Dreaming as Delirium: How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind

Author: J. Allan HobsonPublisher: A Bradford BookPaperback:ISBN 10: 0262581795ISBN 13: 978-0262581790In this book J. Allan Hobson sets out a compelling-and controversial-theory of consciousness. Our brain-mind, as he calls it, is not a fixed identity but a dynamic balancing act between the chemical systems that regulate waking and dreaming. Amazon.com Review A cigar is just a cigar again! Psychiatrist and neurophysiologist J. Allan Hobson rouses us from our self-absorption in Dreaming as Delirium, an exploration of what neuroscience has pieced together about our sleeping lives. Freud, after all, was first a neurologist, turning to his theories of symbolic wish fulfillment to cover gaps in contemporary knowledge. While those gaps remain, they narrow a bit each year, and Hobson's unique clinical perspective gives him great insight into what might lie in their depths. Writing with humanistic charm, he weaves personal stories, clinical narrative, and research findings into a wide-ranging theory encompassing attention, desire, motivation, and our nearly desperate need for coherence. Ironically, this need drives us to tell ourselves the craziest stories at night--perhaps, he suggests, because we are experiencing sensations similar to those of hallucinating schizophrenics. While far from conclusive, the evidence Hobson presents strongly suggests that we are closing in on one of the most oldest and most elusive mysteries in human experience. Thoughtful and wise, Dreaming as Delirium shows the reader that hard science can reach the depths of our souls and make us more human, not less. --Rob Lightner Review "With the patience of a wise, experienced guide ÝHobson¨ weaves together the strands of evidence gathered from a bewildering variety of sources-using very little jargon but many illustrative stories about his own life and the lives of his patients. What emerges is nothing less than the outline of a unified model of the brain and the mind."-- "The New York Times Book Review"" With the patience of a wise, experienced guide [Hobson] weaves together the strands of evidence gathered from a bewildering variety of sources-using very little jargon but many illustrative stories about his own life and the lives of his patients. What emerges is nothing less than the outline of a unified model of the brain and the mind." -- "The New York Times Book Review"& quot; With the patience of a wise, experienced guide [Hobson] weaves together the strands of evidence gathered from a bewildering variety of sources-using very little jargon but many illustrative stories about his own life and the lives of his patients. What emerges is nothing less than the outline of a unified model of the brain and the mind.& quot; -- The New York Times Book Review"With the patience of a wise, experienced guide [Hobson] weaves together the strands of evidence gathered from a bewildering variety of sources-using very little jargon but many illustrative stories about his own life and the lives of his patients. What emerges is nothing less than the outline of a unified model of the brain and the mind."--"The New York Times Book Review" See all Editorial Reviews