Customer Reviews

Dictionary of Dreams (Wordsworth Reference) (Wordsworth Collection)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

As mentioned in the publisher's note, Miller wrote this book in the first decade of the twentieth century. It is based on religion rather than psychology, with attention paid to The Bible and the role dreams played throughout.

The author posits that a dream is a vision of the future, and that any relationship with the past or present is incidental.

From a religious perspective, I question the authority and validity of the author's interpretations.

Scientifically speaking, the work has very little to offer aside from an alternative/historic view (which is not without value).

Now that dream psychology is mainstream, and religious dream interpretation is on the fringe, this book's title is misrepresentative. A more fitting title might be "A Religious Dream Dictionary: 10,000 Dreams Interpreted."

While being far from psychologically acceptable (or believable) these days, Miller's "Dictionary of Dreams" does present a glimpse into how our great-grandparents interpreted dreams - it reminded me of Mrs. Beeton's "Book of Household Management" and its codification of Victorian housekeeping! I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys interpreting dreams in a humorous spirit, as well as for those who enjoy authentic examples of popular history.

And, to anyone who has an issue with the dream analyses - lighten up! It's just a book from a century ago - not a Jungian treatise!

I found the book initially entertaining as bathroom reading, for the pure nonsense value and a glimpse into our dark past. Some examples:
Banana - To dream of bananas, foretells that you will be mated to an uninteresting and an unloved companion.
Baste - To dream of basting meats while cooking, denotes you will undermine your own expectations by folly and selfishness.
However, after around a dozen entries, they all blur together as portending either great fortune or great sorrow, with separate interpretations for women, all centering around love or how orderly their kitchen will be. After more entries, the ugly side of our dark past surfaces, with entries about Negroes, Mulattos, Jews, etc.

This book was written in a time (1909) when racist sentiment was the norm, as another reviewer points out. Use of the word "Negro" is one thing, now politically "incorrect", however interpreting dreams about "Negroes with their banjoes" as signifying "unavoidable discord...worries with hirelings...sickness" etc. is beyond PC, it's racism. Similarly, dreaming of Jews "signifies untiring ambition and an irrepressible longing after wealth and high position, which will be realized to a very small extent" and so on... In short, the book is interesting from a historical perspective, like minstrel shows, but needs to be viewed in context, and is of no other value in today's world. Sadly, this book has been latched on to by all manner of well meaning new age crackpots looking for easy answers to life's hard questions.

I got this book as a gift and still think it was a waste of money. Every dream I have looked up so far was negative, most dealing w/ some future pending event, ie if you dream 'X' you are soon to lose your job or some other misfortune. How a dream relates to some future event in the physical world I'll never know. I was hoping it would deal more w/ what's going on in my subconscious, but that doesn't seem to be what this book is about.

I was really disappointed with this book. My friend had a book of dreams that was very good so I went to the book store and picked up this one. What a mistake, this book is so negative and the interpretation seems false.

This book was very thorough..although it did leave some things out.

one star is too complimentar

I bought this book when I was in highschool and it has been right on the money every single time I check on a dream a have. For example: I dreamt I was flying over a green beautiful forest, trees looked great- it said if I dreamt of flying & noticed green trees & vegetation below me I would suffer temporary embarassment but will have a flood of prosperity. Two days later I had an embarrasing moment at work but that very same weekend I won a jackpot at the casino of 15K. Every time I check a dream in this book, things are occuring as it says or they happen as it says. It's never been wrong yet. It is awesome!

There are other deram books that are much better than this one. This book has alot of negative things to say about every dream listed. This it a book of hogwash and garbage! Research other dream books on the web before you buy them.

I have to agree with several of the other readers who gave this book a bad review. I bought this book thinking that it would be informative and realized after looking over the entire book that it was very grim and negative. Every time I would look up a dream it would be interpreted with doom and dispair, hardly any of the dreams have a positive outlook. Don't waste your money.