Sleepy Time Tales - Bedtime Stories for Sleep and Relaxation

This week’s boring reading is all about the construction of various Egyptian temples and how their construction changed based on available space and the surroundings, and how decoration got a lot busier up till the times of the Romans.  Maybe fascinating for some people but it’s as dry as the Sahara, so you’ll be sleeping very soon.  Find Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of An...

Tonight as you prepare to sleep we will be finishing off this classic story, considered by many to be a precursor to modern science fiction. The story picks up as the Empress has returned to her world and is ending a war through a show of force.  Then the Emperor shows the Dutchess his stables and the story comes to an end with an appeal to the imagination.  It ends a little early, so I’ve thrown...

Tonight’s reading to help you sleep is a return to the world of geology and land formation. Learn about how erosion effects the sea floor, and how the seafloor becomes the land   Find The Elements of Geology by William Harmon Norton https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4204   Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you would like to support my work and help keep the podcast available and for free, there are s...

Time to fall asleep to this classic novel, although things are starting to get tense and Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship continues.  Will you be sleeping by the time the trip to New York results in Tom’s finding the truth?  Find The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64317     Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you would like to support my work and help keep the podc...

Tonight get ready for Darwin’s musing on adaptation. Prepare to sleep as he talks about how we assume species adapt to their surroundings, but many can be transported to, and thrive in, very different climates and environments. Drift away to examples as diverse as kidney beans and orang-utans Find On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin https://www.gutenberg.org/eb...

Tonight, let the gentle world of nature carry you into a deep, restful sleep. In this episode, we are pairing the soft, rhythmic prose of two classic nature books to help your mind unwind and release the day.  We begin with an evening reading from Mary Howitt’s Birds and Their Nests , focusing on the clever architectures of magpies and the quiet, industrious habits of nuthatches. From there, we dr...

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – Tantrums, Tears and Joy Get ready to drift off to sleep tonight with a gentle journey back to the quiet, sun-drenched hills of Avonlea. In this sleepy reading of Anne of Green Gables , we follow our imaginative young friend Anne as she overflows with breathless anticipation for her very first Sunday school picnic—and her long-awaited taste of real ice cre...

We come to the end of what is probably Ralph Waldo Emerson’s most well known work. His meditation on nature and science. But there isn’t much left, so in case you haven’t gone to sleep by that point I start a whole collection of his essays. Although I don’t finish the introduction to that tonight. Find Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29433 Find Essays by Ralph Waldo...

As you prepare for sleep Bellarion gets more deeply involved in the plot which as it turns out is an assassination plot! He’s in deep water, but he is trying to find a way out for the Lady Valeria. He also meets the Regent, the Marquis Theodore who is the target of the plot and we go to a party where we meet Valeria’s brother Marquis Gian Giacomo who is a wastrel Lots of excitement but it won’t ke...

This week’s bedtime history has to prepare to sleep as we learn about the end of the great people of the Ostrogoths as they leave Italy and recorded history. The great general Belisarius also sees his life end, as does his Emperor and enemy Justinian. Find The Dark Ages, 476-918 by Charles Oman https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61536 Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you would like to support my work...

As you prepare for sleep tonight it’s time to learn about the fallout from Perdita confronting Raymond.  Things start to go worse for the couple as lack of communication starts to destroy their relationship and events come to a head when they visit their friends in Windsor.  A bit of a sad note as you get your rest, but you won’t be awake for long.  Find The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley...

In this week’s bedtime story prepare to sleep as we leave the train. Instead of riding the rails you are going to learn, for as long as you stay awake, about the various industries of Birmingham. Including, glass, guns and swords. This one is sure to be a recipe to help you count sheep. Find Rides on Railways by Samuel Sidney https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13271 Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If y...

Sleep is your friend tonight as you learn about many women of the 19 th Century who were notable composers. Starting with America and moving on to the rest of the world including eastern Europe and Scandinavia.  The abilities of the subjects are beyond a doubt, but the dry facts and the well I tell them will see you fast asleep very soon.  Find Woman's Work in Music by Arthur Elson https://www...

As you settle down to sleep tonight, I will be continuing the story of Lizzie Bennet. It starts with Mr Darcy confessing his love to her and take a turn when she rejects him because of his interference in the romances of the Bennet sisters and his general unpleasantness, so he defends himself petulantly and leaves.  The next day while out walking he gives her a letter with the truth behind his act...

In this week’s sleepy science reading we turn to the mysteries of the Solar Eclipse, learn about how predictable the phenomenon is, then move on to how astronomers discovered the solar corona and tried to learn what it was.  It’s interesting stuff, but you will be sleeping soon.   Find Astronomy: The Science of the Heavenly Bodies by David P. Todd https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1245    Supportin...

The room is filled with muted conversation. The air is still. It’s time for Sleepy Time Tales. Tonight, we're immersed in a small, intimate scene from Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day , where Mary Datchet navigates the complexities of her Suffrage work. A visit from Katharine Hilbery introduces a new element, followed by an unsettling arrival – Ralph Denham. Let this slow, detailed account was...

“Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and let Sleepy Time Tales carry you away. Tonight's episode is a slow, deliberate reading from Charles Mackay’s Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds . Mackay explores a curious chapter of human history: the widespread belief that objects associated with death and power – the remains of executed individuals, locks of criminals’ h...

We return again to the Secret Garden for your bedtime story, and things are getting interesting. Collin and Mary are getting healthier and the people in the house are getting suspicious. But Colin wants to surprise his father with his improved mobility, so they want to keep it a secret. Secrets, pranks and joys are the key to help you sleep tonight.   Find The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burn...

*Hi Friends, I don't like to do this, but I do need to make a direct appeal. I am in a bit of a financial bind at the moment, so if you are able, please consider joining the Patreon or throwing something in the KoFi linked below. If you can't that's more than fine, times are tough. But if you have ever been tempted but never got around to it, now is the perfect time Thanks Dave* I usua...

*Hi Friends, I don't like to do this, but I do need to make a direct appeal. I am in a bit of a financial bind at the moment, so if you are able, please consider joining the Patreon or throwing something in the KoFi linked below. If you can't that's more than fine, times are tough. But if you have ever been tempted but never got around to it, now is the perfect time Thanks Dave* This w...

In this week’s boring reading to help you sleep it’s time to learn about the rise of Athens as a superpower among the Greeks. You will also learn about the Athenian and Greek household and their attitudes to wealth. It could be quite interesting, but not at bedtime and not the way I tell it.   Find The book of the Ancient Greeks by Dorothy Mills https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68180   Supporting...

You’re guaranteed to find sleep with tonight’s boring reading. We pick up learning about the differences between columns and pillars, and move on to the intricaties of temple layouts and construction in ancient Egypt. This one is very boring. Sleep well!   Find Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14400    Supporting Sleepy...

We pick up on the Nautilus as it heads North East, and learn about the oceans and currents. We also learn how it was believed the oceans and land formed back in Jules Vernes’ day, but soon our protagonist and his friends receive an invitation to go on a hunt.   Find Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51783   Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you wou...

For tonight’s story get ready to find sleep coming as the things take a war-like turn. It sounds exciting, but don’t worry, it’s super boring.  Find The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51783 Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you would like to support my work and help keep the podcast available and for free, there are several ways you can support...

Back to an old favourite this week! Fall asleep as I explain to you the various methods of erosion, how lagoons and beaches are formed and many other boring things you will forget about very soon.    Find The Elements of Geology by William Harmon Norton https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4204   Supporting Sleepy Time Tales If you would like to support my work and help keep the podcast available and...