From the author of “Life On A Knife’s Edge – Life Lessons From A Brain Surgeon” comes this very readable, yet very thorough (judging by the extensive bibliography at the back) study on dreams.  The author states that before starting this work he thought dreams represented very much a niche area of medicine with their interpretation, especially, having the distinct aroma of pop psychology, akin to horoscopes, but recent discoveries he has made on the operating table and the research carried out for this book has convinced him otherwise.  A specialist in paediatric brain surgery he certainly knows what he’s talking about and even though the complexities of brain functions will inevitably stump the general reader he makes everything as clear as he possibly can in explaining dreams and their purpose, significance, importance and meanings. 

There are sections on nightmares, erotic dreams, inspirations for creativity and impact on health and well-being.  There’s quite a chunk on lucid dreaming (where the sleeper is aware they are dreaming and can potentially exercise some control over their dreams) and what all this might mean for us in the future as some bewildering technology is under development.

If you, like me, are interested in dreams then you are going to want to read this book.  To get you going here are some little snippets I found myself highlighting.

• We spend about two hours a night dreaming and not just during REM sleep as was once thought.

• When dreaming the brain’s Executive Network shuts down (which controls logic, reason and reality testing) and another part, termed here the Imagination Network becomes dominant leading to those scenarios the waking brain would never fathom.

• What we dream about is far more universal than you would expect.  Surveys carried out fifty years apart in four different countries show people’s dreams to be remarkably similar (predominantly school/exam dreams and being chased).

• Dreams do actually follow rules: When objects transform into other objects it is generally something similar.  It’s hard to read in a dream (that is why I can never finish calling the school register in my recurring teacher dream).  Use of TVs, computers and social media turn up rarely.  Hands generally look strange as do watch and clock faces.

• Up to the age of 7 or 8 children are rarely active participants in their own dreams, it’s mainly animals from stories and cartoons.  When nightmares kick in (and they need to for developmental reasons) children will experience them 5 times more than adults.

• Exam Dreams?  In tests students did 20% better than those who didn’t dream about them, even though the dreamer may have had the humiliating experience of turning up late, or naked, or forgetting to revise.

Towards the end the author concludes that the understanding of dreams can only enrich our lives and help us to cope with events and emotions.  And, as a bonus, you never know you might discover something along the lines of the Periodic Table, DNA, or the sewing machine all of which benefitted from dreamers.

I think I’m going for a lie down now……

This Is Why You Dream is published by Cornerstone Press, part of the Penguin Random House Group in the UK on 18^th April 2024.  Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.