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Sigmund Freud – The Interpretation of DreamsBook DescriptionPublication Date: November 1, 2005 | Series: Unabridged Classics in AudioAccording to Freud, our unconscious impulses are not random, but packed with meaning, taking on color, form and even a storyline. All dreams are actually wish fulfillments, and interpreting them can bridge the gap to the conscious, resulting in more meaningful living.Editorial ReviewsAmazon.com ReviewWhether we love or hate Sigmund Freud, we all have to admit that he revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. Much of this revolution can be traced to The Interpretation of Dreams, the turn-of-the-century tour de force that outlined his theory of unconscious forces in the context of dream analysis. Introducing the id, the superego, and their problem child, the ego, Freud advanced scientific understanding of the mind immeasurably by exposing motivations normally invisible to our consciousness. While there’s no question that his own biases and neuroses influenced his observations, the details are less important than the paradigm shift as a whole. After Freud, our interior lives became richer and vastly more mysterious.These mysteries clearly bothered him–he went to great (often absurd) lengths to explain dream imagery in terms of childhood sexual trauma, a component of his theory jettisoned mid-century, though now popular among recovered-memory therapists. His dispassionate analyses of his own dreams are excellent studies for cognitive scientists wishing to learn how to sacrifice their vanities for the cause of learning. Freud said of the work contained in The Interpretation of Dreams, “Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime.” One would have to feel quite fortunate to shake the world even once. –Rob Lightner –This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.From Library JournalIn her new translation, Crick (emeritus, German, Univ. Coll., London) gives us the first edition of Freud’s magnum opus (1900) with historical context and notes on the theory and practice of translation. While this version lacks the fullness of Freud’s intellectual development, it reveals the fundamental work clearly and in context. Serious students can have the best of both worlds by comparing Crick’s work with James Strachey’s 1953 work (a variorum of all eight editions, considered the “standard”) in passages of particular interest. This more literal version, not beholden to the psychoanalytic movement and its defense of Freud as scientist, pays respect to Strachey while “attempting to render Freud’s varying registers, listening for latent metaphors as well as his grand elucidatory analogies.” Here we come closer to Freud’s masterly German, yet, as with Strachey, it reads like good English. Recommended for academic and larger general libraries.AE. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ., Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DCThis review is from: The Interpretation of Dreams (Oxford World’s Classics) (Hardcover)Make up your own mind about Freud, but in the meantime, this is one of his great works that anyone can read without having technical knowledge about psychology. Freud included much about his own dreams, and the reader will suspect that he didn’t “tell all” about his own introspection–nor would most of us! But this work, along with “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life” and “Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious” are for all readers. It is worth your while to peruse one of the most influential books in human history. As for the violence of the controversy that Freud inspires–well, that vehemence must mean something: a hundred years later, we are still at it. Decide for yourself. This review is from: Interpretation of Dreams (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Paperback)The best translation available is by J. Strachey. Don’t get the one by Brill. This books is no light reading, even for those accustomed to reading serious books. Freud’s style presents no difficulties, but moral courage is needed. Nevertheless for those courageous enough there is also enormous entertainment here. Personally I find it extremely difficult to read it often. It’s too dense and challenging. And much of it is also deeply flawed because the author was overly confident. Despite all this, this may well be the greatest book of the 20th century, and those who want to take the challenge ought to try it. My pragmatic advice is to skip the first chapter, which is a rather dated review of literature. This review is from: The Interpretation of Dreams (Mass Market Paperback)Freud offers here the healing of people by understanding their dreams, it really opens the door to our inner Self. Neurosis of inefficiency can be changed into a happy life of success. Often it’s forgotten he uses one perfect method. From the past with healing with hands, from hypnosis to suggestion, this interpretation is new, since 1900 for all times to come. One can see this as an introduction into “One Self”. Like Joseph explained the dreams of Pharao, the reader can learn to read his inner Self by his dreams. Buy and read this book!