A popular novelist, dramatist and essayist before the Second World War, Priestley probably reached the height of his fame during the war, in his series of postscripts to evening radio news bulletins. He was a progressive writer for a more egalitarian Britain, a “new kind of Britain” of “socialism and engineering” which will succeed the darkness of the war. He had a good grasp of popular feeling during this period, and his essays are noted for their simple, direct, lucid and humorous style.
Not being able to get off to sleep quickly may seem a trivial matter to most people, and strange to those who can fall asleep quickly. But to people who suffer from insomnia, it is a deadly enemy that can slowly torture one to schizophrenia or death.
    The author ridicules people who, with “iron wills”, can lie down and fall into deep slumber in a matter of a few minutes. He thinks there is something inhuman in it. He categorizes himself into the group of men full of human sympathy and depth in feelings and thoughts and good tastes. In this essay, insomnia becomes a praiseworthy agony inherent in an active and intellectual mind. This is the key note of the essay apart from the discussion of various ways of getting off to sleep.