THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER What is a dream Why do we dream How do our bodies and minds use dreams These questions are the starting point for this unprecedented astonishing study of the role and significance of dreams from the beginning of human history. An investigation on the grand scale encompassing literature anthropology religion and science it articulates the essential place dreams occupy in human culture and how they functioned as the catalyst that compelled us to transform our earthly habitat into a human world. From the earliest cave paintings where the author finds a key to humankinds first dreams which contributed to our capacity to perceive past and future to cuttingedge scientific research Ribeiro arrives at startling and revolutionary conclusions about the role of dreams in human existence and evolution.