Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body

I read this book for a Science Book Club in my area that I meet with once a month. It was a nice break from our previous book, which was much more technical with its discussions of physics and chemistry. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream was an easy read, illustrating how your circadian rhythms affect your daily life.

I found myself having to adapt to her style of writing when it comes to a scientific topic because of my background in research, but I really liked it after I let myself enjoy it for what it is. It reads much like a collection of news articles, highlighting the most interesting results while glossing over the details and methods of the research study. This is where I struggled most, since the researcher in me wanted to know about the control groups used and the statistical methods applied to the study, but I realize this text is not the place for those discussions.

 Here are some fun facts from this book:

• The bacteria in your mouth easily outnumber the world's population
• Trace amounts of skatole, the substance that gives feces its foul odor, are used in vanilla flavoring
• 17 hours of sleep deprivation makes you perform as if you had a .05% Blood Alcohol Content
• You put as much as 128 pounds of pressure on your teeth when you chew

Overall, this book is engaging and is something that any one with a high school knowledge of biology can enjoy. If you are more scientifically inclined, know not to expect much scientific detail -just sit back and relax. 

Love and (a book) light,

~Dorothy