The Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams

Cambridge Fundamentals of Neuroscience in Psychology

by Patrick McNamara

This book provides a complete introduction to the neuroscience of sleep and dreams in plain language. In it, Patrick McNamara outlines new discoveries in the science of sleep and dreams, places them within an evolutionary context, and brings them together with existing scientific findings and implications for sleep medicine. Unlike other introductory texts, the important evolutionary background and social nature of sleep and dreams is emphasized. Major advances in sleep medicine, sleep and memory, dream content analyzes, brain correlates of sleep stages and lifespan development of sleep are covered in depth. While the text is geared towards students, the general reader and scientists studying other disciplines will find it accessible and informative.

Genres: Science, Neuroscience, Psychology, Textbooks, Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

Published April 25, 2019

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Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This an excellent introduction to the science of sleep and dreams. I particularly enjoyed the evolutionary and anthropological discussions. While the book appears to be appropriate for an upper division university class, I think it would be accessible to a general reader who has had an introductory course in psychology and/or neuroscience.

[Harry Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a good summary on the state of sleep research with a nice focus on age effects on sleep and dreams (they are fairly pronounced, particularly with regards to amount of slow-wave sleep attained and the content of dreams). Highly recommend reading this if you want to get a better understanding of the prevalent theories surrounding sleep and dreams.

[Alexander Bos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for people who want to dive deep into the world of Sleep and Dreams. It can be difficult to read from time to time, since it's an academic book, but never did it get annoyingly complicated.