In Your Dreams: Falling, Flying and Other Dream Themes - A New Kind of Dream Dictionary

Definitely the most instantly-usable of Gayle Delaney's books I've read, this one largely skips heavy-duty theory and concentrates on quick, practical application. It starts with a short, very to-the-point and understandable explanation of Delaney's dream interview technique, in which one describes elements and actions in the dream and answers questions about them to arrive at one's OWN meaning for them, rather than a cookie-cutter explanations. This is followed by a section of common dream themes, elements, and settings, with a set of interview questions for each to get a jump-start on figuring out your dream. For those of us who procrastinate on actually DOING dream interpretations, this is a great help. She gives a few examples of actual dreams and interpretations for each, as well as an etymology of traditional meanings for such a dream. The questions are highly useful, the etymologies somewhat interesting but not very applicable. I would have preferred to see a third less etymology and half again as many dream examples, but the etymologies are easily skipped. Useful and a quick read, this would be the perfect Delaney book to start with. If you can find it, her audio course "Your Sleeping Genius" (1999) includes elements of several of her books and is also excellent. "Sensual Dreaming" (1995) is fascinating and highly readable, but focuses solely on sexual/relationship dreams and a bit longer. "Breakthrough Dreaming" goes into greater depth - so much so that important points may slip by unnoticed if you aren't looking for them. I think her writing style has grown more direct; "Breakthrough Dreaming" was one of her earliest efforts.

This is the most helpful dream interpretation book I've owned to date, and I've wasted lots of money trying out other books. This book is great for beginners, easy to read and understand and may offer a fresh approach to seasoned dream interpreters. I use my copy like a dream dictionary - looking up themes and characteristics of my latest dreams, but it is intended to make you your own dream expert if read from cover to cover. It's approach is to offer you interpretations of many common dream themes. The opinions range from classic interpretation (Freud & Jung) to modern interpretations. Ultimately, the author's goals is to teach the reader the key to dream interpretation - the individual and their feelings. Sample dreams are given in each chapter to illustrate this style of interpretation. Each chapter also ends with a series of questions to ask yourself that help you clarify what's important in your dreams. I have learned skills from reading this book that have unleashed my power to understand my dreams. It really gets you thinking.