Customer Reviews

The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream

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What is the brain's true mission at night? Andrea Rock chronicles the astoundingly varied research by scientists in labs around the world who--aided by by new technologies that enable us to actually see the brain at work--have discovered undreamed of reasons for the mind to carry out its nightly visual odyssey.

Along the way, you'll learn about the unusual sleep pattern of dolphins (only one hemisphere of their brain sleeps at a time); why the functional anatomy of dreaming is almost identical to that of schizophrenic psychosis; how dreaming may serve as a kind of internal therapist, helping us to integrate the emotional experiences from the day; and why that pecuiliar egg-laying mammal known as the spiny anteater may be the key to knowing when the world's first dream could have appeared.

The Mind at Night is itself a dream of a book--its vast research woven into an elegant and quite thrilling narrative of scientists in pursuit of their Holy Grail: an understanding not only of dreams, but of the very nature of consciousness itself.

This book is incredible. I couldn't put it down because I couldn't wait to find out what would be revealed in the coming pages. It's one of those books like "Chaos" or "Guns, Germs and Steel" that changes how you look at the world. What you discover about about how the brain works is amazing. For the first time, I sent an email out to a bunch of friends recommending a book. I did so because I thought so many of them would find it fascinating. On a sentence, paragraph and idea basis, it just flows. It's so alive , so easy to read, and SO INTERESTING.

This book is one of the most interesting non-fiction books that I have read in the last few years. The subject matter (dreaming) is inherently interesting, but some of the science is complicated and theoretical. On some level, Ms. Rock has to assist the reader in understanding various parts of the brain (limbic, brain stem, pre-fontal lobe, etc.) as well as psychology (Freud and others). Much of the research that she is using is very recent, so many open issues remain. Despite these hurdles, she makes the book understandable to an interested layperson without dumbing it down too much.

I particularly enjoyed the way that she presented one approach to the study of dreams per chapter. Each chapter builds and explains the previous ones, as the research becomes more and more recent. Ms. Rock also introduces the reader to the personalities behind these cutting-edge scientists.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand the dream stage (as well as consciousness generally). It is not, however, a self-help book. Other than a few tips on lucid dreaming, it is a 'why' and 'what' book, not a 'how' book.

This book is incredible. I couldn't put it down because I couldn't wait to find out what would be revealed in the coming pages. It's one of those books like "Chaos" or "Guns, Germs and Steel" that changes how you look at the world. What you discover about about how the brain works is amazing. For the first time, I sent an email out to a bunch of friends recommending a book. I did so because I thought so many of them would find it fascinating. On a sentence, paragraph and idea basis, it just flows. It's so alive , so easy to read, and SO INTERESTING.

Students of psychology interested in the latest findings on dreaming will find The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream by Andrea Rock provides a blend of all the latest research from neuroscience to psychology. Andrea history of dream research begins in the 1950s and moves to present-day, tracing the discoveries, major theories, and new dream reports from research labs.

I discovered this book through reading another review, while researching journal articles on dream research. It is not only extremely informative, but well-written and includes several amusing anecdotes about the research itself. If you want a handy and readable guide to most of what is known about sleep and dreaming, then this is your book.

The book is exactly what its title says it is. History and facts from sleep research and related fields brought together, elaborated and articulated in the language comprehensible to educated layman. I didn't find the book dry at all, it was hard to put down, quite accessible and fascinating.

The mere fact that someone has written a book in which Bill Domhoff up at UC Santa Cruz is liberally quoted will probably send the authoritarian, wealth-sucking, one-percenters up the wall. Bill, you see, may be one of our major dream researchers, but he's also the author of =Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance=, now in no less than its sixth edition since Noah's dog was a pup. That he showed up in a book about dreams struck me dumb (at first).

Listen: If you're the average guy or gal, stop reading right now; this is not going to shake your tree. This is not a book about dream interpretation and dramatic deciphering. (Look for Calvin Hall or Carl Jung or the grand old man from Vienna, himself.)

Because this is a book about the evolution of mid-20th century and millennial era neuropsychology as it relates to how important dreams appear to be to the maintenance of a healthy brain, not to mention growth towards greater effectiveness and creativity. There's no =method= here, but there's a lot of explanation of why the emerging rubric of mindfulness is changing the humna potential, as well as psychotherapeutic, map.

Figure this: If you do the mindfulness meditation / =Power of Now= / =Radical Acceptance= / =Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life= do, you can pretty much expect after reading =The Mind at Night= that the mindfulness meditations package our emotional and cognitive experiences in a way that works really well to make sense of it all during sleepytime.

Frankly, we used to think that MM did the job all by itself in some mysterious way we hadn't figured out yet. But this book went a long way toward blowing that theory out of the water. Research since the publication of the book has pretty conclusively demonstrated that MM wraps the dis-integrated bits and pieces of our sensory and emotional experience and evaluative efforts to make sense of them in neat little, pre-digested biscuits that are almost ideally organized for REM sleep processing.

I've been doing the do for some time now. Utterly life-changing. Wouldn't give it up if you put a gun to my head.

So for those of you who haven't gotten on the bandwagon yet, Rock's very sophisticated journalistic endeavor may be edifying. And it may even increase your motivation to start meditating Vipassana-style. (Everybody loves a good "explanation" now and again.)

RG, Psy,D.

This book was facing out at the library, and I just grabbed it. I was very glad I did and whipped through it quickly. I was interested in dreams as a kid, and must have written research papers about dreams in high school in the 1970's. We have learned a lot since then. The progress in brain imaging and the relationship of that progress to psychology research seems to be making old topics new again and again and this book, written in 2004, probably in need of an update. Written with a very intelligent but straightforward reporter's style, it makes the research accessible and also blends in some history of science: the dramas and personalities of the research over the decades. It turns out that sleep in general, and dreams in particular, play an important role in moving our thoughts from short term to long term memory, provide a fascinating window into what is bubbling in our heads, and may serve as "rehearsals" for difficult situations (how will you react if you are being chased --- from an evolutionary perspective, a common threat). The book also explains the science behind why dreams (which we almost all have every night) are so elusive in memory, and why sometimes you realize you dreamed something much later on, even when you did not remember the dream upon awakening. Recommended for anyone with an interest in this sort of thing.

I like this book because it added personal testimony and commentary from the researches perspective. Most books give a brief recap of the study or theory and they do this without the perception of specialist which conducted the research. It is an easy read and very informative.