Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey

by Alice Robb

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

612.8

Genres

Publication

Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2018), 272 pages

Description

New Age. Psychology. Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML: A science journalist explores the latest research on dreams�??how they work, what they're for, and how we can reap the benefits. While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming�??the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they're dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren't just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma. Robb draws on fresh and forgotten research, as well as her experience and that of other dream experts, to show why dreams are vital to our emotional and physical health. She explains how we can remember our dreams better�??and why we should. She traces the intricate links between dreaming and creativity, and even offers advice on how we can relish the intense adventure of lucid dreaming for ourselves. Why We Dream is both a cutting-edge examination of the meaning and purpose of our nightly visions and a guide to changing our dream lives in order to make our waking lives richer, healthier, and happier. "Robb offers a welcome antidote to the medicine administered by most sleep gurus." �??New Yorker… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo

Dreams have intrigued me for decades. Hence, it's no surprise that I loved Robb's meticulously researched book that skillfully integrates scientific data, history, riveting anecdotes and first-person experiences into a highly-readable narrative. Most of us spend a third of our lives sleeping. By

some estimates, we experience more than 87,000 dreams between the ages of 15 and 75. There's convincing evidence that dreams can serve as helpful dress rehearsals for real-life challenges, inspire new ideas and help us strike a better emotional balance. Why, then, is there such cultural contempt for dreams? Why are dreams scornfully dismissed by so many as frivolous? Most readers will likely finish the book convinced that if we pay attention to dreams, we can have a better understanding of what our brains are trying to process. Robb presents compelling evidence that dreams can play a role in problem-solving and help us to unleash creativity. She also delves into strategies for helping individuals to experience "lucid" dreams, where they are aware they are dreaming and in some cases can even steer the plot of their dreams. My only criticism -- and it's minor -- is that there are a few sections in this otherwise exceptional book that would be have flowed better with perhaps fewer anecdotes or examples. Still, "We We Dream" is a book that should be read by anyone who has even a tenuous interest in the topic. And as the author states near the end, have no fear that acquiring a lot of knowledge about this fascinating topic will take the fun out of dreaming. As Robb writes: "the fundamental weirdness of dreams is as delightful and, in many ways, as enigmatic as ever." Sweet dreams, fellow LibraryThing members!

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LibraryThing member steve02476

Got 13 pages in before I gave up on it. Seemed very culty & pseudoscientific.

LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee

A more apt title would be "POSSIBLE Reasons for Why We Dream," but I guess that wasn't going to make it past the marketing department. Interesting book overall though with very practical tips on how to remember your dreams and learn to lucid dream.

LibraryThing member hardlyhardy

In other cultures and in earlier times even in western culture, dreams have been taken seriously. The Bible tells us much about pharaoh's dreams, Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, Joseph's dreams and so on. Yet more recently in the West we have become reluctant to even mention our dreams to others, even

though when we do mention them we discover that we often have similar dreams — about not studying for a college test, about being naked in public, about flying, etc.

In “Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey” (2018), Alice Robb takes dreams seriously, and she explores the insights of scientists and dreamers who do the same.

Robb argues that our dreams can tell us something, but that also we can tell our dreams something. As for the latter, she writes about techniques that some people use to guide the direction of their dreams and to make nightmares less common or less frightening. Other techniques she describes help some people remember their dreams or to dream more lucid dreams.

Dreams offer "a window into our psyches," she writes. They can tell us what's really bothering us, and in some cases they can even provide solutions. There are many examples of individuals solving problems because of inspiration gained in a dream. Such people as Stephen King and Salvador Dali have used dreams as inspiration for some of their creations.

A sitcom husband is often chastised by his wife for something he did in her dream. Robb tells us this sort of thing can actually happen when dreams are confused with reality.

Robb suggests keeping a dream journal and sharing dreams regularly with like-minded individuals. If our minds are going to provide us with so much nighttime entertainment, why not remember it, share it and discuss it — just like one might do with a good book or movie?

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