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A rave from The New York Times

Editor’s Choice, The New York Times Book Review

Made the The New Yorker’s list of best books of 2023

Made Harvard Public Health’s list of best public health books of 2023

Made AARP: The Magazine’s list of “stellar” new biographies

Won American Society of Journalists and Authors 2024 Book Award, biography/history category

Deep-dive review in The Wall Street Journal

Starred review in Publisher’s Weekly

Kudos from Nature

Encomium in the New York Sun

Plaudits from BookPage

Recommended as a “great summer read” by the American Academy of Medical Colleges

What People Are Saying

“Mapping the Darkness is a propulsive, utterly engrossing history…. Miller’s narration of the subject is commanding, bright and deft. His prose cuts and flows through the last century of impossibly complex stop-start progress in the measuring and quantifying of sleep—why we do it, and how. None of it is simple and all of it is captivating…. In Miller’s hands, sleep is a territory of seductive, wondrous mystery, and his great achievement is balancing rigor and awe.”
— Samantha Harvey, The New York Times

“Mapping the Darkness … offers two narratives at once: a sweeping journey of discovery about dreams, sleep and the terra incognita of unconsciousness, and a wake-up call about the dangers of chronic exhaustion. It’s time, Mr. Miller tells us, to take our sleep back.”
— Brandy Schillace, The Wall Street Journal

“Absorbing…. [Sleep science’s] ascent, Miller shows, was influenced by a range of factors, among them Freudianism, the study of blinking, the pressures of capitalism … and the Challenger disaster (sleep-research funding increased after it was revealed that exhaustion helped cause the catastrophe). The book follows a handful of dogged scientists … but also examines the impact of the many researchers whose discoveries have helped to make the treatment of sleep disorders a pillar of public health.”
— The New Yorker

“Journalist Miller’s eye-opening debut explores the lives and work of four researchers who pioneered the scientific understanding of sleep…. The biographical background humanizes the scientific history, and Miller excels at drawing out the real-world implications of the research…. Readers will have no problem staying alert through this fascinating scientific history.”
— Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)

“Mr. Miller has a good eye for a great scientific story.”
— The Economist

“Engrossing…. The impressive work of reportage that is Mapping the Darkness is an impassioned reminder to appreciate the researchers whose work has transformed our slumber — and do our best to give sleep the respect and attention it deserves.”
— Linda M. Castellitto, Bookpage

“It is rare that the history of a scientific field and the emergence of a medical sub-speciality are eloquently summarized in a single volume. In Mapping the Darkness, journalist Kenneth Miller achieves just that.… Many great discoveries are accidents of history meeting genius and determination, and Miller’s story exemplifies how the personal qualities of individuals can shape an entire field — to the benefit of us all.”
— Jennifer L. Martin, Nature

“Miller tells the stories of the rebels who changed our understanding of sleep while explaining just what happens when we nod off. It makes for a stimulating read.”
— Wesley Dodds, CultureWag

“Mapping the Darkness is a book to lose sleep over. It is a haunting portrayal of human misery but also of the determined triumphs of researchers who didn’t give a damn about the skepticism of colleagues.”
— Carl Rollyson, New York Sun

“Is there anyone who hasn’t — somewhere in the middle of a lost night — pondered the stubborn mystery of sleep? You’ll find some of the best answers to that riddle here in Kenneth Miller’s book, Mapping the Darkness: an addictively readable history of the scientists who changed our thinking about the nature and necessity of rest itself.”
— Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

“By profiling the daring pioneers of sleep science, this fascinating, magisterially researched, and brilliantly written book pulls back the covers on one of the great mysteries of being human: why we spend a full third of our lives engaged in an activity that scientists are only beginning to understand. You’ll never think about something you do every night the same way again.”
— Steve Silberman, New York Times bestselling author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

“In Mapping the Darkness, Kenneth Miller reveals the captivating story of how a quartet of scientists invented sleep science and set the stage for today’s revolt against the epidemic of sleep deprivation caused by school schedules, thirty-hour medical shifts, and the irresistible glowing rectangles we keep on our nightstands. Don’t start reading this book right before bed, or you will be so engrossed you may stay up all night — which can be dangerous to your health.”
— Laura J. Snyder, author of The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World

“This book is a delight to read! Combining the best of science writing and biography, Kenneth Miller spins a gripping story of how we have come to understand sleep from its basic biology to its impact on personal and public health. I read this book and started going to bed with an entirely new appreciation for what my brain and body do without my assistance.”
— Daisy Hernández, PEN/Jean Stein Book Award-winning author of The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease

“In a highly engaging style, Kenneth Miller follows the key researchers who unlocked sleep’s secrets, clarifying the complex science of sleep and its maladies—insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and narcolepsy to name a few. Thoroughly researched and admirably rendered, Mapping the Darkness is a must-read for anyone who has thought about sleep or the lack thereof.”
— Charlotte D. Jacobs, author of Jonas Salk: A Life