Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep

Let's kick off a month of requests from our Patreon raffle winners with more about the delicious staff of life. This time, bread baking for (19th century) beginners, yeasty science, and the complexities of communion wafers. Tasty!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "The His...

Let's relax and sleep with more about Einstein's theories of relativity, how geometry gets messy on a sphere, the validity of measuring with eels, and a bit about Pythagoras, who feared beans. Who knew?   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "The ABC of Relativity" at Project G...

Let's relax and sleep with more about the origins of that magical medium, movies! This time, we explore motion, mess with gelatin, and call "Action!" on the development of celluloid film thanks to one George Eastman.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Moving Pictures" at P...

Let's relax and sleep with more from this solo journey by sailboat. This time, we cross the Atlantic, serenade dolphins, and…a seafaring ghost saves our narrator from a cheese-induced fever? Sure, why not. I don't write them, friends.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Sai...

Let's relax and sleep with more from a classic that combines mathematics and social commentary with pointed angularity. This time, our narrator is inducted into that most secret of secrets…three dimensions. Why, it's madness, I tell you.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "...

Let's celebrate our 300th episode and 10 MILLION listens with a bit of fireworks! That sounds exciting, but it's really just a sleepy catalog of firework displays in England up to the 19 th century. Flaming dragon battles and "philosophical fireworks" are somewhat mentioned, so that's fun.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a...

Let's return to a political classic and learn more about how to govern as a prince. This time, we hear why neither the rich nor the mercenary can be trusted, why it's easy to earn the people's faith by being nice, and the excellent word "dastardy" is used.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.c...

This week, let's relax with the intricacies of car maintenance as we learn the proper care and operation of a 1912 Model T Ford. Why, it's so simple, anyone can fill the dope caps and grind the valves. Ford thinks you can, anyway, and isn't that a bit cheering?   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacof...

Let's sail to sleep with more about the history of maritime exploration, including Vikings in North America, the Chinese invention of the compass, Arabic navigation tools, and the rise of the Portuguese. Dreams ahoy!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "The Book of the Ocean...

Let's return to this relaxing classic and learn more sleepy advice about paying visits, leaving cards, proper wedding invitations, and how to sit in a chair. Dear listeners, it seems your reader had no idea.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Etiquette" at Project Gutenber...

This week, we conclude a relaxing Greek classic about getting the best from your cavalry horse, including what to wear, and then fall asleep to the riveting legalese of Project Gutenberg's usage license for all these free eBooks I share with you. The horse stuff is more fun, to be honest.   Giveaway! All Patreon supporters in May will have a chance at one of four slots to determine our readings fo...

Let's continue to wend our relaxing way through a fundamental text of science and explore how elements combine and de-combine with that wonderful substance, water. Truly the solution for sleep!   Giveaway! All Patreon supporters in May will have a chance at one of four slots to determine our readings for August. By joining Patreon, you get exclusive episodes, keep us ad-free AND get a chance to he...

Let's return to this sleepily detailed guide to rail journeys in 1860, and learn what to wear, the importance of travel insurance, and how to steal a horse to get to the station on time. Handy indeed!   Giveaway! All Patreon supporters in May will have a chance at one of four slots to determine our readings for August. By joining Patreon, you get exclusive episodes, keep us ad-free AND get a chanc...

Tonight, let's celebrate the sleepy splendors of spring and go shopping for the latest in floral novelties offered by Gardiner & Co. in their seed annual. Apparently, in 1890, Japanese delights were all the rage.   I also announce a new Giveaway! All Patreon supporters in May will have a chance at one of four slots to determine our readings for August. By joining Patreon, you help us stay ad-free...

Tonight, while your reader recovers from a snuffly illness, let's rewind to 2021 and fall into the rhythm of sleep with a book that works hard to put meaning into music, but mostly just manages to make it boring. So…kind of perfect, really.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Rea...

Let's celebrate Earth Day with more from Muir's poetic ode to the spectacular natural wonders of North America. This time, we complete our relaxing tour of Yellowstone and head to beautiful Yosemite, the jewel of the Sierras. Truly the stuff of dreams.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d...

Let's return to the relaxing world of dairy products and learn more about the design of a good curing room, dividing profits among your producers, and what makes a great cheese. Hint: it's definitely not skim milk!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Handbook on Cheese Maki...

Let's return to this sleep-inducing exploration, and speculation, about the Red Planet. This time, we learn about seasonal fluctuations of the poles and how they do or don't mirror our own. Which is exactly as interesting as it sounds.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Ma...

Let's find our mental rapport with sleep as we conclude this, uh, scientific guide to mind reading, learn how to find cards and drive a wagon while blindfolded, and discover how naughty charlatans dupe the public. Fake mind readers, you say? Impossible!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/...

Let's spend our way to sleep as we learn more about the concept of value, why pounds are silver instead of gold, and how rent should be charged in corn rather than coin. Truly priceless boredom!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "The Wealth of Nations" at Project Gutenberg...

Let's climb the slopes of sleep as we continue this history-making journey to study the world's mightiest mountain. This time, our yaks run wild, we eat dumplings, cross quicksand, and take the first photo of a lama. Dreamy adventure awaits!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Re...

Let's fly away to sleep with more about beautiful birds and that fantastic family of feathered friends, the parrots. This time, we marvel at lovebirds, cockatoos, and the curious kakapo. Adorable!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Cassell's Book of Birds, Volume 1" at Pro...

Let's relax and sleep as one of the Kellogg clan takes the fun out of food through a heady combination of 19th-century food chemistry and moralizing about the perils of spices. Lovers of flavor beware!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Science in the Kitchen" at Project G...

Let's calm our minds and relax with more deep thoughts about the nature of reality, what knowledge is, whether the past exists at all, and why the sun may not rise tomorrow. It probably will, though, so not to worry.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "The Problems of Philo...

Let's relax with more advice about building cozy cottages, decorating with simplicity and style, and how to dig a well that doesn't fill with poisonous sewage. Which…seems like a good idea, really.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener-supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read "Cottages; or Hints on Economical Buildin...