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contemporaries, however to mix those works with more modern concepts and ideas so as not to get an older, and somewhat outdated, view of the said concepts.

This book is an extremely condensed version of Freud's thoughts on dreams. The book is 45 pages so it is an easy read that tends to be more readily available though other book selling sites.

Freud groups dreams into those with obvious meanings, those with latent meanings, and those that are incoherent. He goes on to explain how dreams can be interpreted. A section is even devoted specifically to interpreting the dreams of children. Freud has a lot of interesting things to say, but like anything he says, take it with a grain of salt.

WORD OF ADVICE: Don't let others see you reading Freud for pleasure, as they will think you are weird.

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.

I found that this book was on a higher level than most of Freud's literary pieces. Though many of the same information is presented here, it is presented in a wholey different manner, and a much more understandable one. I personaly find this a fairly good source of reference. Though one can not rely completely on anyone of Freud's ideas; they give good background to new ones.

I would do great injustice if I attempt to provide my thoughts on the works of Sigmund Freud. I admit my knowledge in this area is shallow and limited; and I took this read more out of curiosity than a scientific study. With this said I would ask you to bear with me in the following paragraphs and at the same time suggest taking this read with a caution that undertaking this read requires immense patience.
The ego has the task for self-preservation; it performs that task by becoming aware of the stimuli, by storing up experiences about them in the memory. It handles it by avoiding strong stimuli, by dealing with moderate stimuli and finally by learning to bring about expedient changes in the external world to its own advantages. It performs that task by gaining control over the demands of the instincts, by deciding whether they are to be allowed satisfaction, by postponing the satisfaction to times and circumstances favorable to the external world or by suppressing their excitation entirely. It is in this activity that tensions are produced by the stimuli. The raising and lowering of these tensions cause unpleasure and pleasure. It is probable however that what is felt as pleasure or unpleasure is not the absolute heights and lows but something in the rhythm of the changes in them. The ego strives after pleasure and seeks to avoid unpleasure. An increase in unpleasure which is unexpected is met by a signal of anxiety.
In contrast to ego; the id expresses the true purpose of the individual organisms life. This consists for the satisfaction of its innate needs. No such purpose as keeping itself alive or protecting itself from dangers by means of anxiety can be attributed to the id. That is the task of the ego to figure out the most favorable and the least perilous method of obtaining satisfaction; which entails taking the external world into account. The forces which hide behind the tensions caused by the needs of the id are called instincts. Freud proposed the existence of two basic instinct Eros and destructive instinct. The aim of the first is to establish greater unities and to preserve them thus in short to bind them together. The aim of the second is to undo connections and to destroy things. Modifications in the proportions of the fusion between the two instincts have the most opposite result. A surplus of sexual aggressiveness will turn a lover into a sex murderer, while a sharp diminution in the aggressive factor will make him bashful or impotent.

well-organized and well-written; very compact and filled with formulations useful to a comprehension of some of Freud's core concepts.

In this study Freud delves into the studies of psycho-analysis and prepares a prognosis that stipulate his observations. He confesses that this series of lecture are not the entire studies of psycho-analysis but provide just a glimpse into the subject.

In the Study of Hysteria: hysterical patients have been noted to suffer from prior reminiscences. Their symptoms are residues and mnemonic symbols of particular traumatic experiences. Not only do the patient remember the painful experiences of the remote past; but they still cling to them emotionally; they cannot free themselves of the past and for its sake they neglect what is real and immediate. The fixation of this mental life to pathogenic traumas is one of the most significant and practically important characteristics of neurosis. Typically in the pathogenic situations; the patient is emotionally overwhelmed and is obliged to suppress a powerful instead of allowing its discharge in the appropriate signs of emotions, words or actions. One is driven to assume that the illness occurred; because the affects generated in the pathogenic situations had their normal outlet blocked and the essence of the illness lay in the fact that these `strangulated' affects were then put to an abnormal use. In short they remained a permanent burden upon the patient's mental life and a source of constant excitation for it.

Freud disagrees with Pierre Janet's thesis that hysterical patients; are inherently incapable of holding together the municipality of mental process into a unity; arises the tendency of mental dissociation. Janet in his experiments showed that in hypnosis the lapses of the supposed lost memories could be brought back. On the contrary Freud suggests that forgotten memories were not lost. They were in the patient's possession and were ready to emerge in association to what was still known by him; but there was some force that prevented them from becoming conscious and compelled them to remain unconscious. The force that was maintaining this the pathological condition became apparent in the form of resistance on the part of the patient.

What Freud has found out about pathogenic complexes and repressed wishful impulses of neurotic traces back the symptoms of the patients' illness with really surprising regularity to impression from their erotic life. Even before puberty extremely energetic repression's of certain instincts have been effected under the influence of education, and mental forces such as shame, disgust and morality have been setup, which like watchmen, maintain these repressions. So that when at puberty the high tide of sexual demands is reached, it is met by these mental reactive or resistant structures like dam, and make it impossible for it to reactivate the instincts that have undergone repression.

These lectures to a lay audience are a good starting point for understanding Freud's thought--very readable, informative, and at times humorous.

I am conducting a research on Sigmund Freud, however I am running very short on time. I ask for your favor on helping me out before October 7, 1999 at 7 a.m. The book I am concerned with is New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis of Sigmund Freud, edited by James Strachey. The question of this book is the following: What is the fourth word on page 74?

Please respond asap... I would really appreciate it, even though it may come after the due time. Thank you.

Here you can witness Freud not as the straw man stereotype that so many despise but as a warm, humorous man with a great deal of vision. The man you encounter in this book is so different from what you would expect that I warmly recommend this to anyone with an inquiring mind.

He was a genius.

In a letter to his confidant and friend, Wilhelm Fleiss, the then middle aged neurologist, Sigmund Freud, was in the midst of researching and writing his beloved 'dream book'. He wrote the following:

"Now I have finished and am thinking about the dream book again. I have been looking into the literature and feel like a Celtic imp."Oh, how I am glad that no one, no one knows..." No one suspects that the dream is not nonsense but wish fulfillment."

Indeed, this is the premise of Freud's entire thesis: dreams are no more than repressed unconscious wishes, battling for expression and consummation.

In his own words, Freud had 'dared' to rally against the 'objections of severe science, to take the part of the ancients and of superstition.' In 1900, the official year of the book's publication, its reception, despite its provoctive title, was tepid, and in the course of six years, only sold 351 copies. Freud never gave up hope, and 30 years later, in the preface of the third English edition, he wrote, "It contains, even according to my present day judgement, the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once a lifetime.' In present day, one can question any Freud scholar about ~The Interpretation of Dreams~ and they will say the same thing: the book contains everything that 'is' psychoanalysis.

Anyone interested in the history of psychoanalysis and the mind of Sigmund Freud, reading this book is an absolute must. The reading runs along too, quite easily, as Freud was an excellent writer: his unique prose style even shines through some clumsy translations.

If you are interested in the book's process of development, I would suggest reading ~The Complete Letters of Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Fliess~; another gold mine for understanding the growth of psychoanalysis.

Dreams are some of the most mysterious, most enchanting, and most sacred experiences in all of human existence--and yet they are also some of the most elusive, and so their meaning has been scrutinized by every culture of the human race, for thousands and thousands of years.

In all of these inquiries, perhaps none has been more thorough, more scientific, and more systematic than Dr. Sigmund Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" (1900). In his book, Freud surveys the scientific research on dreams put forth so far (a remarkable achievement of scholarship in itself), and then puts forth his own theory of dreams.

Dreams, Freud claims, are nothing more than a fulfillment of an unconscious wish. He supports his theory with analysis from a selection of actual dreams from his patients and from his own experience.

Much of this book is entertaining and enlightening. Freud's good taste in literature is reflected in his own engaging style, and his sense of scholarly adventure is catching. Plus, he doesn't shy away from the big questions. How can we interpret dreams? How does a dream come about? What is the purpose of dreams? Why are all dreams wish fulfillments? What are the meaning of typical dreams, like losing teeth?--all these questions are tackled here. This is the book where Freud first puts forth his Oedipal theory.

Freud's theory is always insightful, if not totally accurate. He seems to try too hard to make all the data jive with his "wish-fulfillment" theory, and when it doesn't, he resorts to ludicrous arguments reminiscent of Anselm's ontological catastrophe. For example, when a dream is clearly not a wish fulfillment, Freud asserts that it has actually fulfilled a wish--a wish that his theory is wrong. Poppycock.

Despite these occasional stretches of reasonability, you'll come away from this book with a much greater understanding of the nature of dreams and the mental processes that bring dreams about. Highly recommended.

This is a good intro to Freud; consider also "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanaylsis."

Easy to read and perfectly inteligible for the average
non-professional reader like me. This is the most important book written by Sigmund Freud and is in the Freudian tradition of writting some books which focus on difficult issues with a rather simple to understand language and fine style. The purpose of the author, in his own words, was to disturb the sleep of mankind.

This is the kind of book that will help you a lot in understand the mechanisms behind one's dreams and all the relationship between what Freud calls your "waking life" and your "dream-life". Before going on interpreting a lot of his and his patients dreams, something that took a lot of personal sacrifice to someone so jealous of his private life as Freud, the author introduces us to the then (1899) accepted theories of dreams, which basically took the dreams as irrational and confuse manifstations that didn't have nothing to do with our real or waking life.

The rationale Freud uses to demolish the anti-Freudian myths is powerful and convincing and he even suggests that reading the book will have some effect on our immediate dream life (it happened to me). Despite quite voluminous (700 pages) it deservs the attention and the effort of all of us who want to understand what dreams are all about. Here also, one reads the first paragraphs Freuds devotes to the Oedipus complex, and one has the opportunity to explore along with Freud the mechanisms of the UCS (unconscious) and of our Conscious activities, which some decades latter would lead to the concepts of Ego, Super-Ego and Id.

As a trademark the text is always polemical, remembering this same quality one faces in Marxists texts.

The 'author' of Freud's S.E. IS Freud ! ! and of course it's a useful reference book for any undergraduate student of psychoanalysis, Freud is still papa of the discipline and anyone interested in being involved in any discourse concerning psychoanalysis needs to be familiar with the man's work.

I think this is a terrific compilation of Freud material that would be helpful to any psychology student pursuing psychoanalysis and a search for knowledge in the subject of psychology. The author does a tremendous job of picking the most important works of Freud and putting them in a proper reading order for the less experienced student. I think that the author should be commended for his work in translating and interpreting this material, and I would recomend this to anyone, no matter what the cost! I think this may be the best and most valuable set of books you could ever buy.

Almost one hundred years ago to the month (November 1899), Freud published his landmark book, "The Interpretation of Dreams," in German. The world hasn't been the same since then. No matter what you think of him (many who dislike Freud base their views on what others have said about him or done with his theories), he changed the concept of what it means to be a human being. This long essay (it runs 95 pages with index) came out in 1925, when he was at the height of his fame. It recounts the development of his career and his theories of sexual development. As such it provides an overview of the subjects for which he became famous. It isn't a personal book, concentrating on professional rather than personal associations. I would call it an intellectual memoir--but whatever you call it, it is well worth reading.

The logic of Freud can sometimes be overbearing when he is dealing with the makings of a joke. However, he does at times seem to drop his guard, speak in easy to understand terms, and give information that can be understood. If anyone is pursuing comedy in any form, this book would be helpful, and will help you compare your analyzation of what you do with someone who knew very well how the human mind worked. I've applied several of his concepts on stage and have found them successful.

It's not first book on sex in the world you know. But Considered the esseys in this book published in 1920s, it's so shocked and execellent. Freud extend his own typical attitude on sex. At first, he seems to believe that the original reason of all mental disease is on Libido or sexual drive. it's same with his other articles like [The interpretation of Dream] and so on. The content of this book is composed of so many esseys different from the "real" title of Book [three essays...]. He studied from fetishism to sex life of children variously. And continued to...anal eroticism, sexual desire of women and children... Even Most of people recently think children and women(especially young girl) have a passive sexual drive or no desire. But Freud thought the start of Sexul desire from infant period. So called Oedipus Complex! you know. Babies' Oedipus Complex formed by jealousy on their fathers. Babies want to kill their father then have [or have intercourse?] their moms according to theory of Freud. And this failed desire make growing persons sick(of course mental disease). These disease or symptoms divided variously e.g Fetishism, Paranoia, Hysteria... In conclusion, i hope you should choose this one if you wanna get deeper knowledge about origin of YOUR Sexual desire! Humm... mail to me if there comments.

In this small book Freud takes a mistranslated childhood memory of Leonardo's--one in which a kite (Freud thought it a vulture) opens the baby's mouth with its tail feathers--and makes a case for a genius born out of wedlock left alone too much with his mother, and therefore prone to homosexuality. Lame.

As always, though, Freud at least arrives in the ballpark, even if he doesn't understand the game. Initial memories are often strangely prophetic, even when constructed out of fantasy; and so perhaps the fantastic kite--known for its interesting flight configurations--suckled the young Leonardo's latent inventive urges, or even symbolized their later expression.

Note: in this study first appears Freud's use of the term Eros, which he later makes such a fundamental part of his theory.

Freud's attempt to apply the concepts and generalisations of psychoanalysis to the Universal Man, Leonardo da Vinci. The formulations reached in the book have now become "pop-Freudian" cliches: the subject was doted on by his mother, neglected by his father and therefore developed a homosexual streak. What occured exactly, according to Freud, was an inordinate Oedipal development in which the subject took his father's domination of the mother as a "de facto" domination (hence prohibition on the father's part) of *all* women and hence it triggered a shift from heterosexual to homosexual tendencies. Freud applies his doctrine of infantile sexuality to address other topics such as Leonardo's prodigious genius, his scientific pursuits and the fact that he left so many works unfinished. The study is speculative and tendentious and, which is more, it is marred by an egregious error in the translation of one of Leonardo's notebooks. Its major shortcoming is its rather reckless and overconfident attempt to reconstruct the psycholgy of a man dead for centuries. For zealous partisans of psychoanalysis only, or for those who have an academic interest in the subject.

I'm a graduate student majoring art history. i'd read this essey at April at seminar on Freud i made. i wanna know the interpretation of art not by classical art historian but by psycho-analysis doctor. it's so curious and fantastic to meet this strange world. In that, Freud would explain on genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. 'Passion on completeness made him (Leonardo) left his works unfinished. So to speak, if he is unsatisfied with his, he left them unfinished. And He thought the reason of Leonardo disposition toward homosexual was on his infant period accident. He was fed by Only his mother without Father! to be Absent of Father. And his Oedipus Complex not happen like normal case. He depened on his mother without obstacle-his father. He identified himself with his mom. And when he grew up, he loved boys like him. He took the role of his mom which feed him! His Libido made his investigation on everythins stronger than normal ! So to speak, His primal desire(il primo motore)is changed not as hetero sexual desire but as investigation desire. Frequently, you'd think you meet dogmatic explanation on Leonardo. It's no bad because there are not 'ONLY' truth! ^^ And why dont you check your condition out according to Freudian way?