When Brains Dream

"Where do we go in our dreams at night? And why do we dream in the first place? Are we the only species that dreams? When Brains Dream provides a truly comprehensive, scientifically rigorous and utterly fascinating account of when, how, and why we dream. Put simply, When Brains Dream is the essential guide to dreaming." -- Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep "Every night, we turn out the light and go to the movies. For as long as humans have been conscious of our world, weve wondered whats going on in that other world in which we spend a third of our lives. Some of my strangest dreams have been while I was asleep in Bob Stickgolds lab. Finally, in When Brains Dream, I have a way to understand them. Theres more here than you ever dreamed of." -- Alan Alda, New York Timesbestselling author of If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? "When Brains Dream unveils a novel neuroscientific model comprising an elegant and surprising piece of the puzzle of why we dream the way we do. If you are curious about the curiouser and curiouser qualia of dreams, read this book!" -- Stephen LaBerge, author of Lucid Dreaming "Drawing on decades of research, sleep scientists Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold detail their new model of how and why we dream a model that they call NEXTUP, the Network Exploration to Understand Possibilities." -- The best popular science books to read in January 2021 - Science Focus "Fascinating. . . When Brains Dream steers a reasonable and broad-minded course between the many interpretive whirlpools that have swallowed previous explorers of dreams." -- The Washington Post "... Bob and Tony have an answer to a problem thats been puzzling people for 200 years: why do we dream? They explain why we daydream too; why its vital for sanity, so for me When Brains Dream has acted as an intervention." -- The Spectator "Reports of bizarre night-time visions have surged during the pandemic Dreams are vivid and memorable, [Stickgold] points out, and we have a sense that they are telling us something. But what? Since Covid-19 struck, a lot of us are asking that question The pandemic has caused people to feel more anxious about everything from health to finance. The brain tags such concerns for processing during sleep, according to Stickgold and Zadra in When Brains Dream..." -- Hilary Rose - The Times "A remarkable account of what we know and dont know about this mysterious thing that happens during the night When Brains Dream is a rarity among popular science books, one that neither dumbs down the research nor steps outside of what we know, and yet is still a page-turner." -- Daniel Levitin, author of The Changing Mind

Antonio Zadra is a professor at the Universit de Montral and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine. He lives in Quebec. Robert Stickgold is a professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.