Michel Jouvet is perhaps the world's leading sleep and dream researcher. In The Paradox of Sleep, Jouvet takes the reader on a scientific and sociological tour of the history of sleep
and dream research.
Jouvet tells the story of a handful of neurobiologists, including himself, who pioneered sleep and dream research in the 1950s. He describes the technical and ideological obstacles they faced
and opens his own laboratory to the reader. A key section of the book is Jouvet's discussion of why we dream. After summarizing Freud's theory of dreams, he contrasts it with current
neurobiological data. Finally he outlines his own controversial theory about why we dream: to preserve our individuality.
