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Мозг во сне. Что происходит с мозгом, пока мы спим
Увлекательное исследование того, что происходит с мозгом, пока мы спим.
Психологи и философы бились над загадками сновидений многие годы. Благодаря развитию науки и новым технологиям к ним присоединились нейробиологи: с помощью нейровизуализации и других инноваций мы можем узнать больше о том, что происходит с мозгом, когда мы спим. Журналист Андреа Рок рассказывает историю исследований и посещает научные лаборатории, в которых изучают сон, чтобы получить ответы на самые интересные вопросы:
Почему мы помним только часть наших снов?
Почему сны обычно сопровождаются сильными эмоциями?
Могут ли на самом деле сны помогать решать проблемы и находить креативные решения?
Верны ли теории толкования сновидений, разработанные Юнгом и Фрейдом?
Можно ли влиять на содержание снов?
Удовлетворяет ли сон какие-либо биологические потребности человека?.
Психологи и философы бились над загадками сновидений многие годы. Благодаря развитию науки и новым технологиям к ним присоединились нейробиологи: с помощью нейровизуализации и других инноваций мы можем узнать больше о том, что происходит с мозгом, когда мы спим. Журналист Андреа Рок рассказывает историю исследований и посещает научные лаборатории, в которых изучают сон, чтобы получить ответы на самые интересные вопросы:
Почему мы помним только часть наших снов?
Почему сны обычно сопровождаются сильными эмоциями?
Могут ли на самом деле сны помогать решать проблемы и находить креативные решения?
Верны ли теории толкования сновидений, разработанные Юнгом и Фрейдом?
Можно ли влиять на содержание снов?
Удовлетворяет ли сон какие-либо биологические потребности человека?.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2004
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Did Not Finish
February 4, 2019
Chuang Tzu, Taoist philosopher (4th century B.C. )
This is a “new” approach on dreaming and sleep, one that puts into question those psychoanalytical views constructed by Freud and Jung. Mainly, it is the experimental approach, which takes recourse to the findings issued from animal experimentation as well as those studies which consider certain specific brain areas and structures and their functions on sleep and dreaming activities.
It comprises 10 chapters, each starting with a quote. I've found those quotes illuminating, so I will write them next, after the chapter’s title.
Chapter 1: Rockettes, EEG’s and Banana Cream Pie
“We experience a dream as real because it is real…the miracle is how without any help from the sense organs, the brain replicates in the dream all the sensory information that creates the world we live in when we are awake” William Dement
Chapter 2: The Anti-Freud
“Those dreams that on the silent night intrude,
And with false flitting shapes our minds delude,
Jove never sends us downwards from the skies,
Nor do they from infernal mansions rise;
But all are mere productions of the brain.
And fools consult interpreters in vain”
Jonathan Swift, “On Dreams”
Chapter 3: Experiments of Nature
“Perhaps it is simply the ghost of Freud that is getting in the way” Allen Braun
Chapter 4: The lesson of the Spiny Anteater
“Dreams were never designed to be remembered, but they are keys to who we are” Jonathan Wilson.
Chapter 5: Rerunning the Maze
“The dream is memory itself changing before your eyes” Bert States
Chapter 6: Nocturnal Therapy
“We do not have emotions about our dreams so much as dreams about our emotions” Rosalind Cartwright
Chapter 7: The Ultimate Spin Doctor
“Freud was 50% right and 100% wrong” Robert Stickgold
Chapter 8: Creative Chaos
“Dreaming is above all, a time when the unheard parts of ourselves are allowed to speak” Deirdre Barrett.
Chapter 9: Altered States
“Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt that I was a butterfly, a butterfly flying about, feeling that it was enjoying itself. It did not know that it was Chuang. Suddenly I awoke and was myself again, the veritable Chuang. I do not know whether it was Chuang dreaming that he was a butterfly or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that it was Chuang” Chuang Tzu, Taoist philosopher (4th century B.C. )
Chapter 10: Consciousness and Beyond
“The brain is the most complex system in the known universe” Christoff Koch
June 12, 2026
The subtitle perfectly explains what this book was about...the science of dreaming. It starts with the discovery of the rapid eye movements (REM) sleep correlating with the time during sleep of dreaming. Eugene Aserinsky wasn’t particularly interested in sleep research, but that was where he found himself in 1951 while working on his degree. His lab subject was his eight-year-old son. Other subjects were studied and with his mentor they published their findings that REM sleep correlated with dreaming in the journal Science in 1953. This was the beginning of dream research as a science, as opposed to the psychological aspect, such as Freud.
Freud and his dream theories are mentioned off an on, yet mostly in the way of not accepting that everything is sexual based. Often the book points out ways that proves this is not the case.
The book states the 60’s were the “golden era” of dream research, meaning in the United States, where federal funding started drying up in the 1980s. Then dream research was more of a side-benefit of sleep disorder research.
The book ends with stating there are two main theories of why we dream. One is to work out our emotional states for emotional regulation. The other is dreaming is a way of enhancing memory so as to solidifying learning. More likely it is both.
Although at the time the book was published the research was new, I’ve had this book for a couple of decades so that is no longer the case. The first few chapters the writer wrote some corny lines, like attempts at humor or something. It was awkward reading. But by the end of the book the writing solidifies better, those attempts are gone and just reporting the facts has he found them, and the writing was smoother and worked better.
Freud and his dream theories are mentioned off an on, yet mostly in the way of not accepting that everything is sexual based. Often the book points out ways that proves this is not the case.
The book states the 60’s were the “golden era” of dream research, meaning in the United States, where federal funding started drying up in the 1980s. Then dream research was more of a side-benefit of sleep disorder research.
The book ends with stating there are two main theories of why we dream. One is to work out our emotional states for emotional regulation. The other is dreaming is a way of enhancing memory so as to solidifying learning. More likely it is both.
Although at the time the book was published the research was new, I’ve had this book for a couple of decades so that is no longer the case. The first few chapters the writer wrote some corny lines, like attempts at humor or something. It was awkward reading. But by the end of the book the writing solidifies better, those attempts are gone and just reporting the facts has he found them, and the writing was smoother and worked better.
February 17, 2013
I highly recommend "The Mind at Night" for readers who are interested in dreaming as it relates to brain function, neurophysiology and chemistry, psychology, personal identity, lucid dreaming, creativity, sleep disorders, mental health, memory and the history of scientific discovery. The development of dream research and discovery is told through the lives and works of the scientists and researchers who studied how the brain creates dreams, and how those dreams affect us.
She plays experiments and scientists off of each other in order to effectively advance the reader's understanding of the development of dream theory:
Solms became more convinced that the brainstem alone did not trigger dreaming when he encountered another fascinating group of brain lesion patients: those who couldn't stop dreaming, even when they were awake. These patients suffered damage to a specific group of cells in the base of the forebrain that played a crucial role in Hobson's view of how dreams are created. Hobson contended that the brainstem's dream-generating signals projected onto these cells (called basal forebrain nuclei) and that they in turn activiated the forebrain structures needed to create visual images and the other stuff of which dreams are made. If Hobson's theory were correct, then damaging those cells should result in a loss of dreaming, but Solms found just the opposite was true. Damage to those cells and closely related brain structures instead created patients whose nighttime dreams were unusually vivid and frequent and who had difficulty distingiuishing between dreams and waking experience during the day. The reality-testing system that goes off-line when we dream - allowing us to fully believe that we're back at the high school prom wearing nothing but our underwear - normally comes back online when we awaken. Not so for patients with damage to these clusters of cells.
Rock's sense of humour and details of the scientists' personal lives and professional rivalries added a depth that kept the book from becoming dry, as in the following excerpt:
In order to run his dream experiments without having to spend nights away from his wife, he converted part of his apartment to a sleep lab, running local ads to recruit test subjects. A member of the Rockettes happened to see the ad, and she spread the word among other members of the Radio City dance troupe that they could earn money for simply sleeping in Dement's lab - an idea with great appeal to many of the young women. Though the research was entirely aboveboard, the routine that ensued made Dement quite the object of curiosity in his apartment building as a steady parade of women came straight from the chorus line to do their nightly stint in the lab.
"A lovely woman, still in theatrical makeup, would arrive at the apartment building and ask the doorman for my room," Dement recalls. "In the morning, she would reappear, sometimes with one of my unshaven and exhausted male colleagues who had spent the night monitoring the EEG. One day, the doorman could finally stand it no longer. 'Dr. Dement,' he demanded, 'exactly what goes on in your apartment?' I just smiled."
Each chapter features an overarching theory, with subsections that neatly fold into each other to create the summarized argument at the end. Each subsection contains the main theory/argument, a major experiment, supporting research if it exists, a note about how this either confirms or challenges previous ideas, and occasionally quotations from the scientists themselves.
The Theory
Dreaming can also be understood via principles of chaos. Most of the time when we're awake, neuromodulators such as serotonin act to restrain cerebral chaos, but in REM, the physiological shifts that occur bump the brain into a chaotic state, and vivid, complex dreaming is the outward sign of its self-organizing response, argue Hobson and Kahn. The only constraining forces come from internal memories and traces of recent experience, leaving the door open for a broad repertoire of possible combinations in forming dream imagery and story lines.
The Quotation
"Dreaming may be our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas. While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful our dream time will not have been wasted," says Hobson.
The Supporting Research
In fact, suggests long-time dream researcher Stephen LaBerge, the creative and novel neural connections that are possible in REM may serve an even more fundamental purpose that gives us an edge in the Darwinian scheme of survival of the fittest. "Perhaps dreaming generates a wide range of behavioural schema or scripts guiding perception and action from which to select adaptive fits to changing environments," says LaBerge.
Each chapter has a thought-provoking closing:
Concludes Barrett: "Dreaming is, above all, a time when the unheard parts of ourselves are allowed to speak - and we would do well to listen."
The book finishes with some summaries of current research and planned future projects, as well as applications for said research:
Also, she has been examining the effects of sleep deprivation on rats' brains at the molecular level. Initial results reveal that there is only one gene whose expression is caused by long-term sleep deprivation, and it is one that is involved in balancing levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Being awake nonstop keeps these brain chemicals circulating in the brain in high concentrations continually rather than being shut off periodically as the brain moves through its various sleep stages. Her research thus far suggests an interesting hypothesis. "It may be that an important part of sleep's function is to give the brain a break from neurotransmitters that are predominant in waking hours. Having them around at high levels all of the time could somehow be toxic to neurons," she says.
The amount of information contained in this book is staggering, and yet never overwhelming. Each chapter is well planned and organized, with each point supported by a range of methods. This lends a narrative flow that aids comprehension and makes for an enjoyable reading experience. Rock also has a knack for knowing when the reader may need to be reminded of certain names or pertinent information. A fascinating read. Five stars.
She plays experiments and scientists off of each other in order to effectively advance the reader's understanding of the development of dream theory:
Solms became more convinced that the brainstem alone did not trigger dreaming when he encountered another fascinating group of brain lesion patients: those who couldn't stop dreaming, even when they were awake. These patients suffered damage to a specific group of cells in the base of the forebrain that played a crucial role in Hobson's view of how dreams are created. Hobson contended that the brainstem's dream-generating signals projected onto these cells (called basal forebrain nuclei) and that they in turn activiated the forebrain structures needed to create visual images and the other stuff of which dreams are made. If Hobson's theory were correct, then damaging those cells should result in a loss of dreaming, but Solms found just the opposite was true. Damage to those cells and closely related brain structures instead created patients whose nighttime dreams were unusually vivid and frequent and who had difficulty distingiuishing between dreams and waking experience during the day. The reality-testing system that goes off-line when we dream - allowing us to fully believe that we're back at the high school prom wearing nothing but our underwear - normally comes back online when we awaken. Not so for patients with damage to these clusters of cells.
Rock's sense of humour and details of the scientists' personal lives and professional rivalries added a depth that kept the book from becoming dry, as in the following excerpt:
In order to run his dream experiments without having to spend nights away from his wife, he converted part of his apartment to a sleep lab, running local ads to recruit test subjects. A member of the Rockettes happened to see the ad, and she spread the word among other members of the Radio City dance troupe that they could earn money for simply sleeping in Dement's lab - an idea with great appeal to many of the young women. Though the research was entirely aboveboard, the routine that ensued made Dement quite the object of curiosity in his apartment building as a steady parade of women came straight from the chorus line to do their nightly stint in the lab.
"A lovely woman, still in theatrical makeup, would arrive at the apartment building and ask the doorman for my room," Dement recalls. "In the morning, she would reappear, sometimes with one of my unshaven and exhausted male colleagues who had spent the night monitoring the EEG. One day, the doorman could finally stand it no longer. 'Dr. Dement,' he demanded, 'exactly what goes on in your apartment?' I just smiled."
Each chapter features an overarching theory, with subsections that neatly fold into each other to create the summarized argument at the end. Each subsection contains the main theory/argument, a major experiment, supporting research if it exists, a note about how this either confirms or challenges previous ideas, and occasionally quotations from the scientists themselves.
The Theory
Dreaming can also be understood via principles of chaos. Most of the time when we're awake, neuromodulators such as serotonin act to restrain cerebral chaos, but in REM, the physiological shifts that occur bump the brain into a chaotic state, and vivid, complex dreaming is the outward sign of its self-organizing response, argue Hobson and Kahn. The only constraining forces come from internal memories and traces of recent experience, leaving the door open for a broad repertoire of possible combinations in forming dream imagery and story lines.
The Quotation
"Dreaming may be our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas. While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful our dream time will not have been wasted," says Hobson.
The Supporting Research
In fact, suggests long-time dream researcher Stephen LaBerge, the creative and novel neural connections that are possible in REM may serve an even more fundamental purpose that gives us an edge in the Darwinian scheme of survival of the fittest. "Perhaps dreaming generates a wide range of behavioural schema or scripts guiding perception and action from which to select adaptive fits to changing environments," says LaBerge.
Each chapter has a thought-provoking closing:
Concludes Barrett: "Dreaming is, above all, a time when the unheard parts of ourselves are allowed to speak - and we would do well to listen."
The book finishes with some summaries of current research and planned future projects, as well as applications for said research:
Also, she has been examining the effects of sleep deprivation on rats' brains at the molecular level. Initial results reveal that there is only one gene whose expression is caused by long-term sleep deprivation, and it is one that is involved in balancing levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Being awake nonstop keeps these brain chemicals circulating in the brain in high concentrations continually rather than being shut off periodically as the brain moves through its various sleep stages. Her research thus far suggests an interesting hypothesis. "It may be that an important part of sleep's function is to give the brain a break from neurotransmitters that are predominant in waking hours. Having them around at high levels all of the time could somehow be toxic to neurons," she says.
The amount of information contained in this book is staggering, and yet never overwhelming. Each chapter is well planned and organized, with each point supported by a range of methods. This lends a narrative flow that aids comprehension and makes for an enjoyable reading experience. Rock also has a knack for knowing when the reader may need to be reminded of certain names or pertinent information. A fascinating read. Five stars.
August 26, 2011
Some of the other reviews criticize the lack of depth, but honestly, how much can you pack into 200ish pages? Given the brevity of the book, the author paints a fine picture of what we currently know about dreaming and where the field might be headed next. She weaves in background history and personal stories so that it isn't just another dry science textbook. This is a good, compact, and highly readable introduction to the science of dreaming.
January 27, 2023
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Я согласен со многими англоязычными читателями этой книги, что это лучшая книга на тему сна и одна из лучших книг по психологии как таковой.
Хотя книга была написана журналистом, читается она так, как будто её написал учёный, который 20 лет работает в этой области. Книга одновременно и доступна (понятна) для непрофессионала в данной области, но и не настолько элементарна, как обычно это бывает у журналистов. Я бы даже сказал, что книга умеренно сложна, если сравнивать её с множеством книг по психологии, популярные среди массовой аудитории.
Вся книга посвящена исследованиям сна, начиная с самых первых серьёзных попыток разобраться в том, что такое сон и зачем он нужен. История исследования сна начинается не во времена Фрейда и Юнга, а где-то после 60-х XX века. Примечательно, что автор в самом начале книги задаётся вопросом, насколько прав был Фрейд в отношении снов. Практически через всю книгу мы будем видеть этот незримый диалог с Фрейдом о природе сна. И в принципе, частично Фрейд был прав, но только частично, а некоторые могут даже сказать, что Фрейд прав очень условно. В любом случаи смысл книги разумеется не в том, чтобы доказать прав Фрей или нет, а в том, чтобы разобраться как работает этот процесс и зачем сон нужен. Однако я всё же процитирую книгу, ибо с моей точки зрения, Фрейд не так уж и не был не прав в отношении сна.
«Домхофф соглашается с мнением Кэлвина Холл о том, что сновидение по сути своей – это форма мышления, к которой обращается мозг под воздействием физиологических условий сна. Как считал Холл, «единственным средством, с помощью которого идеи находят выражение в сновидениях, являются образы, в то время как в период бодрствования мысли выражаются другими средствами, такими как слова, числа, жесты и изображения». Он считал сновидения «закрытым показом мыслей спящего» и видел назначение сновидений в их способности проливать свет на «основные проблемы и условия жизни индивида, как индивид их себе представляет», в форме менее искажённой и поверхностной, чем если бы индивид попытался выразить и описать их словами».
Как видим, можно сказать, что Фрейд и был прав и в то же самое время, ошибался. Мы действительно видим во сне то, о чём думаем днём, однако во всём остальном, Фрейд ошибался. Т.е. во сне мы вовсе не видим не цензурированные мысли. Во сне мы видим дневной опыт. И этот опыт нужен нам для обучения. Как пишут авторы, с помощью специальных средств учёные смогли узнать, что снится кошке и оказалось, что ей снится, как она охотится за мышкой. Т.е. смысл сна, это обучение тому, что требуется в жизни в дневное время. Как я понял, если утром мы набиваем мозг всем, чем только можем с целью обучения чему-то, то ночью происходит как бы упорядочивание этого. Как я понял, это, т.е. процесс обучения, является как бы двухфазной составляющей. Возможно, я не так понял, но именно такой смысл получается из всего сказанного автором. К примеру, именно такой вывод можно сделать из этой цитаты из книги:
«Вслед за Уинсоном Ревонсуо считает, что человеческие сновидения появились как способ симуляции угрожающих ситуаций в безопасной виртуальной реальности, создаваемой спящим мозгом»
Разумеется, это лишь частичная функция сна, ибо сон ещё действует как уборочная машина, которая устраняет тот мусор, что мы получили во время дневной активности, т.е. сон как бы упорядочивает наши мысли, которые имели место днём.
Нельзя и не сказать и про необычность снов как таковых. И тут автор тоже приводит интересные исследования авторов и их выводы. К примеру, вот один из выводов, которые сделали учёные насчёт нелогичности всех снов.
«Все области мозга, активность которых понизилась во время медленного сна, снова включаются в работу – за исключением одной: того самого отвечающего за способность к логическому мышлению участка префронтальной коры, который считается последним приобретением человечества в процессе эволюции. Его бездействие объясняет, почему в сновидениях мы утрачиваем ориентацию во времени и пространстве и почему у нас не возникает сомнений в реальности происходящего».
Это очень интересное наблюдение учёных, которое хоронит теорию сна по Фрейду. Ещё когда я читал книгу первый раз, я понял, что эта книга делает ненужной многие книги психоаналитиков, особенно работы Фрейда на тему сна. Открытие того, что сон является тренировкой или обучением необходимых нам навыков и что нелогичность сна связанна с тем, что во время оного у нас просто отключаются некоторые участки мозга ответственные за создание логических цепочек в этом мире, и делает многие работы Фрейда ненужными. Сон, это вовсе не сокровенные подцензурные мысли, которые связанны с сексом, а фрагменты наших дневных мыслей (переживаний, решений, обучения и пр.), которые не связаны никакой логической нитью. Это как пазл, который днём собран в цельную картину, а ночью перемешан.
Нужно отменить, что книга написана таким образом, что автор как бы нам рассказывает историю развития этой области исследования. Начиная с первый попыток понять, что такое сон в конце 60-х, автор также приводит множество цитат учёных, которые занимались исследованиями сна. Мне кажется, это получилось у автора идеально. Тут не как в типичных книгах по психологии, когда идёт повествования от лица автора, а тут именно что рассказывается история, как шаг за шагом делались открытия в этой области, кто участвовал в этом, какие эксперименты проводились (с описанием оных) и к каким выводам пришли учёные. Главное – не автор книги делает выводы, а именно учёные, которые проводили все эксперименты. Уж не знаю, где автор нашла все эти свидетельства, но выглядит это как настоящих документальный фильм, в котором нам объясняют эксперимент, а потом учёных объясняет нам его итоги и что это означает с точки зрения науки, а также принятой в данной момент теории.
I agree with many English-speaking readers of this book that it is the best book on the subject of sleep and one of the best books on psychology as such.
Although the book was written by a journalist, it reads as if it were written by a scientist who has worked in the field for 20 years. The book is both accessible (understandable) to a non-professional in the field but also not as elementary as journalists usually produce. I would even say that the book is moderately complex.
The whole book is devoted to sleep research, starting with the very first serious attempts to understand what sleep is and why it is needed. The history of sleep research does not begin in the time of Freud and Jung but sometime after the 1960s. It is noteworthy that the author wonders at the very beginning of the book how right Freud was about dreams. Throughout the entire book, we will see this invisible dialogue with Freud about the nature of dreams. And in principle, Freud was partially right, but only partially, and some might even say that Freud is very conventionally right. In any case, the point of the book, of course, is not to prove Freud right or wrong but to understand how this process works and why sleep is necessary. However, I will still quote from the book because, from my point of view, Freud was not so wrong about sleep.
"Domhoff agrees with Calvin Hall's view that dreaming is essentially a form of thinking to which the brain turns under the physiological conditions of sleep. As Hall believed, "the only means by which ideas find expression in dreams are images, whereas, during the waking period, thoughts are expressed by other means, such as words, numbers, gestures, and pictures." He regarded dreams as "a closed display of the sleeper's thoughts," and saw the purpose of dreams as their ability to shed light on "the basic problems and conditions of the individual's life as the individual imagines them," in a form less distorted and superficial than if the individual tried to express and describe them in words."
As we can see, we can say that Freud was right and wrong at the same time. We do see in dreams what we think about during the day, but in everything else, Freud was wrong. That is, we do not see uncensored thoughts in dreams at all. In dreams, we see daytime experiences. And we need those experiences to learn. As the author writes, with the help of special means, scientists were able to find out what a cat dreams about, and it turned out that it dreams about hunting a mouse. That is, the meaning of the dream is to learn what is required in life during the day. As I understand it, if in the morning we stuff our brains with everything we can to learn something, then at night there is a sort of ordering of it. As I understand it, this, i.e., the learning process, is sort of a two-phase component. I may have misunderstood, but that is the meaning that emerges from what the author has said. For example, this is the conclusion to be drawn from this quote from the book:
"Following Winson, Revonsuo believes that human dreams emerged as a way of simulating threatening situations in a safe virtual reality created by a sleeping brain."
Of course, this is only a partial function of sleep, for sleep still acts as a sweeper that removes the garbage we received during daytime activity, that is, sleep sort of arranges our thoughts that took place during the day.
It is impossible not to say something about the uncommonness of dreams as such. Here, too, the author cites interesting studies and conclusions. For example, here's one of the conclusions scientists have drawn about the illogical nature of all dreams.
"All areas of the brain whose activity is reduced during slow-wave sleep are reactivated - except for one: the part of the prefrontal cortex responsible for the ability to think logically, which is thought to be humanity's last evolutionary gain. Its inactivity explains why in dreams we lose our orientation in time and space and why we have no doubts about the reality of what is happening."
It is a very interesting observation of scientists, which buries the Freudian theory of sleep. Even when I read the book for the first time, I realized that this book makes unnecessary (useless) many psychoanalytic books, especially Freud's work on sleep. The discovery that sleep is a training or teaching of the skills we need and that the illogical nature of sleep is due to the fact that during it, we simply shut down some parts of the brain responsible for creating logical chains in the world makes many of Freud's works unnecessary (useless). A dream is not an intimate, censored thought that has to do with sex but fragments of our daytime thoughts (experiences, decisions, learning, etc.) that are not connected by any logical thread. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that is put together into a whole picture during the day and mixed up at night.
It should be noted that the book is written in such a way that the author tells us, as it were, the history of the development of this field of study. Beginning with the first attempts to understand sleep in the late '60s, the author also cites many scientists who have been involved in sleep research. I think the author has done this perfectly. It's not like typical books on psychology, where the narrative is presented by the author, but it tells the story of how the discoveries were made step by step, who was involved, what experiments were conducted (with a description of them) and what conclusions the scientists came to. The important thing is that it is not the author of the book who draws the conclusions but the scientists who conducted all the experiments. I don't know where the author found all this evidence, but it looks like a real documentary in which they explain the experiment to us, and then the scientists explain the results and what it means in terms of science and accepted theory at the time.
Я согласен со многими англоязычными читателями этой книги, что это лучшая книга на тему сна и одна из лучших книг по психологии как таковой.
Хотя книга была написана журналистом, читается она так, как будто её написал учёный, который 20 лет работает в этой области. Книга одновременно и доступна (понятна) для непрофессионала в данной области, но и не настолько элементарна, как обычно это бывает у журналистов. Я бы даже сказал, что книга умеренно сложна, если сравнивать её с множеством книг по психологии, популярные среди массовой аудитории.
Вся книга посвящена исследованиям сна, начиная с самых первых серьёзных попыток разобраться в том, что такое сон и зачем он нужен. История исследования сна начинается не во времена Фрейда и Юнга, а где-то после 60-х XX века. Примечательно, что автор в самом начале книги задаётся вопросом, насколько прав был Фрейд в отношении снов. Практически через всю книгу мы будем видеть этот незримый диалог с Фрейдом о природе сна. И в принципе, частично Фрейд был прав, но только частично, а некоторые могут даже сказать, что Фрейд прав очень условно. В любом случаи смысл книги разумеется не в том, чтобы доказать прав Фрей или нет, а в том, чтобы разобраться как работает этот процесс и зачем сон нужен. Однако я всё же процитирую книгу, ибо с моей точки зрения, Фрейд не так уж и не был не прав в отношении сна.
«Домхофф соглашается с мнением Кэлвина Холл о том, что сновидение по сути своей – это форма мышления, к которой обращается мозг под воздействием физиологических условий сна. Как считал Холл, «единственным средством, с помощью которого идеи находят выражение в сновидениях, являются образы, в то время как в период бодрствования мысли выражаются другими средствами, такими как слова, числа, жесты и изображения». Он считал сновидения «закрытым показом мыслей спящего» и видел назначение сновидений в их способности проливать свет на «основные проблемы и условия жизни индивида, как индивид их себе представляет», в форме менее искажённой и поверхностной, чем если бы индивид попытался выразить и описать их словами».
Как видим, можно сказать, что Фрейд и был прав и в то же самое время, ошибался. Мы действительно видим во сне то, о чём думаем днём, однако во всём остальном, Фрейд ошибался. Т.е. во сне мы вовсе не видим не цензурированные мысли. Во сне мы видим дневной опыт. И этот опыт нужен нам для обучения. Как пишут авторы, с помощью специальных средств учёные смогли узнать, что снится кошке и оказалось, что ей снится, как она охотится за мышкой. Т.е. смысл сна, это обучение тому, что требуется в жизни в дневное время. Как я понял, если утром мы набиваем мозг всем, чем только можем с целью обучения чему-то, то ночью происходит как бы упорядочивание этого. Как я понял, это, т.е. процесс обучения, является как бы двухфазной составляющей. Возможно, я не так понял, но именно такой смысл получается из всего сказанного автором. К примеру, именно такой вывод можно сделать из этой цитаты из книги:
«Вслед за Уинсоном Ревонсуо считает, что человеческие сновидения появились как способ симуляции угрожающих ситуаций в безопасной виртуальной реальности, создаваемой спящим мозгом»
Разумеется, это лишь частичная функция сна, ибо сон ещё действует как уборочная машина, которая устраняет тот мусор, что мы получили во время дневной активности, т.е. сон как бы упорядочивает наши мысли, которые имели место днём.
Нельзя и не сказать и про необычность снов как таковых. И тут автор тоже приводит интересные исследования авторов и их выводы. К примеру, вот один из выводов, которые сделали учёные насчёт нелогичности всех снов.
«Все области мозга, активность которых понизилась во время медленного сна, снова включаются в работу – за исключением одной: того самого отвечающего за способность к логическому мышлению участка префронтальной коры, который считается последним приобретением человечества в процессе эволюции. Его бездействие объясняет, почему в сновидениях мы утрачиваем ориентацию во времени и пространстве и почему у нас не возникает сомнений в реальности происходящего».
Это очень интересное наблюдение учёных, которое хоронит теорию сна по Фрейду. Ещё когда я читал книгу первый раз, я понял, что эта книга делает ненужной многие книги психоаналитиков, особенно работы Фрейда на тему сна. Открытие того, что сон является тренировкой или обучением необходимых нам навыков и что нелогичность сна связанна с тем, что во время оного у нас просто отключаются некоторые участки мозга ответственные за создание логических цепочек в этом мире, и делает многие работы Фрейда ненужными. Сон, это вовсе не сокровенные подцензурные мысли, которые связанны с сексом, а фрагменты наших дневных мыслей (переживаний, решений, обучения и пр.), которые не связаны никакой логической нитью. Это как пазл, который днём собран в цельную картину, а ночью перемешан.
Нужно отменить, что книга написана таким образом, что автор как бы нам рассказывает историю развития этой области исследования. Начиная с первый попыток понять, что такое сон в конце 60-х, автор также приводит множество цитат учёных, которые занимались исследованиями сна. Мне кажется, это получилось у автора идеально. Тут не как в типичных книгах по психологии, когда идёт повествования от лица автора, а тут именно что рассказывается история, как шаг за шагом делались открытия в этой области, кто участвовал в этом, какие эксперименты проводились (с описанием оных) и к каким выводам пришли учёные. Главное – не автор книги делает выводы, а именно учёные, которые проводили все эксперименты. Уж не знаю, где автор нашла все эти свидетельства, но выглядит это как настоящих документальный фильм, в котором нам объясняют эксперимент, а потом учёных объясняет нам его итоги и что это означает с точки зрения науки, а также принятой в данной момент теории.
I agree with many English-speaking readers of this book that it is the best book on the subject of sleep and one of the best books on psychology as such.
Although the book was written by a journalist, it reads as if it were written by a scientist who has worked in the field for 20 years. The book is both accessible (understandable) to a non-professional in the field but also not as elementary as journalists usually produce. I would even say that the book is moderately complex.
The whole book is devoted to sleep research, starting with the very first serious attempts to understand what sleep is and why it is needed. The history of sleep research does not begin in the time of Freud and Jung but sometime after the 1960s. It is noteworthy that the author wonders at the very beginning of the book how right Freud was about dreams. Throughout the entire book, we will see this invisible dialogue with Freud about the nature of dreams. And in principle, Freud was partially right, but only partially, and some might even say that Freud is very conventionally right. In any case, the point of the book, of course, is not to prove Freud right or wrong but to understand how this process works and why sleep is necessary. However, I will still quote from the book because, from my point of view, Freud was not so wrong about sleep.
"Domhoff agrees with Calvin Hall's view that dreaming is essentially a form of thinking to which the brain turns under the physiological conditions of sleep. As Hall believed, "the only means by which ideas find expression in dreams are images, whereas, during the waking period, thoughts are expressed by other means, such as words, numbers, gestures, and pictures." He regarded dreams as "a closed display of the sleeper's thoughts," and saw the purpose of dreams as their ability to shed light on "the basic problems and conditions of the individual's life as the individual imagines them," in a form less distorted and superficial than if the individual tried to express and describe them in words."
As we can see, we can say that Freud was right and wrong at the same time. We do see in dreams what we think about during the day, but in everything else, Freud was wrong. That is, we do not see uncensored thoughts in dreams at all. In dreams, we see daytime experiences. And we need those experiences to learn. As the author writes, with the help of special means, scientists were able to find out what a cat dreams about, and it turned out that it dreams about hunting a mouse. That is, the meaning of the dream is to learn what is required in life during the day. As I understand it, if in the morning we stuff our brains with everything we can to learn something, then at night there is a sort of ordering of it. As I understand it, this, i.e., the learning process, is sort of a two-phase component. I may have misunderstood, but that is the meaning that emerges from what the author has said. For example, this is the conclusion to be drawn from this quote from the book:
"Following Winson, Revonsuo believes that human dreams emerged as a way of simulating threatening situations in a safe virtual reality created by a sleeping brain."
Of course, this is only a partial function of sleep, for sleep still acts as a sweeper that removes the garbage we received during daytime activity, that is, sleep sort of arranges our thoughts that took place during the day.
It is impossible not to say something about the uncommonness of dreams as such. Here, too, the author cites interesting studies and conclusions. For example, here's one of the conclusions scientists have drawn about the illogical nature of all dreams.
"All areas of the brain whose activity is reduced during slow-wave sleep are reactivated - except for one: the part of the prefrontal cortex responsible for the ability to think logically, which is thought to be humanity's last evolutionary gain. Its inactivity explains why in dreams we lose our orientation in time and space and why we have no doubts about the reality of what is happening."
It is a very interesting observation of scientists, which buries the Freudian theory of sleep. Even when I read the book for the first time, I realized that this book makes unnecessary (useless) many psychoanalytic books, especially Freud's work on sleep. The discovery that sleep is a training or teaching of the skills we need and that the illogical nature of sleep is due to the fact that during it, we simply shut down some parts of the brain responsible for creating logical chains in the world makes many of Freud's works unnecessary (useless). A dream is not an intimate, censored thought that has to do with sex but fragments of our daytime thoughts (experiences, decisions, learning, etc.) that are not connected by any logical thread. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that is put together into a whole picture during the day and mixed up at night.
It should be noted that the book is written in such a way that the author tells us, as it were, the history of the development of this field of study. Beginning with the first attempts to understand sleep in the late '60s, the author also cites many scientists who have been involved in sleep research. I think the author has done this perfectly. It's not like typical books on psychology, where the narrative is presented by the author, but it tells the story of how the discoveries were made step by step, who was involved, what experiments were conducted (with a description of them) and what conclusions the scientists came to. The important thing is that it is not the author of the book who draws the conclusions but the scientists who conducted all the experiments. I don't know where the author found all this evidence, but it looks like a real documentary in which they explain the experiment to us, and then the scientists explain the results and what it means in terms of science and accepted theory at the time.
April 29, 2014
One of my favorites on dream books. Anything dealing with the unconscious mind, dreamily floats its way onto my reading list. The Mind at Night is wonderfully researched and one the best, offering many insights into memory and dreaming that I had not read elsewhere. Some hard-core researchers detailed in this book, one must give respect. The day, I will be truly excited in this area of learning is when dreams can be recorded, though, I will be reluctant to let anyone into my unconscious mind. It must be said, Jung and Freud are on my list to read for dreaming study, and so I should let the psychological greats walk me through wonderland and see what is revealed. Otherwise, I personally, gained a lot of information from this work. Andrea Rocks the Dream World.
August 6, 2013
An interesting read. If you know about this field of research you are not likely to find it as interesting, it is after all a pop science book. However, what is remarkable in this book is how nearly every neuroscientist interviewed had the need out point that, my God, "Freud was wrong". This need to insult psychoanalysis at every chance possible is downright hilarious, because sometimes they come up with explanations "it's not unconscious in the way Freud believed, but it is unconscious because it is not conscious". It's highly entertaining, whatever your position may be on this subject if you can appreciate a funny frustration when you see one.
December 10, 2009
This book provides an excellent history and discussion of current research around dreaming. It is by the far the most approachable book on the topic I've read. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the mind at mind and calls out specific researchers leading the exploration of that area. The books builds upon itself such that the later topics, while dealing with more current and technical material, are digestible as previous chapters laid the groundwork for understanding them.
October 14, 2016
This book will surprise you by revealing incredible facts (!) about our brains, dreaming process and dreams. For example, everybody has dreams, but we forget them; you can remember a dream, if you wake up straight away and so on and so forth. The book helps discover this topic even deeper.
I highly recommend you to read this book, if you are curious and ready to change your knowledge and the point of view on this topic completely. AND start being more self-conscious
Peace V
I highly recommend you to read this book, if you are curious and ready to change your knowledge and the point of view on this topic completely. AND start being more self-conscious
Peace V
October 8, 2015
Пожалуй, лучшая книга про то, как работает мозг в то время, когда человек спит. Попытки понять, как устроено человеческое сознание и визуальные восприятие через анализ спящего человека. Очень хороша, особенно, если перед этим почитать "мозг рассказывает" Рамачандрана.
October 22, 2017
Ну что ж, пришло время поговорить о мозге, пропитанным ацетилхолином, нейромодулятером, который включается, когда мы меняем бодрствующий режим на режим спящий, ведь об этом идет речь в книги "Мозг во сне". Книга является удивительным собранием основных научных теорий и открытий о таком удивительном и загадочном явлении как сновидение. Какая часть мозга ответственна за создание образов сновидения, есть ли смысл во снах, за что отвечают разные фазы сна (быстрая, медленная, REM), правы ли были Фрейд и Юнг в своих теориях и что по этому поводу думают современные ученые, ответы на эти и другие вопросы можно найти в данной книги.
P.S. Лично меня поразило тот факт, что наш мозг может работать осознанно даже во сне. Иными словами, будучи героями своего сна, мы осознаем, что мы спим в своей кровати и видим сон, героями которого мы и являемся :D
P.S. Лично меня поразило тот факт, что наш мозг может работать осознанно даже во сне. Иными словами, будучи героями своего сна, мы осознаем, что мы спим в своей кровати и видим сон, героями которого мы и являемся :D
September 1, 2026
(أثبتت نصف قرن من أبحاث الأحلام أن الخلم يُعد شكلًا غنيًا من أشكال الوعي، ويستحق أن نثمنه كما نثمن تجربتنا للعالم في ساعات اليقظة. ومع استمرار العلم في تسليط الضوء على الأحلام وعلى العمليات الداخلية الأخرى في الدماغ التي تُشكّل ما هيتنا، فإن ذلك لا يزيدنا إلا انبهارًا بروعة التصميم الذي أبدعه [الخالق سبحانه وتعالى]).
الدماغ اللغز الكبير الذي كان وما زال العلماء يزدادون حيرة وتعجبًا كلما أوغلوا في دراسته، صنع الله الذي اتقن كل شيء سبحانه…
دراسة عن عمل العقل في الليل وعالم الأحلام..
هل هناك أشخاص لا يحلمون..؟
ما الدور الذي تلعبه الأحلام في صحتنا الجسدية والعاطفية والمعرفية…
متى نحلم؟ وكيف؟ ولماذا؟
لماذا نتذكر بعض الأحلام وننسى بعضها..
وماذا عن الحلم الواعي، أن تحلم وتعي أنك تحلم..
دراسة قيمة، وترجمة جيدة..
٣٠٩ صفحة
الدماغ اللغز الكبير الذي كان وما زال العلماء يزدادون حيرة وتعجبًا كلما أوغلوا في دراسته، صنع الله الذي اتقن كل شيء سبحانه…
دراسة عن عمل العقل في الليل وعالم الأحلام..
هل هناك أشخاص لا يحلمون..؟
ما الدور الذي تلعبه الأحلام في صحتنا الجسدية والعاطفية والمعرفية…
متى نحلم؟ وكيف؟ ولماذا؟
لماذا نتذكر بعض الأحلام وننسى بعضها..
وماذا عن الحلم الواعي، أن تحلم وتعي أنك تحلم..
دراسة قيمة، وترجمة جيدة..
٣٠٩ صفحة
June 1, 2023
Really interesting information on sleep.
January 12, 2021
The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream
: ¡4 estrellas!
July 16, 2017
3.5 stars
A very interesting book that explores how dreaming is possible as well as the purpose of dreams.
I loved all the neuroscience here. (Though frequently, brain scans were described and I would have loved to see photos of those included.) I was very frustrated, however, by Rock's portrayal of the evolutionary theory as fact. She did a great job at portraying other theories for what they were - possibilities - and yet evolution is referred to as a fact over and over and over, without actual facts to back it up.
The first few chapters held my attention very easily, but then the book began to get very repetitive and a little drawn out. It is interesting if you already like science, but could be tedious if you're not.
My favorite chapters were the ones exploring memory, REM sleep in peoples who are depressed, and lucid dreams.
A very interesting book that explores how dreaming is possible as well as the purpose of dreams.
I loved all the neuroscience here. (Though frequently, brain scans were described and I would have loved to see photos of those included.) I was very frustrated, however, by Rock's portrayal of the evolutionary theory as fact. She did a great job at portraying other theories for what they were - possibilities - and yet evolution is referred to as a fact over and over and over, without actual facts to back it up.
The first few chapters held my attention very easily, but then the book began to get very repetitive and a little drawn out. It is interesting if you already like science, but could be tedious if you're not.
My favorite chapters were the ones exploring memory, REM sleep in peoples who are depressed, and lucid dreams.
October 20, 2018
There's a forest of page markers sticking out of this fascinating journey through sleep & dream research. When I reached chapter seven, "the ultimate spin doctor," I tried to stop marking everything that stopped me in my tracks.
126
"'Once you realize the brain is so gullible, you don't want to believe a damn thing it does. It's always trying to make sense, and in doing so, it fabricates more than just dreams,' says John Antrobus."
It took me a while to finish the book because it made me think so much -- & dream! Two wonderful lucid dreams that must have come from the tips & explanations in the book. Highly recommend to anybody interested in dreams or how the brain works, & plays.
85
"We remember only what we have encoded and what the brain decides to encode depends on our past experiences knowledge and needs."
100
"As Robert Stickgold puts it, 'Figuring out what memory means, rather than simply recording events, is the brain's mission at night.'"
104
"Cartwright argues that when you're dreaming, you're updating your concept of who you are."
112
"...some psychologists suggest that a properly functioning dreaming system may actually be more effective than forms of psychotherapy that encourage the depressed to become introspective and ruminate still further."
120
"'We send our study subjects transcripts of the dreams they reported in the lab along with questionnaires asking if they recognize anyone, if there are any relationships between one dream and another, any connections to what's going on now in their lives,' says Rosalind Cartwright. 'And even the subjects who deny that dreams have any importance or meaning -- boy, do they go to town and write and write. It's do-it-yourself psychoanalysis.'"
134
"Says psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge, 'If what people see in ink blots can tell something about their personal concerns and personality, how much more revealing should dreams be, because they are the worlds we have created from the contents of our minds. Dreams may not be messages, but they are our own most intimately personal creations. As such, they are unmistakably colored by who and what we are, and could become.'"
157
"Maintaining lucidity for any length of time in a dream requires the delicate balance of remaining a detached, receptive observer of your emotions, actions, and thoughts at the same time that you were actively experiencing them -- the same mix that's required for meditation."
163
[an insight within a lucid dream, full dream is fantastic]
"The degree of awareness one is able to achieve while in the dream is in direct proportion to the degree of awareness one experiences in waking life."
175
"The human brain appears to be uniquely capable of using its computing power to figure out its own operating rules."
126
"'Once you realize the brain is so gullible, you don't want to believe a damn thing it does. It's always trying to make sense, and in doing so, it fabricates more than just dreams,' says John Antrobus."
It took me a while to finish the book because it made me think so much -- & dream! Two wonderful lucid dreams that must have come from the tips & explanations in the book. Highly recommend to anybody interested in dreams or how the brain works, & plays.
85
"We remember only what we have encoded and what the brain decides to encode depends on our past experiences knowledge and needs."
100
"As Robert Stickgold puts it, 'Figuring out what memory means, rather than simply recording events, is the brain's mission at night.'"
104
"Cartwright argues that when you're dreaming, you're updating your concept of who you are."
112
"...some psychologists suggest that a properly functioning dreaming system may actually be more effective than forms of psychotherapy that encourage the depressed to become introspective and ruminate still further."
120
"'We send our study subjects transcripts of the dreams they reported in the lab along with questionnaires asking if they recognize anyone, if there are any relationships between one dream and another, any connections to what's going on now in their lives,' says Rosalind Cartwright. 'And even the subjects who deny that dreams have any importance or meaning -- boy, do they go to town and write and write. It's do-it-yourself psychoanalysis.'"
134
"Says psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge, 'If what people see in ink blots can tell something about their personal concerns and personality, how much more revealing should dreams be, because they are the worlds we have created from the contents of our minds. Dreams may not be messages, but they are our own most intimately personal creations. As such, they are unmistakably colored by who and what we are, and could become.'"
157
"Maintaining lucidity for any length of time in a dream requires the delicate balance of remaining a detached, receptive observer of your emotions, actions, and thoughts at the same time that you were actively experiencing them -- the same mix that's required for meditation."
163
[an insight within a lucid dream, full dream is fantastic]
"The degree of awareness one is able to achieve while in the dream is in direct proportion to the degree of awareness one experiences in waking life."
175
"The human brain appears to be uniquely capable of using its computing power to figure out its own operating rules."
March 23, 2026
VICTORY at long last!! I have fought long and hard over these past few months to not give up reading this book. It has taken me so long that I had the time to start reading another book that was mentioned in this book which also sucked and also took me way too long to finish.
I started out pretty interested in learning about the psychology of sleep and dreaming, but quickly I became inundated with information. I simply could not take any more in, and in fact I stopped finding any value in this book after the halfway mark. Everything that was interesting was summarized in the epilogue (which was already too long), so I really should have just read that and called it a day. Also, this book is about 20 years old, so I'm sure half of the research in it has been disproved or rendered obsolete, making my treacherous journey to complete this even more of a waste of time.
Before I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of research packed into this book, I was enjoying it and learning a lot. I would go as far as to say that this unlocked an interest in sleep psychology that I did not previously had, and I look forward to learning more about the topic in a more digestible manner. I have so many more questions about dreaming and sleep, and I feel more inspired than ever before to keep a detailed and consistent dream journal (I still probably will not do this). I also would love to participate in a sleep study because I am curious about the experience of sleeping in a lab setting whilst hooked up to wires and whatnot. How can such a bizarre sleep experience possibly produce generalizable data?
The relationship between dreaming and emotional regulation was absolutely fascinating, and the implications this has for depression and antidepressant usage. These were by far my favorite sections that the author covered, and I wish the whole book had just been a more detailed explanation of research in this realm.
There was also some researcher drama which was probably supposed to keep the book lively but felt like unnecessary gossip on top of the already excessive amount of information that I was attempting to absorb. Also, sorry to be the Wokeler, but I am sick of the usage of the word "primitive" in describing living groups of people. I feel like we should stick to using this purely for prehistoric hominids, and we should perhaps use more dignifying terminology for non-industrial and non-Westernized societies. But I digress.
I need a six month break before I ever think about dreaming and sleeping again, and then perhaps I will start up that dream journal I've always wished I had and dedicate myself to understanding our mind at night.
I started out pretty interested in learning about the psychology of sleep and dreaming, but quickly I became inundated with information. I simply could not take any more in, and in fact I stopped finding any value in this book after the halfway mark. Everything that was interesting was summarized in the epilogue (which was already too long), so I really should have just read that and called it a day. Also, this book is about 20 years old, so I'm sure half of the research in it has been disproved or rendered obsolete, making my treacherous journey to complete this even more of a waste of time.
Before I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of research packed into this book, I was enjoying it and learning a lot. I would go as far as to say that this unlocked an interest in sleep psychology that I did not previously had, and I look forward to learning more about the topic in a more digestible manner. I have so many more questions about dreaming and sleep, and I feel more inspired than ever before to keep a detailed and consistent dream journal (I still probably will not do this). I also would love to participate in a sleep study because I am curious about the experience of sleeping in a lab setting whilst hooked up to wires and whatnot. How can such a bizarre sleep experience possibly produce generalizable data?
The relationship between dreaming and emotional regulation was absolutely fascinating, and the implications this has for depression and antidepressant usage. These were by far my favorite sections that the author covered, and I wish the whole book had just been a more detailed explanation of research in this realm.
There was also some researcher drama which was probably supposed to keep the book lively but felt like unnecessary gossip on top of the already excessive amount of information that I was attempting to absorb. Also, sorry to be the Wokeler, but I am sick of the usage of the word "primitive" in describing living groups of people. I feel like we should stick to using this purely for prehistoric hominids, and we should perhaps use more dignifying terminology for non-industrial and non-Westernized societies. But I digress.
I need a six month break before I ever think about dreaming and sleeping again, and then perhaps I will start up that dream journal I've always wished I had and dedicate myself to understanding our mind at night.
June 8, 2023
A lot of information packed into a relatively small amount of pages. Extra star for that.
Taken from another review that worded it perfectly:
"This book is for those interested in dreaming as it relates to brain function, neurophysiology and chemistry, psychology, personal identity, lucid dreaming, creativity, sleep disorders, mental health, memory and the history of scientific discovery. The development of dream research and discovery is told through the lives and works of the scientists and researchers who studied how the brain creates dreams, and how those dreams affect us."
"The average person will reach their longest period of REM sleep just before morning, and it will usually involve a vivid and exciting dream, full of past memories, to help us wake up in a good mood."
"Our brain is most creative while dreaming."
goes into lucid dreaming towards the end of the book and quotes from a better book on the topic called Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.
Taken from another review that worded it perfectly:
"This book is for those interested in dreaming as it relates to brain function, neurophysiology and chemistry, psychology, personal identity, lucid dreaming, creativity, sleep disorders, mental health, memory and the history of scientific discovery. The development of dream research and discovery is told through the lives and works of the scientists and researchers who studied how the brain creates dreams, and how those dreams affect us."
"The average person will reach their longest period of REM sleep just before morning, and it will usually involve a vivid and exciting dream, full of past memories, to help us wake up in a good mood."
"Our brain is most creative while dreaming."
goes into lucid dreaming towards the end of the book and quotes from a better book on the topic called Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.
April 23, 2009
This is a book about the science of dreaming - NOT dream interpretation. It took me forever to read the 200 pages and even though I found parts of it enlightening, I felt relieved when I was finished. I learned that your body actually sometimes becomes paralyzed when you dream. I had a hard time distinguishing between "lucid dreaming" and being awake. Seem like a very fine line to me.
March 15, 2011
Neuroscience and cognition are big draws for me anyway, but this book was quite impressive. The author chronicles the history of research on dreaming. She writes in a highly accessible manner, making the research results understandable, yet accurate. I couldn't put down the book, and have read portions of it numerous times since.
September 20, 2017
I have read many books on dreaming -- on the science and the mystery of dreaming.
There are books that range from dopey astrology to those written by professors trying to make a name for themselves through their pet theories.
Andrea Rock is an extraordinary journalist. This is probably the best book on dreaming I've ever read -- out of many. Highly, highly recommended.
There are books that range from dopey astrology to those written by professors trying to make a name for themselves through their pet theories.
Andrea Rock is an extraordinary journalist. This is probably the best book on dreaming I've ever read -- out of many. Highly, highly recommended.
May 24, 2017
The best popular science book I've read. Endlessly fascinating, very well-written, very well-researched. The chapter on Tibetan Buddhism and lucid dreaming (alone) is worth the price of the entire book, but every chapter is impressive.
July 3, 2011
Fascinating and readable nonfiction about what our brains do while we sleep. Totally entertaining and informative.
August 26, 2019
Interesting things to learn here but damn, it’s dry as Death Valley. Had to force myself to read this book.
May 8, 2014
An enjoyable exploration of consciousness.
March 27, 2023
This is a book about dreams; it is not about interpreting dreams although the question of interpretability keeps coming up and is addressed throughout. It is also mainly about how and why dreams happen. It is quite technical but talks about the history and personalities of the dream research (from 1950s to now) which has tried to combine the physiological (dreams are a neurochemical phenomenon) as well as the psychological (dreams reflect human mind/consciousness/human behavior) aspects of dreams. Very interesting...
The book reads like a mystery novel, nonetheless. Is Freud (and his disciple Carl Jung) correct? Or are they totally off the mark? Do we need a physiological explanation or a psychological one? Do dreams happen only in REM sleep or always? Are dreams and REM sleep even connected, or are they two distinct phenomena? The theme takes wild twists and turns and leaves you guessing – one moment you will be saying, “I knew it!” because dream research shows something you believed, only to be presented with another research which shows exactly the opposite! So, what is correct? Read the book!
For a huge collection of dreams, see www.DreamBank.net.
The book reads like a mystery novel, nonetheless. Is Freud (and his disciple Carl Jung) correct? Or are they totally off the mark? Do we need a physiological explanation or a psychological one? Do dreams happen only in REM sleep or always? Are dreams and REM sleep even connected, or are they two distinct phenomena? The theme takes wild twists and turns and leaves you guessing – one moment you will be saying, “I knew it!” because dream research shows something you believed, only to be presented with another research which shows exactly the opposite! So, what is correct? Read the book!
For a huge collection of dreams, see www.DreamBank.net.
February 24, 2024
“During dreaming, we’re tuned inward, we experience vivid visual imagery, our conventional logic system is turned down, and social norms are loosened, all of which can lead to making more creative associations than we make when we’re awake and our brain is censoring the illogical,”
― Andrea Rock
Dreaming, a whimsical, fantastical concept since ancient times, is studied under the rigours of science and the conclusions are unanimous. Both dreaming and sleeping - far from being for the weak - are essential for living and proper brain function.
Contrary to popular belief, dreaming does not only occur in REM sleep. Dreaming more-or-less happens in all sleep states but those of REM's are the most vivid. Premature babies spend more time dreaming than mature ones. Dreaming is essential for memory, problem solving, overcoming creative blocks and for processing trauma.
This book is short and to the point. The science of dreaming is illustrated by the scientists hoping to unravel more of this enigmatic function of sleep.
― Andrea Rock
Dreaming, a whimsical, fantastical concept since ancient times, is studied under the rigours of science and the conclusions are unanimous. Both dreaming and sleeping - far from being for the weak - are essential for living and proper brain function.
Contrary to popular belief, dreaming does not only occur in REM sleep. Dreaming more-or-less happens in all sleep states but those of REM's are the most vivid. Premature babies spend more time dreaming than mature ones. Dreaming is essential for memory, problem solving, overcoming creative blocks and for processing trauma.
This book is short and to the point. The science of dreaming is illustrated by the scientists hoping to unravel more of this enigmatic function of sleep.
April 18, 2021
Dreaming is an incredibly important function of the human mind that has, in many different ways, helped us get to where we are as a species today. Although remembering your dreams isn’t that important, knowing how and why you dream most certainly is. This book is an introduction on the subject and provides some fundamental understanding on the subject. The only reason I am removing a star is because it is rather light on the subject of "lucid dreams" which is an incredibly fascinating subject.
Readability: Hard ----o Easy
Practicality: Low ---o- High
Insights: Few ---o- Many
Length: Long ---o- Short
Overall: Bad ---o- Amazing
October 14, 2022
(Russian review below). The reader can feel that the book was written by journalist and not by specialist (somnologist). Some parts of the book were a little more difficult, some simpler. The book is basically worth but something lacking for perfection. I'd evaluate the book as B.
Allan Hobson - anti-Freudian
REM sleep is characterized by an increase in dopamine and acetylcholine. Decreased serotonin and norepinephrine.
Все-таки чувствуется, что пишет книгу журналист, а не сам специалист. Какие-то куски книги были чуть посложней, какие-то попроще. Книга в принципе ничего, но чего-то не хватает для совершенство. Поставил бы твердую четверку.
Аллан Хобсон - антифрейдист
В фазе быстрого сна рост дофамина и ацетилхолина. Падение серотонина и норадреналина.
Allan Hobson - anti-Freudian
REM sleep is characterized by an increase in dopamine and acetylcholine. Decreased serotonin and norepinephrine.
Все-таки чувствуется, что пишет книгу журналист, а не сам специалист. Какие-то куски книги были чуть посложней, какие-то попроще. Книга в принципе ничего, но чего-то не хватает для совершенство. Поставил бы твердую четверку.
Аллан Хобсон - антифрейдист
В фазе быстрого сна рост дофамина и ацетилхолина. Падение серотонина и норадреналина.
March 2, 2022
Well written book on the development of research into the activity of the brain during sleep and dreaming. Describes many different researches in detail and compares them with other researches performed by different people. The writer is quite inclusive in the comparisons and results of the researches, but sometimes I was missing a bit more depth. The epilogue contained some additional researches that would have really added to the book in my opinion, I was very surprised to find them in this chapter. Overall, definitely recommend for anyone who wants to learn about the activity/function of the brain during sleep and learn more about dreaming.
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