I was reading the Quirkies section of Ananova.com and came across an article describing a 58-ear-old Romanian woman, Maria Stelica, who hasn't slept in 8 years. I'm not sure if I can believe it, since reports of other people who had not slept (due to neurological problems) resulted in their deaths after a few months, but the article says doctors have verified her claims and were trying to understand the phenomenon. When I was an undergraduate at the University of Washington, I recall watching a film during a Psychology class in which a man in Britain was interviewed. To function normally he consistently required only 15 minutes of sleep per day later in life. I can't find anything about him on the web, but no matter -- Maria is my new ultimate insomniac.