"A comprehensive exploration of what dreams are, where they come from, what they mean, and why we have them. Questions on the origins and meaning of dreams are as old as humankind, and persist to this day to excite and confound us. When Brains Dream addresses the core questions about dreams while illuminating the most up-to-date science in the field. Written by two world-renowned sleep and dream researchers, it debunks many myths about dreams while...

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does--humans are a musical species. Oliver Sacks's compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological...

When Coach Coop, a former star player for the Dallas Cowboys, starts exhibiting side effects from the many concussions he suffered while playing professionally, twelve-year-old wide receiver Clay Hollis becomes determined to help him get through the football season until Thanksgiving, when Coach plans to attend a ceremony honoring him and his former Super Bowl-winning teammates.

"Let's be honest--none of us were given an owner's manual at birth. If you're having trouble solving a problem or making a dream happen, the problem isn't you. It's not that you're not hardworking, intelligent or deserving, but that you haven't yet installed the one key belief that will change everything. My mom, who has the tenacity of a bulldog and curses like a truck driver, explained it to me this way, "Nothing in life is that complicated. You...

One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep, and doesn't wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold...

Child exile. Teenage runaway. Military genius. Immortal hero. Yoshitsune had little going for him. Exiled to a monastery, he had no money, no allies, and no martial training. He wasn't big or strong or good-looking. His only assets were brains, ambition, and a dream. But childhood dreams can change history. At the age of fifteen, Yoshitsune escaped. Blow by painful blow, he learned the art of the sword. Fall after bruising fall, he mastered mounted...

After their daughter Maribel suffers a near-fatal accident, the Riveras leave Mexico and come to America. But upon settling at Redwood Apartments, a two-story cinderblock complex just off a highway in Delaware, they discover that Maribel's recovery -- the piece of the American Dream on which they've pinned all their hopes -- will not be easy. Every task seems to confront them with language, racial, and cultural obstacles. At Redwood also lives Mayor...

"In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew larger, the streets became increasingly clogged with horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 brought New York City to a halt, a solution had to be found. Two brothers--Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York City--pursued the dream of his city being the first American metropolis to have a subway and the great race was on. The competition...

As she turns twelve during the summer of 1953, Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death. It's 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing's that easy in Penny's family. For starters, she can't go swimming because her mother's afraid she'll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in...

It all starts with your brain: how you think, how you feel, how you interact with others, and how well you succeed in realizing your goals and dreams. When your brain works right, so do you. When it's out of balance, you feel frustrated, or worse. Yet amid all the advice about how to keep the rest of our body strong and healthy, we hear very little about how to keep the most complex and magnificent organ of all in top working order. Here, Dr. Amen...