A Happy Accident
It's been said that some of the greatest discoveries were made by accident. While believable, I never believed this would happen to me. Until it did.
My name is Richard Coutts. While developing advanced software technology, I accidentally discovered why we dream. Yes. I know. I was skeptical too. So, I spent the past fourteen years investigating my discovery, conducting studies, publishing papers, and reviewing tens of thousands of dreams. In short, I became a dream researcher. I'm now ready to tell the world why we dream.
The Evidence
My theory is called emotional selection. As the name implies, it is a lot like natural selection. However, unlike natural selection, emotional selection employs dreams while you sleep.
For those interested in checking out my other papers and studies, the Wikipedia page has their links. The wiki and my papers are VERY jargony, so typically appeal only to psychiatrists, neurologists, and psychologists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_selection.
Rest assured! The book is written for all ages and backgrounds. However, it is NOT dumbed-down. Rather, the book form is the ideal form to expand on the ideas and buzzwords behind the theory.
I've also given presentations to Harvard's Center for Sleep and Cognition and at International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD). Below is a shortened, 25-minute video of these presentations.
Dreaming of Needs
My papers and book show empirical evidence that dreams center around our basic human needs as described by the psychologist Abraham Maslow. In other words, we dream about relationships, work, sex, protecting ourselves, etc., because we strive to meet these needs during waking.
Dreaming Away Divorce:
A Case Study
My mentor, Dr. Rosalind Cartwright, published an amazing study in 1991 showing people undergoing divorce coped better if they had upsetting dreams about their spouse. As I describe in the book, her findings are beautifully explained by my theory of emotional selection.
Here's a graphic showing how emotional selection helps one of Dr. Cartwright's participants cope with divorce.
When Dreams Come True
My upcoming study collected the dream reports of over 1600 participants and found that their dream content predicted aspects of their future with statistical significance!
The book will be timed with the release of my upcoming paper and contain a description of these exciting study findings, and much, much more. As a funder, you will be the first to receive this insight.
The Special Edition
This special, crowdfunding edition will not be available to the general public:
- Heavy Paper: 60#
- Perfect Bound Cover: Gloss
- Additional writing not included in the public release version, including the story behind my accidental discovery and all four scientific papers and three studies supporting the emotional selection theory of dreaming.
Please Help!
Discovering and exploring the root source of dreaming was an undertaking much larger than myself. Several people have generously helped me over the years including psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists. My Somerville writers group, friends, and family have spent countless hours helping me turn my theory into words for a general audience.
Charles Darwin's theory was simple, so he wrote On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection for the general public.
My dream theory is equally simple, so I too wrote Emotional Selection: Dreams, Dreaming, and the Nightly Evolution of your Mind for the general public.
My book manuscript is done, but I need your help to hire editors and other publishing professionals to make my book a reality.
Please consider purchasing a perk on this page. If you have friends or family who are interested in dreams or might be interested in helping me attain my dream, please use the share tools on this page to spread the word.
Thank you!
-Rich
P.S.
If there's a Perk you'd like that's not listed (e.g., bundle X4), or if you'd just like to get in touch, please email me at richard@richardcoutts.com.