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    Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey
    Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey
    Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey
    Audiobook8 hours

    Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey

    Written by Alice Robb

    Narrated by Christina Delaine

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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 a clear-eyed, cutting-edge examination of the meaning and purpose of our nightly visions and a guide to changing our dream lives-and making our waking lives richer, healthier, and happier.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateDec 18, 2018
    ISBN9781684417414
    Author

    Alice Robb

    Alice Robb has written for Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The New Republic, among other publications. Her first book, Why We Dream was recommended by The New Yorker, The New York Times, Today, Vogue, TIME and The Guardian, and has been translated into seventeen languages.

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    Reviews for Why We Dream

    3.5/5

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    • 5/5
      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!