The Art of Lying Down: A Guide to Horizontal Living

By Bernd Brunner

"A strange and dreamy voice . . ., like an Italo Calvino short story, curiously translated from some lost, obscure language." --Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love An utterly charming study of the history of lying down--which is more complicated than you might think We spend a good third of our lives lying down: sleeping, dreaming, making love, thinking, reading, and getting well. Bernd Brunner's ode to lying down is a rich exploration of cultural history and an entertaining collection of tales, ranging from the history of the mattress to the "slow living movement" to Stone Age repose--when people did not sleep lying down--and beyond. He approaches the horizontal state from a number of directions, but never loses his keen sense for the odd or unusual detail. Far from being a pose of passivity or laziness, lying down can be a protest, a chance to gather thoughts or change your point of view--the other side to our upright, productive lives. Brunner makes an eloquent case for the importance of lying down in a world that values ever-greater levels of activity, arguing that time spent horizontally offers rewards that we'd do well not to ignore.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1612193099
• ISBN13: 9781612193090
• Release Date: November 2013
• Publisher: Melville House
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.8" x 5.0"