An engaging account of the science of dreaming. Written by a leading sleep researcher and a professional dream artist. Makes the biological, psychological, personal, and cultural causes of dreaming accessible. Surveys current theories of the function and meaning (or lack thereof) of dreams. Covers all current scientific work on dreaming, from what happens in the brain when we dream to how dream content relates to our waking life experiences * Each chapter tackles a different type of dream, illustrated through a scientific overview and a professional colour painting

An engaging account of the science of dreaming. Written by a leading sleep researcher and a professional dream artist. Makes the biological, psychological, personal, and cultural causes of dreaming accessible. Surveys current theories of the function and meaning (or lack thereof) of dreams. Covers all current scientific work on dreaming, from what happens in the brain when we dream to how dream content relates to our waking life experiences * Each chapter tackles a different type of dream, illustrated through a scientific overview and a professional colour painting

From the study of brainstem-based models of sleep cycle control, current research is moving toward combined brainstem/forebrain models of sleep cognition. The book presents five papers by contemporary leading scientists, and more than seventy-five commentaries on those papers by nearly all of the other distinguished authorities in the field. Topics include mechanisms of dreaming and REM sleep, memory consolidation in REM sleep, and an evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. The papers and commentaries, together with the authors' rejoinders, represent significant advances in the understanding of the sleeping and dreaming brain.