This Post Needs No Title

I own lots of books by Raymond Smullyan. Two of them have titles that refer to both themselves and each other.

Books titles and article headlines are often chosen not by the author of the book or article, but by an editor or publisher. I mention this also in Headlines Mislead, Except for This One. In my mental tally, if an article title consists of a yes-or-no question, the answer is no at least 90% of the time. The title was simply intended to garner attention by suggesting something might be the case that really isn’t. To make up an example, “Are left-handed people really extraterrestrials?”

Of my two Smullyan book titles, one is a self-contradictory declarative sentence and the other is a self-answering question. Smullyan was playing with these types of self-reference.

Lately I have been reading a book titled Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker PhD. Someone decided not to name it “Why Do We Sleep?”. The book does not really explain why we sleep. A more accurate title still would be “What are the Benefits of Sleep?”. That is the main subject of the book. I give my thoughts prior to reading this book in You Don’t Need To Sleep.

As I write this, I have read 276 pages of the 342 in the trade paperback edition I am reading. So far, it mostly confirms, or at least doesn’t contradict, what I wrote in the post I just mentioned. It covers a lot of fascinating sleep research and clever experiments. I am not convinced that these experiments prove everything Walker claims they prove. But they do provide much food for thought and further research. It explains why not getting enough high-quality sleep is detrimental to our health, and can even result in death. So that is a partial, albeit completely obvious, answer. We sleep because if we don’t sleep, we die. But why is that? Sleep has many benefits, and evolution has come up with no better way to provide them.

I am moved by this book to take naps more often, as they have many serious health benefits for those with the luxury of time to nap. There are as well other tips for dealing with jet lag, insomnia, and insufficient sleep that will be valuable to many. I don’t do all of them. Maybe I should do more.