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

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This exceptionally lucid and engaging work of science writing explicates breakthroughs in the study of the dreaming mind from the 1950s to the present day. Rock, an award-winning medical and science reporter, proves a crisp and thorough storyteller as she portrays the professional tensions among scientific innovators and delineates theoretical controversies (in which the legacy of Freud looms large). She frequently cites interviews with neuroscientists and psychologists, bringing out the drama of their intellectual struggles. Opening with the discovery of the REM phase of sleep by a lowly University of Chicago graduate student, Rock charts the subsequent explosion in dream research: investigations into the roles of different parts of the brain in dreaming; theories of animal dreaming and the evolutionary history of dreaming; the nature of memory; and the neurological relationships among dreaming, mental illness and consciousness itself. Examples of dreams are kept to a relevant minimum, but many statistics of interest are reported. In Rock's concluding chapters, a seamlessly narrated account of a period of sustained scientific focus on the dreaming mind eases into a broader discussion of the function of dreaming in the context of contemporary scientific findings and beliefs. Here Rock discourages simplistic dream-symbol decoding in favor of a more complex approach enlightened by present-day theories.
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Review

"A well-written often entertaining look inside the mind." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Exceptionally lucid and engaging work of science writing." (Publishers Weekly) -- starred review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465070698
• ISBN-13: 978-0465070695
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #312,750 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dream of a Book, March 9, 2004

By	Barbara Bedway (Nyack, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream (Hardcover)

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.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, March 4, 2004

By	Amy (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream (Hardcover)

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.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The latest findings on dreaming, May 5, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream (Hardcover)

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.