Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress - Sep 1995

RoC, Sep 1995. Paperback. Nancy Kress has written a wonderful book about the dangers and potential wonders that await us if we attempt to interfere with our evolutionary destiny. The book concerns a revolutionary treatment that allows parent to specify that their children do not need to sleep. The results of this treatment soon become apparent to the parents (many of whom cannot bear the constant bawling of the sleepless infants) and to society at large. The sleepless children are ... better than other kids, in all fields. They are more intellectually curious, more at ease in themselves - and, fatally, more intelligent than their non-adjusted peers. There is the inevitable backlash from society, and we see the results through twin sisters, one of whom is sleepless, while the other is not. Eventually, the sleepless create their own society, and the consequences of their retreat from society are explored (with no little relish).