Customer Reviews

The History of Last Night's Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love to dream. I have always believed dreams are important but never knew quite what to do with them besides record them in journals. I feel like the author handed me a toolbox when he wrote this book. I could have floundered on my own for years and never come to one tenth of these conclusions on my own. I especially appreciate Kamenetz's intense honesty and openness in sharing his own dreams and life experiences.

Reading The History of Last Night's dream is like looking into the open door of a private home - only instead of seeing the furniture and decor - you get to feel into Kammenetz's soul. I am awed by his honesty and the 'direct hit' the dreams have for propelling him into what really appears to be true inner growth.I found that it started a little slow - but keep reading! It will blow your mind - and change your ideas about dreams!

"The History of Last Night's Dream" may well change [your life]. Kamenetz's fierce honesty and unflinching self-revelation inspire both admiration and awe and sympathy and a sense of kinship. We are all dreamers, are we not? This smart, funny, and revolutionary book is filled with compassion for our dreaming minds, for the ways in which they reveal ourselves to ourselves, for the ways our dreams, nighttime or waking, can carry us back to love and so to God.
--Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune
"Last Night's Dream" is the tale of Kamenetz's attempt to break free ...by training himself to place dream imagery on an equal footing with text in his quest for a spiritual connection. The book is deeply personal and artfully written; Kamenetz was an established poet before his 1994 classic "The Jew in the Lotus" turned him into a Jewish Renewal celebrity. It is also an accessible primer on the evolving status afforded dreams in Jewish and Western thought and science.
-- Jerusalem Report

The History of Last Night's Dream is part spiritual autobiography and part historical analysis of how exactly the "revelation dream" lost its eminent status in early biblical times and how it is now reasserting itself in quiet, rural Vermont; reasserting itself in a way that is profoundly changing lives for the better. In the process, author Roger Kamenetz reveals how his own life was impacted, and finally transformed, by his dreams.

This book provides a gentle introduction to a psychological and spiritual path known as Archetypal Dreamwork. It's written with enough scholarly background and credentials to quiet (or perhaps even please?) skeptical intellectuals. The particular method of working with dreams that was pioneered by Marc Bregman is probably not very palpable fare for the masses. But when it's presented by an author who's already made a name for himself with his penetrating religious studies - and, what's more, it's presented in the humble form of a human journey that becomes more and more personal as the story unfolds - the result is a book that may just be what this seemingly-esoteric path to spiritual healing and evolution needs to catch the eye of the mainstream. The fact that Roger recently shared his insights about the Work on Oprah's radio show seems to support my hunch...

One's own healing is the greatest message of hope that can be imparted to others; and Roger Kamenetz has, within these pages, enshrined that hope with eloquence, honesty, courage, exhaustively-researched fact, and a healthy dose of wry wit and humor to wash it all down. Highly recommended for seekers (I suspect that there are more of us now than ever before) on all roads to the Mystery of the Soul.

I listened to Oprah's interview with the author and ran out and bought the bcok. It's a fantastic, deeply fascinating read.. and it's made me dream again...I could tell Oprah was really into it.. and now I understand why. It's beautifully written, profound, and changed my mind about the spiritual power of dreams.

The History of Last Night's Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul (Plus)

A powerful story of a seeker who found what he was looking for. From Israel to Denmark to a small town in rural Vermont, Kamenetz chases the dream until he catches up with it. This story of Kamenetz's awakening to the power of his own dreaming is heartbreaking, moving, and enlightening. This book may well change our collective view of dreaming forever. Even more phenomenal, though, is that Kamenetz has given each of us---dreamers all---a chance to finally hear what our dreams have been trying to tell us all along.

I purchased this book after hearing and interview with the author and Oprah. I have been doing dream work for a few years now and this book was not helpful to me at all. Lots of history and religious references. It did not have dream technique or guidance for dream work.

This is an eye opening book. Dream work, as opposed to dream interpretation, involves developing a deeper and deeper relationship with the soul until you begin to see yourself as God sees you. It is transformative, and this is what Kamenetz's book is about. He presents some erudite background in the beginning of the book. He then describes his own journey into his soul in vulnerable and poignant terms, and how he was changed by the experience. I was inspired and moved. Thank you, Mr. Kamenetz.

This book is amazing. I've never had but a glancing, dismissive interest in dreams, but this book has made me feel keenly interested in doing dream work. Kamenetz has hutzpah--- he takes on Freud--- and good Lord he may have helped Freud if the man were still alive! This investigation of dreams ranges over the scholars and mystical tradition but primarily centers on the personal. Highly recommended.

There are three audiences for this book: (1) those interested in the Book of Genesis and the historical Jewish perspective on dreams, (2) professional psychotherapists/counselors who do dream interpretation for their clients roughly following the Freudian approach, and (3) the man/woman on the street who wants to understand what his/her dreams mean, especially those that are recurrent or that seem especially "important" upon awakening. Consequently, as another reviewer observed, the text is "clunky", with the three perspectives rather roughly tied together. Not being Jewish, I read the historical/book of Genesis review, which seemed thorough, with mild interest. I'm not a professional psychologist, but if you are and your training was in Freudian dream interpretation, you owe it to yourself and your clients to read this book, including Kamenetz's critical review of Freud's theory of dream interpretation. If, like me, you are a man or woman on the street, this book will provide a non-Freudian grounding for working productively with your dreams. Where Kamenetz shares his own dreams and the development of his understanding of them, the narrative is compelling reading.

The fact that neither Bregman nor Kamenetz is a trained or licensed therapist does not automatically disqualify them from competence. Before modern societies started formally licensing practitioners and requiring specific educational programs, indigenous societies identified individuals within their midst who exhibited special abilities, such as shamen and other healers. Requiring formal licensing may go to legal liability or social status, but not necessarily competence. Lastly, if Freudian and/or Jungian dream interpretation were so darn successful, why would Kamenetz or any of us need to read another book on dreams? It's their failure to adequately explain dreams that makes Kamenetz's personal dream quest valuable to all of us.

I have not studied with Bregman or Kamenetz, am not a member of any group affiliated with them, and don't live in Vermont. I have studied my own dreams since childhood (I'm now 67) and find much of what Kamenetz says to ring with clarity and wisdom.