In Nightmare Obscura, Dr. Carr unlocks the science behind the sleeping body. Drawing on her expertise in nightmares, lucid dreaming, and the cutting-edge field of dream engineering, she reveals how we can revolutionize our sleeping—and waking—health.
To most, dreams are things that slip away when we reemerge into the waking world, their remnants jumbled up and only half recalled. At their best, they are populated by pleasant recollections and surreal experiences. But at their worst, they can be traumatizing and prevent us from receiving the necessary benefits of sleep.
So why do we dream at all? What makes a person prone to nightmares? How do our bodies interface with our brains when we’re not awake? And how can we harness our sleeping minds to improve our waking lives?
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About the Author: Michelle Carr is the director of the Dream Engineering Laboratory in the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal, and a former president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Alongside her research and work as a dream engineer, she has published numerous scientific papers, a popular Psychology Today blog, and articles for New Scientist, Aeon, and Scientific American. Her book, Nightmare Obscura: A Dream Engineer's Guide Through the Sleeping Mind, was published by Henry Holt, in 2025.
This program is sponsored by the Alexandria Library Foundation.
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