> Over time, children’s books and magazines began to promote this type of Edisonian asceticism.

I remember reading a children's book on goblins. The theme was that these goblins worked late nights and helped humans with their chores while the humans snored and slept.

The book was actually a prize given to me in grade one for something that I did well in pre-school. Since it was a prize, the book was especially dear to me and I would read it over and over.

Now that I think about it, I have always been a "sleep deprived" person since childhood. I wonder how much of my life was shaped by that single book!