A nice story about sleep disorders, homosexuality, AIDS, and love. ( )

Sleep Demons is part memoir, part discussion of sleep and sleep disorders by Bill Hayes, a self-described agnostic gay insomniac. I found both the memoir and the sleep information intermittently interesting: Some of the scientific sections came off as dry and tedious to me, and I wasn't expecting to read so much about Hayes's active sexual life. Of particular interest to me were his childhood and family life, and then later years living in San Francisco with his partner, Steve, who was HIV-positive and later developed AIDS. The first-person narrative of their life at this time was intriguing and touching, and was what ultimately made me glad to have read Sleep Demons. ( )

As a lifelong insomiac fascinated with sleep I found this blend of personal account and scientific explanation absolutely intriguing. A person with no interest in or familiarity with sleep/sleeping disorders might find some sections of this book a little tedious, but should find some of the author's anecdotes interesting in their own right, and anyone that does have that familiarity will find himself nodding along with and laughing at experiences all too like his own. ( )