Michel Jouvet is Emeritus Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Lyon, France. While he and a small group of neurobiologists were pioneering sleep and dream research in the 1950’s Jouvet discovered a state between waking and dreaming which he calls “paradoxical sleep.” He explains that a certain phase of sleep is “paradoxical” because “intense cerebral activity coincides with muscle atonia.” He considers the discovery of this phase of sleep in cats paradoxical because scientists have generally discounted anecdotal reports from pet owners that their cats seem to dream. According to Jouvet recordings of sleeping cat brain waves prove that they do indeed dream despite the fact that they cannot relate their dreams to us (41-2).

For most readers these ‘discoveries’ and others will seem trivial, obvious, and old hat. What Jouvet offers as scientific information may strike the reasonably well-informed reader as rather simplistic. Chapters include various interesting sub-headings such as ‘lucid’ dreaming, sleepwalking, the relationship between dreaming and memory, the effects of sleep deprivation, the connection between sleep and learning, and so on, but each is given only superficial discussion. He offers a number of charts and diagrams, but they again explain only relatively simple concepts, making the overall effect of this book that of an introduction to an introductory book.

While the book is easy to read and perhaps informative to anyone who has never heard of sleep research, I found it to be disappointing. In part this is due to the fact that I was expecting a reasonably scholarly work on the psychology of sleep and dreams. But this is not entirely my fault. The French title of the original edition of this book is Le Sommeil et le Réve (literally “The Sleep and the Dream”). On the cover of the English version, below the tile The Paradox of Sleep, is the sub title the story of dreaming. The title and subtitle had led me to expect a book that discusses a psychological investigation of sleep and an inquiry into the meaning and interpretation of dreams, but these topics are only touched on very briefly. Instead, the book is more like a high school-level overview of scientific developments in the field of sleep research. For example, the sum total of discussion about Freud’s theory of dream interpretation is a mere six lines on page 30-which is not even cited in the index- while Jung is given four and one half lines on the same page. Much more space is devoted to a discussion of Freud’s “neuronal” model of dreaming (113-119). If I had read the back cover first I would have gotten a more accurate picture of what’s inside. It states that the author, Michel Jouvet, “takes the reader on a scientific and sociological tour of the history of sleep and dream research. . ..” The front cover would have been far less misleading if the subtitle had said something like a non-technical introduction to scientific sleep and dream research since this is clearly the author’s intention.

This is not a book about the psychological nature of sleep and dreams. It is a simple little book about the history of neurobiological research in this area. Unfortunately, instead of instilling confidence in his readers about how much his scientist colleagues already know about sleep and dreaming, the author spends much of his time reiterating how little they actually know. I would recommend this book to anyone searching for an easy-to-read, non-technical book about the developments of sleep and dream research since the 1950’s. But if you’re after insights into the psychology of sleep or the meaning of dreams you’re better off looking elsewhere.

© 2001 Peter B. Raabe

Peter B. Raabe teaches philosophy and has a private practice in philosophical counseling in North Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of the book Philosophical Counseling: Theory and Practice (Praeger, 2001).

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