Why is the book "Insomnia" unimportant in Stephen King's Dark Tower Series?

Question

I remeber when they were talking about SK's book in the DT series, that they specifically told Roland to ignore Insomnia....i dont get why though, i just read the book and i think it has a lot to do with the DT...

Answer 1

Insomnia was not a Dark Tower book, although there are a LOT of parallels between the two (recurring themes, etc). Check out this webiste and see links between all of his books.
http://www.malakoff.com/skopen.htm

Answer 2

While there are Stephen King novels which tie into his Dark Tower series, you really don't need to read them before or in order. Dark Tower stands on it's own, and many of the tales that tie into it were written before or during its creation. For example, The Stand. You've probably read it, but don't need to have read it...it just adds an extra layer of understanding. One thing I might suggest however, is Marvel's Dark Tower comics. The first collection called 'The Gunslinger Born' adapts material from 'Wizard and Glass', the fourth book in the series. The rest of the Marvel series is based on bits mentioned or alluded to in Dark Tower, but never fully fleshed out. With King's cooperation, this series tells of the fall of Gilead and how Roland came to be chasing the Man in Black at the start of 'The Gunslinger'.