Sleep plays a critical role in maintaining health and cognitive function, yet humans sleep less than any other primate. In his new book, The Sleepless Ape, David Samson explains how this apparent paradox evolved, and why sleep is a critical but often overlooked aspect of human evolution. When our ancestors left the safety of the forest for more dangerous ground, they formed more secure social sleeping arrangements, which resulted in shorter, deeper, and more flexible sleep patterns. Those changes, he argues, not only provided survival advantages but also freed more time for crucial activities such as toolmaking and social interaction. Associated changes in the human brain also led to more restorative sleep, which in turn enabled advanced memory consolidation and fostered creativity—keys to our success as a species. A deeper understanding of our evolutionary sleep heritage, Samson writes, can help us address sleep disorders and improve our overall health and well-being.

David R. Samson is associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Toronto and the author of Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts into a Force for Good. His pioneering research has been featured in National Geographic, Time, and The New York Times and on NPR and the BBC.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website.

The library's “Science and Society - Making Sense of the World Around Us” lecture series is co-organized and moderated by Fred Dylla, Executive Director Emeritus of the American Institute of Physics and author of Scientific Journeys, Linda Dylla, former public information officer at the Jefferson Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy, and Colin Norman, the former News Editor at Science.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the library.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.