Parkers' Complete Book of Dreams [Hardcover]

Derek Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1995

Enables readers to decode hidden messages that appear in dreams through an easy-to-learn method, while explaining why people dream, what can be discovered about the self through dream analysis, and how famous figures interpreted dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA?There are many books on this subject, but few are as readable, colorful, and inviting as this one. The authors relate the history, as well as theories concerning the meaning of dreaming. There is a strong Jungian influence though Freud and many other sources are referenced. There are clear instructions for interpreting memory and the meaning of even the most specific dreams. The background on sleep and dreaming is well written. The interpretation guide is most intriguing.?Nancy K. Craig, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1 edition (March 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564588556
• ISBN-13: 978-1564588555
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,367,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What do my dreams mean?, May 5, 2001

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Parkers' Complete Book of Dreams (Hardcover)

Have you ever solved a problem in your life through a dream or woken up and had the desire to go back to sleep to finish a dream. If you have a vivid dream world you will enjoy this unique approach to unraveling your dreams and learning from them.

Symbols will often appear in our dreams. In this book, a comprehensive thesaurus provides thousands of symbols and their meanings. Dreams will often have a major theme and unique illustrations show how selected dreams progress.

Julia and Derek Parker are best-selling authors and are recognized experts in the field of dream interpretation. In this book, they explain the mechanics of sleep and dreaming and explain how to deal with the problem of nightmares. There is advice on how to create your own personal dream notebook.

The nonsensical plots and characters in our dreams often can become more rational and sensible and comment on our problems and difficulties in life. The history of dreams is an interesting chapter and is well illustrated. The Mechanics of sleep tells of how we fall into a cycle of sleep. During sleep, we experience NREM an REM sleep and people need each type of sleep for various reasons.

So, if you have had a dream in which you saw mammals, reptiles, winged creatures, fish, fire, water, earth, air, weather, trees, flowers or plants this book seeks to tell you why. There are a variety of dreams which are interpreted throughout the book.

There is so much in this book, it is hard to even list all the dreams or symbols. What I was the most interested in was dreams of flying. Apparently they are extremely common. One time in a dream, I thought I had flown into the night sky. So, I went to page 147 to see why. They say that in life if you are trying to "rise above" something or trying to achieve a position or have high ambitions, that could be the reason.

What I loved even more than the actual interpretation was the Thesaurus in which you can look up the images you see in your dreams. I can't wait to go dream something so I can look up my dreams again. I think this should be by everyone's bedside so when they wake, they can look up the meaning of their dreams. If you have dreamed it, I bet it is in this complete compilation of dream meanings.

A fascinating subject and a look into the private world of dreams.

~The Rebecca Review

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A guidebook, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Parkers' Complete Book of Dreams (Hardcover)

A truely good book on dream interpetation. It provides common symbol references along with sample interpetations. The references are not absolutes but guides and the book talks primarily about the importance of interpeting the dream in the context of your own life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice looking book but why believe it?, July 6, 2005

By 

R. Charleson (Rocky Mountains USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book Of Dreams (DK Living) (Paperback)

I found the opening 40 pages of this book to be a very interesting introduction to dreams and how to analyze them. The rest of the book concerns dream themes such as "water" which, for example, the authors attribute to the dreamer's emotional life. The book gives many examples of dreams and suggested interpretations. It is obvious that great care and thought went into the writing, and the comprehensive, detailed, coverage of dream elements is impressive. Further, there are numerous worthwhile illustrations to accompany the text.

From the title one would hope that this book would give a comprehensive assessment of what dream experts (i.e. psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and neuroscientists) have discovered about the meaning and interpretation of dreams. The implication is that the dream elements and themes are universal archetypes of the human mind and that these are the ones that would apply to anybody.

There is no background, however, as to why the authors believe that the dream elements mean what they claim them to mean. I first thought that maybe the authors are such well known experts that they didn't need to give references, like what one would see in a basic textbook. But, the book tells us nothing of the authors' credentials: one can discover, however, from the authors' website that they are known mainly as astrologers. [But, there is little connection to astrology in this book].

Maybe the book's suggestions of dream meanings will lend insight into understanding your own dreams. I wasn't looking for a scholarly treatise, but I was hoping for something more authoritative.