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Dreams
Dreams
Dreams
Audiobook6 hours

Dreams

Written by Sigmund Freud

Narrated by Jonathan Reese

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

Between 1915 and 1917, Sigmund Freud delivered a series of well-received lectures at the University of Vienna on his theories of psychoanalysis. Nine of them focused on Freud's theories about dreams-what they are and what they mean. The content of these lectures are presented in Dreams.

Freud covered a lot of ground in his lectures, focusing first on the general difficulties involved in studying dreams, then on the many aspects of dream interpretation, specific symbols and examples of dreams, and the dream as a wish-fulfillment. Finally, he addresses the doubts and criticisms commonly expressed about his theories.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 27, 2009
ISBN9781400179114
Dreams

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Reviews for Dreams

Rating: 3.567796583804143 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

531 ratings14 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I found myself laughing at Freud's remarks towards those who refuted his view of the unconscious and the interpretation of dreams itself. The fact that he spent the first 3 chapters arguing about why his theory is relevant and scientific, shows the strong resistance and reprimand he faced by the scientific community and society in general. I think Freud made a lot of sense and still makes and I have gained respect for him after reading this book. He dared to ask the questions no one wanted to and exposed our deepest inner nature so often repressed and disguised in dreams. Brilliant work by a brilliant mind!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fascinating read.
    The concept of free-association seems intuitively in line with how our brains work. The simple fact that we have a dream censoring mechanism is mind blowing. After reading this, I believe we can derive meaning from dreams, and not just in some pseudo-scientific way
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At 45 pages this is a rather concise and accessible version of his longer The interpretation of Dreams.At fisrt I was a bit dissapointed what my 6 euro's bought me, but after reading it I was actually content.Een mooie en korte uiteenzetting van Freud's theorien over dromen. Helder geschreven en volkomen duidelijk. Of het allemaal waar is is een tweede, maar ja.....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Interpretation of Dreams (Modern Library) by Sigmund FreudWhy I picked this book up:In watch 2017 Personality 07: Carl Jung and the Lion King on YouTube by Jordan Peterson, Ph.D. He highly recommended reading this book, he said was really good and worth the read.Thoughts: First thought, I was not trained in Psychodynamic psychology orientation. I am a clinical Psychologist, I have been reading founding Psychologist and Psychiatrist writings. This was translated and read through Librivox which was read by many readers. I am thankful because this book was free. I listed to part one over nine hours of material. It had some reader with strong accents that were very difficult to understand for me at times. Freud used his development, unconscious, various drives, dreams, sample interpretations. Maybe, it is the super subjective approach that had me questioning how good and useful that really is? Why I finished this read: I finished it since I was able to listed to it at 1.75 rate and because it is related to work, Psychology my past supervisor said as long as it is related to work we can read and listed to it at work so I did Stars rating: 3 out of 5. I was going to give it 2.5 but I gave it 3 since it is old foundational material that has some examples of what he worked with I might or might not finish the second section. We shall see I’d I can get myself to finish it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book probably gets a perfect score from all psychoanalysts everywhere. But for the rest of us living in the real world this book serves better as the thoughts of a poet in action than any actual psychological applications. Nearly all of Sigmund Freud's findings have been refuted with good evidence. For example, Freud thought Fyodor Dostoyevsky's epilepsy was caused by guilt over his father's death when in fact his sons exhibited the same epilepsy,Nevertheless these ideas are highly tempting and extremely fun to work with. In fact, for the artist they are helpful to one of the highest degrees. It is a highly compelling idea, to take one of the book's biggest conceits, that all dreams are wish fulfillment dreams. The fact that it takes much teasing to bring out that tendency doesn't detract from the thought because we honestly have no idea what dreams are. Some say dreams reflect wish fulfillments and fears, and this seems to be closest to the truth since mankind's first emotion is fear, but dreams are so grotesque, non-sensical, and emotionally charging that it seems so much more is involved with them than beats the eye. Indeed, when Freud is not over-complicating things he is actually over-simplifying them. But this may be the trapping of every person who studies dreams.Freud's views are heavily rooted in scientific observation so that lends a lot of credence to his theories. In that sense it's easy to see why his views took off in America where they didn't take off in Europe. It's also easy to explain his ascension in America by the fact that Americans don't want to take responsibility for their actions and would rather blame "supernatural" forces such as the id and the super-ego (as opposed to just the ego). Indeed, it's easy to see how some of Freud's more ridiculous ideas stemmed from this simple seed of a book. He did not form his Oedipal Complex theory yet when this book came out, which was probably his most famous theory, but it's only too easy to see how much bullshit could spring from this one book, which was his first. Sigmund Freud may have ultimately been a charlatan, but I personally believe that he was genuinely on the search for truth. "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Indeed, and so sometimes humans are utterly flawed and it's a wonder we can cipher out the truth in any instance at all, let alone the least likely of instances.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sigmund Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" is a fascinating subject. There is still no precise science to this endeavor -- though over the past century much more has been learned about neurology and the mind, reshaping psychology dramatically since Freud. Unlike traditional cult and folk approaches, Freud tried to apply psychology to interpreting dreams rather than spiritual or religious mythoi. Since Freud we've learned that dreams often are a way for our minds to incorporate the day's events, to help us learn what we think we've learned. We've also learned that dreams can fill multiple functions, not just learning but also, as Freud proposed, wish fulfillment and the mind's attempt to deal with traumas. Dreams can vary in any of us from night to night and each can serve a different purpose. Dreams are also often merely entertainment for the mind while we're asleep.Though much has changed in psychology over the past century since Freud, I would recommend reading "The Interpretation of Dreams". Just keep an open mind and figure that not every dream has some deep psychological meaning.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very thorough and comprehensive analysis. I wasn't expecting hard science, since, as experimental data, dreams are a difficult ground for repeatability. Freud is very good at separating the component mechanisms: consolidation, censor, and wish fulfilment, and he clearly saw dreams as ultimately intelligible windows into mental life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I discovered that Freud is a excellent writer. This is perhaps the most basic book about his ideas and psychoanalysis. Of course it very dated now, but Freud was trying to understand the mind. I know that one of the criticism of Freud is that he only talked or wrote about sex, but that because that what all patients talked about
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    At a hefty 664 pages, this was hard work at times, and I did skip the last forty pages or so because it was dragging and I was excited about my next book. The bits that dragged for me were the highly theoretical bits. What I liked best were the case histories and the analyses of Freud’s own dreams and those of his friends and family. This book was most enjoyable when Freud put most of himself into it. He seems to have been a peculiar but ultimately rather endearing man.As the blurb promised, ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ did change the way I think about dreams. I’ve been able to look over records kept of old dreams with a fresh perspective. What I got most out of it was the idea that dreams are wish fulfilments. I would argue that they are other things too, but I see elements of wish fulfilment in almost all of my dreams. It’s sort of how we reconcile ourselves to the gap between reality and all that we desire. I didn’t accept all of Freud’s claims – I would have been very surprised if I had done. I started the book a bit ironically: Freud is well-known for his theory that everyone wants to shag their parents and pretty much anything else that moves. In short, he’s known for being obsessed with sex. This element of his thinking wasn’t really apparent until about half way through through this book, in which there’s a hilarious chapter on symbolism. Everything represents genitals, apparently: umbrellas, nail-files, boxes, cupboards, ships, keys, staircases, tables, hats, coats, neckties, ploughing, bridges, children, animals, relatives, luggage, all other body parts… we had a jolly good laugh about this in bed.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read this book for a literary criticism class -- rather than psychology -- so I actually enjoyed it. Freud may have been a nutter, but he had some interesting ideas. His dream interpretations are a just another fun way of looking at information. If you don't take this book too seriously, and remind yourself that there's never a single right answer, you'll find it falls under that "good to know" category, regardless of whether or not you ever use his techniques.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Since I am not employed as a therapist of any variety, I found this less useful than Freud's writings on broader topics. Interesting, but not as much as other Freud.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    After finishing "The Interpretation of Dreams,” I found myself saying “wow.” Very few authors have really bowled me over with their ability to think and write analytically, I now see with greater clarity why people look on this work with such fondness and verve. If you are like me and want to achieve a greater understanding of the psyche, by all means read Freud. However, be prepared for dense writing and know your literature.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Not for those who want a book of standardized dream interpretations. If you'd like a taste of Freud's ego run amok: this is for you. Anything in the dream case histories that could possibly be interpreted any other way, isn't. He's looked into *every detail* [excruciatingly] and always finds a way to incorporate that dream into his narrowly defined theories. If any book can be both pedantic and comical, this is it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Makes one's dream world more meaningful.