collaboration, their shared journey would take them around the world and down the rabbit hole of American culture in the long hangover of the seventies. Buffeted on either side by temptation and paranoia, veering closer to self-destruction than either wanted to admit, together they had devoted themselves to a partnership defined by equal parts admiration and ambition. With a cast of characters featuring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Sam Fuller, Liza Minelli, Tuesday Weld, and many more, Insomnia is an intimate portrait of a remarkable creative friendship between two titans of American arts, one that would explore the outer limits of excess and experience before returning to tell the tale.

The rock legend tells the story of his wild ride with Martin Scorsese--as friends, adventure-seekers, and boundary-pushing collaborators--with all the heart of his New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony . For four decades, Robbie Robertson produced music for Martin Scorsese's films, a relationship that began when Robertson convinced Scorsese to direct The Last Waltz , the iconic film of the Band's farewell performance at the Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976. The closing of the Band's story with that landmark concert thrust Robertson into a new and uncertain world. With his relationship with his bandmates deteriorating and his marriage collapsing, Robertson arrived on Scorsese's Beverly Hills doorstep only to find his friend in similar straits. Before the night was out, Scorsese had invited him to move in. Both men, already culture-transforming stars before the age of thirty-five, stood at a creative precipice, searching for the beginning of a new phase of life and work. As their friendship deepened into a career-altering collaboration, their shared journey would take them around the world and down the rabbit hole of American culture in the long hangover of the seventies. Buffeted on either side by temptation and paranoia, veering closer to self-destruction than either wanted to admit, together they had devoted themselves to a partnership defined by equal parts admiration and ambition. With a cast of characters featuring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Sam Fuller, Liza Minelli, Tuesday Weld, and many more, Insomnia is an intimate portrait of a remarkable creative friendship between two titans of American arts, one that would explore the outer limits of excess and experience before returning to tell the tale.

The rock legend tells the story of his wild ride with Martin Scorsese--as friends, adventure-seekers, and boundary-pushing collaborators--with all the heart of his New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony . For four decades, Robbie Robertson produced music for Martin Scorsese's films, a relationship that began when Robertson convinced Scorsese to direct The Last Waltz , the iconic film of the Band's farewell performance at the Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976. The closing of the Band's story with that landmark concert thrust Robertson into a new and uncertain world. With his relationship with his bandmates deteriorating and his marriage collapsing, Robertson arrived on Scorsese's Beverly Hills doorstep only to find his friend in similar straits. Before the night was out, Scorsese had invited him to move in. Both men, already culture-transforming stars before the age of thirty-five, stood at a creative precipice, searching for the beginning of a new phase of life and work. As their friendship deepened into a career-altering collaboration, their shared journey would take them around the world and down the rabbit hole of American culture in the long hangover of the seventies. Buffeted on either side by temptation and paranoia, veering closer to self-destruction than either wanted to admit, together they had devoted themselves to a partnership defined by equal parts admiration and ambition. With a cast of characters featuring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Sam Fuller, Liza Minelli, Tuesday Weld, and many more, Insomnia is an intimate portrait of a remarkable creative friendship between two titans of American arts, one that would explore the outer limits of excess and experience before returning to tell the tale.

A #1 national bestsellerA yarn so packed with suspense, romance, literary reference, fascinating miscellaneous knowledge, and heart that only Stephen King could have written it. Marvelousthat is, full of marvels (Booklist).Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier, until hes barely sleeping at all. During his late night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from peoples heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep. Theres a definite mean streak running through this small New England city; underneath its ordinary surface awesome and terrifying forces are at work. The dying has been going on in Derry for a long, long time. Now Ralph is part of itand lack of sleep is the least of his worries. Returning to the same Maine town where It took place, a town that has haunted Stephen King for decades, Insomnia blends Kings trademark bone-chilling realism with supernatural terror to create yet another masterpiece of suspense.