Nightmare Obscura: A Dream Engineer's Guide Through the Sleeping Mind

by Michelle Carr

A leading sleep expert reveals the latest science behind the dreaming brain and why we have nightmares—offering key insights into how harnessing dreams can improve your sleep and health.

To most, dreams are things that slip away when you reemerge into the waking world, their remnants jumbled up and only half recalled. At their best, they are populated by pleasant recollections and surreal experiences. But at their worst, they can be traumatizing and prevent us from receiving the necessary benefits of sleep.

So why do we dream at all? What makes a person prone to nightmares? How do our bodies interface with our brains when we’re not awake? And how can we harness our sleeping minds to improve our waking lives?

In Nightmare Obscura, dream researcher Michelle Carr unlocks the science behind the sleeping body, exploring the relationship between dreams and mental health, with a deep dive into the neuroscience behind some of the most interesting aspects of dreaming: nightmares, lucid dreams, and the cutting-edge field of dream engineering.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Mental Health, Self Help, Audiobook, Health

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2025

Reviews

[TheConnieFox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightmare Obscura is a non fiction book that explores the science of dreaming. This book is based on factual evidence, which is what caught my attention. We all have dreams, but why do we have them? Why do we have nightmares and how does this affect our lives? Michelle Carr does research on these topics. While this book made me feel anxious at times, I found it to be very informative and thought provoking. It gave me a deeper understanding on how dreams work and why they matter!

While doing her research, she figures out the tools on how we can treat our nightmares. She does this by doing dream engineering! I learned a lot from this book and will try to have better, more restful sleep. This book is well written, data driven and was well researched. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, author and researcher Michelle Carr and Henry Holt & Company for this digital advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is set to be published on November 18, 2025!

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love just about any content involving dreams. I even have an “Inception” tattoo! I requested this one pretty quickly when I saw it, because it looked really cool.

While the actual subject matter was very interesting, something about the way this was written was lacking for me. It felt sort of dry and academic. I had to go back and re-read many paragraphs to make sure I was retaining information. The author also repeated himself a little bit.

I did learn some new things about how dreams and nightmares affect us on a physical and psychological level, and how various factors can influence dream content. This author has done a lot of work in the field of dream research, which sounds like an awesome career. It goes way beyond symbolism and analysis and has a lot to do with trauma, repair and mental stimulation.

I particularly enjoyed reading about Microdreams, which are those little moments that occur when you’re dozing off and your mind shows you brief images and sounds but they aren’t full on dreams. Your brain can actually delay a sound that you hear in the real world to make it match up with the imagery in your mind. (Example: a loud noise in real life becomes a slamming door in a dream.) Artists such as Dali actually used Microdreams to inspire their work.

There were cool factoids like that to be found throughout the book. Another one is that the sleep paralysis demons are different in every country due to the influence of cultural lore on subconscious fears.

I’m absolutely sold on the idea that dreams and nightmares would be a useful tool to be studied in conjunction with the state of a person’s mental and even physical health, as all of the arguments and evidence presented here is very compelling. A large portion of the book covers this. There are long section about how therapy is used to treat nightmares, especially amongst sufferers of PTSD. Plus, dreaming about actual life experiences or memories helps us process our emotional response and even lessen how emotional we are about those particular memories. It is our mind’s nightly ritual for repairing itself.

Reading about the author’s work in sleep experiments was my favorite part. The fact that she was able to communicate with dreaming people through light cues and eye movements was fascinating to me. She was essentially speaking back and forth with people while those people were asleep!

Technology is getting closer to one day being able to “see” what someone is dreaming about. This of course brings up questions of privacy. But I think it’s very cool that such strides have already been made in dream research, especially with scientific funding currently being gutted left and right.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

[Tasha]

I’ve always been fascinated by dreams and the science of the dreaming brain—excited to dive into this one!

[Alan Chrisman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I have dreams about people news next day and my songs come to me in dreams. Dreams are way sort stimuli, compare memories, file away(NREM (earlier night) and REM (later night). They let us explore various scenarios, our limbs freeze during dreams, so cant act them out. This researcher, a dream "engineer" specializes in nightmares (stress, anxiety) which can affect our health, but can be bettered by visualization and learning to lucid dream(aware you're dreaming). Another book I recommend: "WHY WE SLEEP" by Mathew Walker, PHD.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Carr is an assistant research professor in the department of psychiatry and addictology at the University of Montreal; she previously completed her PhD in biomedical sciences at the same institution as well as two postdocs at two other institutions, all studying dream science. Her 2025 book Nightmare Obscura is aimed at popular science audiences and describes both her own research, other current findings in dream research, and factoids, tips, and tricks that her audience is probably curious about, like why we dream, analyses of common dream themes, how to increase chances of lucid dreaming, how to exploit microdreams for creative bursts, etc.

I found this to be an interesting, well-written, well-researched and accessible read. Though I would not want to be an experimental subject in many of the dream studies Dr. Carr describes that involve being woken up dozens of times per night and asked to recall dreams, it's fascinating how those studies are leading to insights about dreams that are potentially actionable to improve sleep and waking life. I found the section about learnable techniques to help nightmare sufferers take back control while asleep particularly fascinating. I also enjoyed factoids about common dream themes -- like how many new parents have recurring dreams about losing their newborn in their bedsheets among other anxiety-provoking dream themes, and how visitation dreams (where one dreams about deceased loved ones) are variably interpreted in various cultures.

Personally, with lots of practice, I'm getting better at lucidity in dreams -- I recall being able to take control of bad dreams while they're happening and flip the script, as well as developing cues to clue myself in to dreaming -- my dreaming dead giveaway is that electronics like watches, phones, computers, etc. don't work as expected. I also experience sleep paralysis not infrequently and hypnopompic hallucinations thankfully much less frequently -- though neither experience is pleasant (understatement), I'm usually cognizant enough to realize what's happening and calm myself down, letting the moment pass until I'm fully awake again. Intuitively the themes of my dreams have always made sense to me, though if I could choose, I'd have fewer anxiety dreams even though the anxiety triggers are still present in my waking life!

Further reading: sleep and dreaming
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep by Guy Leschziner
Nightmareland: Travels at the Borders of Sleep, Dreams, and Wakefulness by Lex Nover
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture by Andreas Wagner

My statistics:
Book 3 for 2026
Book 2309 cumulatively

[Kayla Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreams are so fascinating. I’m just so obsessed with our brains creating worlds for us to explore from the safety of our beds

[Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scientific guide to dreaming and sleeping, explaining how the mind interprets different sensory inputs and memory processing and relays them into dreams. Dream researcher, scientist, and author, Michelle Carr, does an excellent job of explaining the foundational elements of sleep, weaving in examples from her research at a sleep lab.

For me, the most valuable part of this book is learning more about the science of nightmares and understanding what makes people more predisposed to them. I also appreciated the concept that nightmares can also be associated with more positive traits, like having a higher sensitivity to emotional and sensory stimuli or being more open to perceptual experiences, which can make life more vivid as well. Much has been studied about sleep, sleep cycles, and dreams, but this is one of the few books I’ve found about nightmares.

Special thanks to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest, independent review.

[Kate Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Listened to the audio book**

I have been fascinated by dreams for as long as I can remember. so was really intrigued by this book. I really enjoyed listening - even if I found the narrator to be a tad annoying.
This book was quite dense - so had to re-listen to a few bits. Not sure if physically reading the book would have been better for my understanding of the more scientific/complicated sections.
Overall this was an interesting and informative book - but I found it hard to follow at times.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was phenomenal and so so interesting. I've seen some other reviews call the writing boring or dry, and I didn't find that to be the case at all. I think it's fair to say that Carr has the sensibilities of a scientist more than a science writer (she very rarely states a definitive and is quick to qualify information by sharing alternative views or noting what we don't know yet) but I honestly enjoyed the writing and thought Carr's enthusiasm and compassion both shined through. I also found this to be really accessible, without unexplained jargon or spending too much time detailing the minutiae of the analysis phase of her research.

This book also serves a little bit as a "please medical science please take nightmares seriously!!" kind of call to action, and Carr does a great job of illustrating why this could be beneficial to a huge number of patients, particularly those suffering from PTSD and other trauma-related conditions.

[Amanda R Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightmare Obscura is one of the most interesting and pertinent books I've read this year. Turns out, a lot of what I thought I knew about dreaming was outdated (likely thanks to my exploration of Microsoft Encarta in childhood). I learned SO MUCH. Like the whole conflict of Inception about being caught in dream purgatory for hundreds of years is just not a thing. Nightmare therapy, however, IS a thing! And the strategies are relatively simple. I took this in small bites, chewing through the density of this text a little at a time. Though the language is extremely accessible, it is densely informative, and I needed a lot of time to digest the content. Highly recommend this updated dream text!
Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for this ARC!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being more interesting than I had anticipated.
I really enjoyed the parts about nightmares & lucid dreams.

[Mimi Schweid]

I am on Chapter 2 of this book and have just requested it from our library to read a physical copy of while listening to it. This book is lovely, but the voice is just soothing enough that it makes me sleepy.

Proper review to come. This book was a mental journey for me. I will most likely purchase a copy once it's in paperback.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm obsessed with this book! I am fascinated by dreaming as is, but have never gotten so deep into the science behind dreaming before. This book should truly be treated as a public service announcement for Dream Therapy and how successful it is at treating PTSD and getting a better night's sleep. It even has instructions in the back for lucid dreaming and rewriting nightmares to reduce stress around sleeping. I finished this book over a week ago and I have not stopped talking about it!

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

i am sorry to dr. carr i truly believe you’re a wonderful researcher and academic but dear god your writing reminded me precisely what i DONT want my academic writing to sound like to the general public — sterile, boring, robotic, voice-less, textbook. additionally, i just didn’t enjoy how much cultural and historical discussion of dreaming was shelved in favor of overwrought and over repeated scientific vocab

[Lexine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 - definitely contained some interesting tidbits and learning about dream engineering was very cool.. but.. at the end of the day this is a non fiction book filled with too many science-y details and repetitive study results so what do you expect

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive at times, but definitely very interesting!

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a couple of books about neurophysiology concerning sleep, and this one offers new and fascinating insight into nightmares and how to use them as a tool to heal from traumatic experiences. It includes a lot of information about how lucid dreaming is believed to work and how one can train oneself to do it. I shall be attempting it!

[Matt Reising · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty interesting but at times felt repetitive.

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
While the topic presented in this book was interesting, the author was extremely repetitive and could have organized the information in a more logical way. Also, I am not the target audience. For people with severe, recurring nightmares, this book had some helpful insights.

[Lori Tatar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating exploration of dreams and nightmares, and their impacts on our daily lives and experiences. From night terrors to lucid dreams of flying, Michelle Carr offers a greater glimpse into the interconnection of our sleeping and waking worlds than what we may have seen before. The connection between the treatment of nightmares and the positive effects of that treatment on other disorders deserves more study and more consideration. Nightmare Obscura: A Dream Engineer’s Guide Through the Sleeping Mind is exciting and informative. I look forward to seeing how much further scientists will progress in this field.

[Art]

I enjoyed this book. I found it interesting overall, because it presented a information that I knew already, but with new insights, and it provided new information, both of which I appreciate. There were also some funny bits, either when the author would quote someone or from the author herself. Funny things can happen when people sleep. I mean that in both senses of the word, which tickles my funny bone. I'm grateful to the author for writing it. :-)

I am grateful to have received an advance reader copy through a Goodreads giveaway. Peace be with you.

[Stu Milde · Rating 3 out of 5]

neat stuff #worth it

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fascinated by sleep. If fact, you could say I have sloth like energy. I love a good nap and if I can go to bed early, I’m out by 9ish. So a book about the sleeping mind, excellent. I often wonder how much input I have on my dreams and how I can reshape them. This was exactly the read for me. Why do we dream? Treating nightmares and engineering your dreams, all interesting chapters.

As more of a science book it took me some time to make my way through but it was never boring. All the information is easy to process and written in a way I could easily understand. I would recommend this book to anyone that felt the need to have a deeper dive into your dreams. After reading, I was actually able to sort of walk myself through one of my nightmares. You know the one where a spider seems to jump at you and spook you awake? Well, after reading I managed to convince myself mid dream that it was an adorable jumping spider. It didn’t mean to spook me! Just happened to come to close. So, yes. Read the book.

Also, I have to add that I love the title. It reminded me of an old camera. A camera obscura is a dark room or box with a small hole that projects an upside-down image of the outside world onto the opposite wall- sort of perfect analogy for our dreams or sleeping mind.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, full disclosure, I picked this book up because it has a BEAUTIFUL cover. The purple and silver color scheme? Always immaculate.

But, I will say I also learned some interesting things about dreams, dreaming, and nightmares. More, I learned that a lot of things I believed about dreams to be true are often misconceptions. For example, I thought you only dreamed during REM sleep. That’s apparently not exactly right. Who knew? Not me.

Also, I found a lot of what this book had to say about the practical applications of dream and nightmare science to be quite thoughtful. Especially when it comes to some of the therapeutic aspects. I think this science could prove to be helpful for a lot of people, especially those working through trauma or other challenges.

Our dreams and nightmares reveal much about us—ignoring that does seem odd. I mean, how can you holistically help someone without at least considering the importance of their dreams?

Anyway.

This is a concise and interesting little read. If you are interested in looking at dreams, nightmares, and some of the science behind them, this little book may be for you~

[Shellylovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly fascinating look into the world of dreams. It shows you how the waking world shapes our dreams and how our dreams shape our world. It also explores the different types of dreams from the mundane to the exciting. Also we learn the difference between bad dreams and nightmares. We learn about chronic nightmares and the way they are treated. The link between dreams sleep and mental and physical health. The reader is also taught how to rescript their nightmares to gain a little bit of mastery over them. We also learn about how to lucid dream. And how to help set the stage for pleasant dreams experiences. This book teaches the importance of dreams as a system reset for the mind and a sort of rehearsal for your waking hours. If you have ever wanted to know more about dreams and sleep cycles this is a good place to start. It is engaging and easy to understand. A really wonderful look into the world of the sleeping mind. I received this Advanced Readers Copy as a Goodreads giveaway win.

[Devon Gilbreath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always found dreaming to be fascinating. This book covers a very niche subject that won’t interest everybody, but it’s absolutely captivating if you’ve ever wondered how dreaming or nightmares affect your daily life or vice versa.
I
Before reading this, I never really considered that someone could study the science of dreaming. That seems naive in hindsight, but I just assumed it was something that happened, something everyone simply accepted.

Between lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis, and dream engineering, I feel like there’s still so much more I want to understand, but this book was a great starting point. I’m now determined to start my own dream journal and see what I can learn about myself.

Huge shoutout to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy of Nightmare Obscura (which is one of the coolest titles). My only issue was the audio itself. I don’t know if it was the subject or the narrator, but at times it reminded me of a prescription drug commercial when they start listing the negative side effects. 😂

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited to start reading this book.
It was interesting for the first chapter, but I was lost after that.
This was written in the form of a science experiment article, and I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again but put in different words.
Love the subject and wish I could have liked it more.
I had a really hard time staying interested in what was written.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advance copy of this book that looks at the things that make us bump in the night, that wake us from deep sleeps, that sometimes lock our bodies into the place, something we all share, the world of dreams and of course nightmares.

Sleep has never really been a comfort to me. I don't sleep well, I have bad dreams regularly, wake up with phantom pains, and no matter how short or how long I don't feel any more rested. It makes for long nights a lot of the time, with plenty of time for reading. In fact I started this book after a few hours of trying to get to sleep, and found much that interested me. And a lot that scared me also, worse than many of the books of eldritch horror that take place in the lands of sleep. Also though I found a bit of comfort, knowing I wasn't alone, and that someone was working had at trying to map the dreams we have, be they good or bad. Nightmare Obscura: A Dream Engineer's Guide Through the Sleeping Mind by sleep expert Michelle Carr is a look at what happens when we close our eyes, the importance of sleep and dreams in understanding the world and its experiences, and what one can do to maybe control what one dreams about, or at least understand what dreams are telling us.

Dr. Michelle Carr has always been fascinated by sleep and the many troubles, problems and mysteries that come with it. From lucid dreaming, to horrific nightmares. Even sleep paralysis something I have never experienced, but something the author has. And something I don't ever want to know about. Carr's interest has taken Carr to sleep labs that sound like high roller rooms in luxury hotels, to places where a person would get a cot, a blanket and few electrodes. Carr first describes what sleep labs look for, and what they do, before going into the influences the outside world, mental and physical stimuli, can have on sleep and of course dreaming. Carr explains why the brain does what it does, how it processes things that happened during the day, saving them as memories, or even replaying them in different ways. Carr looks at what dreams are telling us, both about the world, and what is going on in the inner space of our own bodies. Carr also offers suggestions in not only how to listen what dreams and nightmares are telling us, but how to maybe influence our own brains into controlling what we dream about.

Some of what Carr shares about well to quote a famous comic book, Slumberland sounds are both interesting, and Lovecraftian. I can see why dreams are so important in literature as I know my dreams can be both weird, scary, exhilarating and unlike some people I can remember most of my dreams. There is a lot of science, but Carr does a very good job in explaining it, having it make sense, and more importantly something wants to know about. Carr has much experience, with sleepers and shares what Carr has learned, and offers many useful suggestions and plans to help deal with and understand what the brain is telling us. A book I found both useful, and with suggestions I hope to add to my sleep repertoire.

A book that might help people like myself with their sleep problems, a book that might help people understand their night terrors, and dark dreams. A book that is both well-written and very interesting, one that might help with the waking nightmare of modern life we find ourselves in, and maybe even a little bit of restful sleep.

[G Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little frustrating to see how many reviews are about how overly academic/scientific a book written by an academic/scientist is. To be fair to them, this book is operating on perilous ground: it is a hard science book written for general audiences a la Astrophysics for People in a Hurry or The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, but it is about dreams which is the kind of ephemeral touchy-feely subject that invites... schlock.

There is no shortage of books about what your dreams mean that are variously insightful, amusing or downright predatory and this is none of those things. Dreams are a real phenomena that can be studied, measured and understood like much else that human beings experience. The science of dreaming has come to a place where lucid dreaming and dream engineering is taking its first steps out of the realm of sci-fi/fantasy and into the real world. This book puts forth the current science on what dreams are and how they occur, the experiments that have been done and their results especially re: lucid dreaming and the ways you can become a lucid dreamer through practice and intention.

To that end, I confess that I found the first two thirds of these things the most interesting. The science of dreams truly is a fascinating subject and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the various experiments done to arrive at some conclusions about the way dreams work, our perception of them, and what purpose they may or may not serve. The final third of the book is what I imagine most people will be picking this book up for: how to lucid dream. On that front, I have good news and bad news:

I'm a "the bad news first" kinda guy, so first the bad news: a lot of the "how to lucid dream" techniques are already available online through a simple internet search. You will have to parse the real advice from the made up metaphysical crap, but it's there if you want it. Dr. Carr's book does you the courtesy of telling you which are the ones that actually work. The good news: while you can find legitimate ways to induce lucid dreaming online, Dr. Carr provides a few extra tips shown to be helpful in a lab that I have not found online. Whether that is enough for you to pick this book up is thoroughly your own choice.

Frankly, the guide on "how to lucid dream" is just not that long and largely available online (though it might be buried in nonsense) so I can't recommend this book if all you want is to learn how to fly on command in your dreams. BUT for those who are interested in genuine dream science: the body's response to dreaming, the probable purpose of dreaming, the applications of lucid dreaming re: treating anxiety and trauma, and several other things that I am not quite remembering, this is a fascinating read.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me forever to get through this book! I wanted to gain some understanding of how and why I dream, and wanted to get ideas about how to better make use of the dreams I recall. The book did cover this...but it took too long!

A basic understanding of what is happening in our brains and bodies was included, to start. This was fascinating, but not succinct. Then there were many lengthy sections providing a laundry list of unsurprising correlations. These correlations were also interspersed within other sections, and it's just a little frustrating to hear about relevant connections without knowing if there is a cause and effect going on, or just another "huh - how interesting!" moment.

There were also snippets of very useful insight that resonate with other things I've come to understand about how humans work, like for example; "We know that negative motion actually restricts cognition." (p.83) and "In waking life...positive emotion expands cognition, it broadens mindsets, increases openness to others, and encourages exploration, curiosity, and creativity." (p.111)

Of course, the best parts were those that gave practical steps to deal with nightmares (many pages!!), to remember dreams more (keep a journal), and to extract meaning from recollected dreams. The two suggestions I appreciated most were (1) to initiate a "hypnagogic" state - setting yourself up to have a little mini-dream during a mini-nap, when you can usually more easily recall the dream and "incubate" a topic (p. 208), and (2) dream sharing, where people work together to draw meaning from the imagery (p.223).

If I could go back to 4 weeks ago, when I first took this home from the library, I would tell myself to listen to an interview with the author, and skip the book BUT that is because I am not plagued by frequent nightmares.

IF YOU HAVE NIGHTMARES, you should definitely read this book. The explanation of the purposes of dreams and nightmares alone is comforting, and there are multiple suggested techniques to try to bring you some relief, coupled with information about chemical/medicinal "solutions" and their side effects.