The Creative Dreamer: Using Your Dreams to Unlock Your Creativity by Veronica Tonay |
by Andrea Rock
|
by Richard Brodie
|
by Robert Van De Castle
|
Dream Work: Techniques for Discovering the Creative Power in Dreams by Jeremy Taylor |
See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Taking her title from John Steinbeck, who once wrote that "a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it," Barrett gathers supporting evidence for the idea that dreams can enhance creativity and solve problems, not only for Nobel Prize winners and other overachievers like Coleridge, Gandhi and Dal¡, but for everyone. Drawing on personal narratives, anecdotal evidence and clinical studies, Barrett (The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch), a faculty member at Harvard Medical School's department of psychiatry, shows how "the Committee" works across all disciplines and media--including poetry, film, engineering, music, sports and politics. She also crosses cultural boundaries to show that dreams in non-Western societies serve a similar creative function. Intriguingly, Barrett explores dreams that foreshadow "illnesses that did not yet show physical symptoms": one man dreamt of a panther piercing him "just to the left of his spine between his shoulder blades," in exactly the spot where, two months, later a malignant melanoma was found. Barrett provides readers with dream exercises and specific techniques for making the most of their sleeping hours. In addressing the "accuracy of dream recall," she reinforces her credibility by acknowledging a greater "potential for distortion when people other than the dreamer repeat the story." However, her use of the catchall term "Committee" begins to lose its irony through repetition, yielding the occasional impression that Barrett actually believes that some independent body governs dream content. But that's one small stylistic quibble with an otherwise graceful and fascinating work.
Review
"This fascinating and balanced compendium is the first critical examination of the tricky subject of the role of dreams and dreaming in creative life -- a question which has been pondered since antiquity. Dr. Barrett draws vividly and eloquently on the world's literature as well as her own clinical experience; one leaves this book with much more respect for sleep and dreaming."
-- Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist from Mars
"An Engaging yet scholarly adventure filled with absorbing anecdotes from the history books and from Dr. Barrett's own interviews with some of the world's great scientists and artists. As she explores the sometimes whimsical, often profound creative energy of the dream, her perceptive commentary illuminates why and how nocturnal inspirations occur and provides practical guidance for readers wishing to call upon the Committee as a resource. Facinating reading!"
-- D.M. Thomas, author of The White Hotel
"Barrett provides a delightful update on the creative use of dreams by contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, scientists, inventors, and others, along with a reminder of classical dream discoveries. She has gathered many unique examples from eastern cultures, as well, including India, Islam, and Africa. Her personal interviews with living artists in various fields inspire readers to recognize their own dream discoveries and use them to enrich their daily lives. Good bedtime reading!"-- Patricia Garfield, Ph.D., author of Creative Dreaming and The Universal Dream Key
"A fascinating account of the fantastic creativity of the dreaming mind. The most extensive collection of creative dreams yet, The Committee of Sleep is well written, thoughtful, and inspiring."-- Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., author of the bestseller Lucid Dreaming -- Review
See all Editorial Reviews
Taking her title from John Steinbeck, who once wrote that "a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it," Barrett gathers supporting evidence for the idea that dreams can enhance creativity and solve problems, not only for Nobel Prize winners and other overachievers like Coleridge, Gandhi and Dal¡, but for everyone. Drawing on personal narratives, anecdotal evidence and clinical studies, Barrett (The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch), a faculty member at Harvard Medical School's department of psychiatry, shows how "the Committee" works across all disciplines and media--including poetry, film, engineering, music, sports and politics. She also crosses cultural boundaries to show that dreams in non-Western societies serve a similar creative function. Intriguingly, Barrett explores dreams that foreshadow "illnesses that did not yet show physical symptoms": one man dreamt of a panther piercing him "just to the left of his spine between his shoulder blades," in exactly the spot where, two months, later a malignant melanoma was found. Barrett provides readers with dream exercises and specific techniques for making the most of their sleeping hours. In addressing the "accuracy of dream recall," she reinforces her credibility by acknowledging a greater "potential for distortion when people other than the dreamer repeat the story." However, her use of the catchall term "Committee" begins to lose its irony through repetition, yielding the occasional impression that Barrett actually believes that some independent body governs dream content. But that's one small stylistic quibble with an otherwise graceful and fascinating work.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
"This fascinating and balanced compendium is the first critical examination of the tricky subject of the role of dreams and dreaming in creative life -- a question which has been pondered since antiquity. Dr. Barrett draws vividly and eloquently on the world's literature as well as her own clinical experience; one leaves this book with much more respect for sleep and dreaming."
-- Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist from Mars
"An Engaging yet scholarly adventure filled with absorbing anecdotes from the history books and from Dr. Barrett's own interviews with some of the world's great scientists and artists. As she explores the sometimes whimsical, often profound creative energy of the dream, her perceptive commentary illuminates why and how nocturnal inspirations occur and provides practical guidance for readers wishing to call upon the Committee as a resource. Facinating reading!"
-- D.M. Thomas, author of The White Hotel
"Barrett provides a delightful update on the creative use of dreams by contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, scientists, inventors, and others, along with a reminder of classical dream discoveries. She has gathered many unique examples from eastern cultures, as well, including India, Islam, and Africa. Her personal interviews with living artists in various fields inspire readers to recognize their own dream discoveries and use them to enrich their daily lives. Good bedtime reading!"-- Patricia Garfield, Ph.D., author of Creative Dreaming and The Universal Dream Key
"A fascinating account of the fantastic creativity of the dreaming mind. The most extensive collection of creative dreams yet, The Committee of Sleep is well written, thoughtful, and inspiring."-- Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., author of the bestseller Lucid Dreaming -- Review
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Look Inside This Book
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover
Citations
(learn more)
5
books
cite this book:
- The Immune Advantage: The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do for Your Health by Ellen Mazo on page 92
- Dream Travelers: Sleep Experiences and Culture in the Western Pacific by Prof. Roger Ivar Lohmann on page 234
- Cognitive Therapy and Dreams by Arthur Freeman EdD ABPP in Front Matter
- Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming by Kelly Bulkeley on page 172
- Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming by Kelly Bulkeley on page 172
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet. Create your own review
| |||
Video reviews
|
 |
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Dreams
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Creativity & Genius
- Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Dreams
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Psychology
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Science
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Dreams
- Books > Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Psychology
Free Songs, Cheap Albums  |
Best Books of 2008 |
Comfortable and Cozy |
||||||||
|
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
