The Interpretation of Dreams

By: Sigmund Freud

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Interpretation of Dreams is the book that Sigmund Freud considered his most important and that forever changed the way we think about our dreams. Here, Freud explained his discoveries about why we dream, what we dream, and what our dreams mean.

In this groundbreaking work, Freud further demonstrated that it is in the treatment of abnormal mental states that dream analysis is the most valuable. He claimed that dreams not only reveal to us the cryptic mechanisms of phobias, obsessions, and delusions but also are the most potent weapon in the healing of them.

This book is indispensable to anyone interested in dreams and dream analysis.

Public Domain (P)2001 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Audio helps Reinforce Freud

Love him or hate him, Freud was a pioneer genius. Listening to the audio helps me remember key points I missed while reading this book in college. Great purchase for anyone involved in counseling.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

My Dinner with Sigmund

I loved this audiobook from the start. No, it's not easy to follow every detail. But listening to Freud talk about his dreams and what he makes of them is a great way to spend an hour or an evening. Let go of the details and enjoy listening to a great mind at work.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

I enjoyed listening to it

I found the book interesting and beautifully written as if Freud was a skillful writer which made it sometimes harder for me to understand since english to me is a second language, but for those whos english is their native language, I think they will enjoy it...alot.
Also the book will make you focus on your dreams and I found that I have too many dreams, more than I thought.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

A better way

This is my first encounter with audio books at least as an adult. I rented a Star Wars audio book from Mr. Paperback, a chain book store in my area, when I was a child which I could not recount for you. I think I was intrigued by the idea of listening to text. Analyze if you will. This book is simply too much for me to read in between the countless other books I have on the waiting list and the simply dreadful labor I perform daily for the largest retailer in the world, guess who. I find the readers voice nice, as the British have a way with good narrative both on paper and in voice. I have not yet listened to the whole thing because I desire the content to stick. This book is like a friendly piece of scientific research that can at times miss my memory, so I like to listen to it more than once. If you plan on having a profession in the world of the social sciences (I know that is broad, but true), have an interest in psychology and/or psychoanalysis, or simply wish to peer into the masked world of the “dream picture.”

15 of 28 people found this review helpful

Speedy dreams

The narration seems a little quick and a lot of concentration. I listen to quite a few audiobooks and this is the fastest read I've heard so far. Definitely not a relaxing experience by any means. Freud's other book " Dreams" is somewhat easier to listen to. Still, waddya going to do? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

3 of 6 people found this review helpful

Hard to Follow

Freud's book was one of the hardest to follow I've ever heard. He moves back and forth in his concepts losing you in the reading. Part 1 and 3 really have more interesting ideas and concepts to hear.

4 of 9 people found this review helpful

Put me to sleep

I've always wanted to listen to this book but after listening to it, I'm afraid I may still have to read it as I didn't get much out of it. It did have some interesting parts but for the most part, this Dream book put me to sleep.

1 of 4 people found this review helpful

Booooooooring

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. It blows

What was most disappointing about Sigmund Freud’s story?

The extensive passages in French and Latin.

Did Robert Whitfield do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Well, he reads Latin and French like nobody's business.

Do you think The Interpretation of Dreams needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Probably not by the author, since he's busy being dead.

Any additional comments?

Back to crotch novels for me.

2 of 15 people found this review helpful

Freud

The book is great. It's amazing that even a hundred years after its publication, readers cannot accept it.
The recording is okay, except for the actor cannot pronounce French and Italian citations properly. But I guess one cannot have everything at the same time. He's done an excellent job with this recording, anyway.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Disappointing

Another reviewer deals with the content of the book and I agree that it's difficult to listen to the whole thing as it gets very repetitive and far-fetched.

The reading style does not help. It is seriously bland. I have listened to other non-fiction audiobooks where I've begun to believe that the reader is the author as he/she is so keen to enthuse and persuade. Not so with this recording - no particular point is emphasised, there's no sense of wonder - it all adds to the feeling of arrogance. Towards the end I felt a sense of doom whenever I heard this man's voice.

And a niggling point - the sections in French and Latin get quite long in the opening chapter and if they're anything like the brief Italian bit, they're not particularly well-pronounced. Why not just translate them?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mad as a box of frogs

I bought a couple of psychology books and unfortunately, as this was the last one I came to, I had already been put off Sigmund and his theories. He seemed to adopt an incontestable attitude to his work and theories to the exclusion of all other people?s opinions or thoughts. As such, he fell out with his prot?g? Jung and as I understand it was not overly popular within his profession. This comes through in The Interpretation of Dreams as one cannot help feeling by the way it is written that you are being preached to on topics that the author believes to be absolutes and above criticism. He (the capable narrator) talks as one would about absolute certainties and it comes across as the arrogant monologue of a closed-minded individual. As for the content of the book, I managed but 4 or 5 hours before stopping and had been warned that his interpretations stretched credulity on many occasions with the most tenuous assertions about how a seemingly innocuous dream, through a sequence of ludicrous translations, brings poor Sigmund to the irrefutable conclusion that the person on the couch wants to take liberties with his own mother. In my humble opinion, Sigmund?s family life and his relationship with his own mother should provide all the enlightenment that a reader would need to draw their own conclusions about Freud!

In conclusion, I would not recommend this book if you want an overview of Freud?s theories. \"A short introduction to Freud\" (available on Audible) should suffice. I enjoyed it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Intereating , a bit hard to finish

A must for any psicologist. Nowadays we now that many of Freud theories are not at all accurate. Still, this book manages to explain a great deal about dream theory. Prepare for some French and German also.

A difficult but brilliant book

Would you listen to The Interpretation of Dreams again? Why?

It's great to go to the original writings of Freud, especially to the Interpretation of Dreams, which is one of the founding texts of psychoanalysis as a whole and the book of which Freud was most proud. Freud even updated it a number of times as he progressed his theoretical framework in the following decades because he felt it was such an important text.

People who regard Freud's theory of dreams as quackery often forget that he was a neurologist before he developed psychoanalysis. It's a very demanding listen but Freud was a clear and compelling writer. The Interpretation of Dreams makes you realise the profundity and sophistication of Freud's thought as a whole.

It must be of interest

I liked some parts but i found it hard to listen to and stay focused when Freud would quote in french, so it would hold focus if a deap interest was there in understanding this piece of work from Freud