On Dreams: (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) (Paperback)

by Sigmund Freud (Author) "During the epoch which may be described as prescientific, men had no difficulty in finding an explanation of dreams..." (more)
Key Phrases: psychical material, spaced type, dream distortion, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud's Introductory Lectures (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Aware that his Interpretation of Dreams was a long and difficult book, Freud decided that he must offer a version that would be briefer and easier to follow. On Dreams was the result. He succeeded admirably: the theory of the dream as distorted wish fulfillment is there, as are, in full deployment, the mechanisms of the dream work. Without doubt, Freud was always his own best popularizer.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; The Standard Edition edition (January 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039300144X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393001440
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #102,202 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still relevant, August 27, 2000

By	"elljay" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Freud has taken a beating in recent years, but if you ask me, far too many people blindly accept all the received wisdom about him (he was sexist, unscientific, dogmatic) instead of going straight to the source. The agreeably brief "On Dreams," while far from a comprehensive look at the subject, is a good crash-course on this fascinating topic, still worth reading generations after its initial publication.

Here, Freud convincingly demolishes the long-standing scientific argument, which is still very much with us, that considers dreams as simply random mental events. He distinguishes between the manifest content of a dream (what happens) and its latent content (what it means). He also makes valuable distinctions among the different types of dreams, varying from the simple wish-fulfillment dreams mostly restricted to children and the bafflingly weird ones that we all get on occasion, and takes a stab at explaining why and how they are formed in our sleeping minds. You can love Freud or hate him, but you cannot imagine the 20th Century without him, and he still deserves our attention.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Look At The Concept Of Dreaming, April 13, 2003

By	Edward Stephen Gross (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Dreams (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

This Review refers to the paperback edition of On Dreams (Dover Thrift Editions), composed by Sigmund Freud and as translated by M. D. Eder.

Freud's On Dreams is, quite simply, a downsized Interpretation of Dreams simplified so that non-psychologists are able to understand the basics of his theories concerning the matter. In this particular work, Freud makes an effort to explain what dreams are and how they relate to the dreamer. He also explains his thoughts on how the mind constructs dreams during their production, as well as how to analyze their content and meaning. Also included is a rather short biography about the author.

On Dreams presents wholly compelling arguments as to how the mind designs, produces, contorts, and presents the dream content. The work describes how the dreamer's psyche, he hypothesizes, will normally block the dream content while in a conscious state and due to the weakened state of this during sleep, these thoughts give birth to dreams.

Freud's work is in older English, which may make it slightly troublesome for the more modern readers to grasp. However, the work is in good composition and properly conveys his ideas and hypotheses concerning dreams. Freud also seems to have a tendency to state many educated guesses as fact in this work; therefore, the reader must keep an open mind regarding the presented concepts. The translator appears to have reproduced the text into English quite true to the original. Although, it would be desirable to read a different translation, in order to verify that the work's translation properly presents Freud's initial ideas.

Freud's theories have largely become the basics of modern psychology, for better or for worse, and are therefore all completely relevant and needed to understand the topic of psychology. On Dreams is an interesting look at what, exactly, dreams are and how they work. The overall recommendation would be that an individual interested in psychology read works by Freud and his contemporaries, however to mix those works with more modern concepts and ideas so as not to get an older, and somewhat outdated, view of the said concepts.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Readable, but not a great translation, March 9, 2007

By	E. Jones (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: On Dreams (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I bought this edition for a course because it was cheap. This is a good introduction to Freud's theory of dreams. Quite readable. My only problem was with the translation -- it's an early 20th century British translation and apparently some of the sex stuff was "cleaned up" by the translator, who didn't want to offend british sensibilities. I'd recommend another translation.