Why We Dream

by Ivan Tyrrell

Why we dream: the definitive answer tells the remarkable story of how Joe Griffin discovered how and why dreaming evolved in mammals and helped us unravel what our dreams actually mean. Thanks to Griffin's work we now know what dreams are doing for us: they keep us sane, or, in certain circumstances, can drive us mad (psychotic). And this knowledge opens up wonderful new possibilities for humanity: greater creativity; improved mental health and deeper understanding of who we are. Griffin and Tyrrell convincingly show that dreaming is vital for mental health and that the brain state we associate with dreaming (the REM state) also has crucial importance for when we are awake. This understanding of the REM state explains not only how our brains construct a model of reality, but also explains hypnosis, how creative behaviour works, and why we develop mental illnesses such as depression and psychosis.

Genres: Psychology

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book knocked my socks off. It took me a while to get into and that was completely my fault. I was reading it on too small a screen. Once I switched to a device with a larger screen, it flowed and I didn't want to put it down. I personally need to read non-fiction in a larger format than a phone.

I was completely blown away by the thoughts regarding dreaming and how it is connected to resolving the concerns of the day and how those with mental health issues have disordered REM sleep specifically and how it can affect one negatively.

I know everyone suffers from nightmares and mine are particularly vivid and terrifying for me. This book has helped me to be more logical when I wake in a cold sweat and to talk myself down from the heart jackhammering in my chest and panicked breathing.

It has helped me to make sense of what would normally confuse the heck out of me and now I am super excited to go to sleep so I can see what I dream and what it is bringing closure to from my day.

This review is not overly full, but I don't want to ruin a moment of this incredible book for anyone. I have notes as I was reading on GoodReads that can be reviewed if you want a moment by moment reaction as I was reading this incredible book.

I am getting a hard copy for myself, will highly encourage my boss to order it for the store, am going to find other books this author has written and have added more books to my Mt TBR due to the books mentioned/quoted in this book. SO GOOD!

Excellent book for understanding dreams and maybe a way for his theories to help those with mental health issues. 5, I love dreaming now even scary dreams, stars! (Though dreams aren't meant to be remembered, so I don't feel bad for not recalling them either.)

My thanks to NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Ltd/Matador for a copy of this book to read and review.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was kindly given this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is a non fiction book which deals with the subject of why we dream as the title suggests.

Why we dream: the definitive answer tells the remarkable story of how Joe Griffin discovered how and why dreaming evolved in mammals and helped us unravel what our dreams actually mean. Thanks to Griffin's work we now know what dreams are doing for us: they keep us sane, or, in certain circumstances, can drive us mad (psychotic).

Although this book offers some interesting theories I did not buy into everything that was said in this book though. Being somebody who has researched dreams and sometimes logs dreams, a lot of what was said I have read lots of times before. My favourite parts of this book was the actual dream diaries and the theories put forward applied to the said dreams. There was also some interesting reading about psychosis and depression. I have never read anything on these subjects before which relates to dreams.

[Elodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Explains simply the importance of sleep to our mental health.