Hypnagogia: The Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep

by Andreas Mavromatis

". . . an extremely important book, and of fundamental relevance to the interests of those concerned with the study of imageery. It is intellectually exciting and emotionally satisfying to reaad, and the lively text is lavishly illustrated with drawings from the realm of pre- and post-states, dreams, eidetic visualizations, and other sources. Readability is matched with the kind of scholarship that defines what will cetainly become the standard text."--Jounral of Mental Imagery. 60 bw photos.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

384 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1987

Reviews

[Marcus Wynne]

This is the ONLY academic/scholarly treatment and summary of academic literature on the phenomenon of hypnagogia — essential to lucid dreaming, accelerated expertise, and enhanced performance. Mastering this state is why so many high tech leaders in the Silicon Valley and “techno-rati” spend so much time and money working on mind-hacks to enable this intensely creative state.

Brilliant and fascinating reading.

[Sophy H]

3.5 stars

Well it's a hard one to rate this if I'm honest! This is not the type of book you just pick up on a whim. I bought it as I have been a prolific hypnagogic hallucinator and wanted to see what the scientific community had to say about it.............. A lot as it happens!

The subject matter is fascinating and there is a lot of ground to cover, which Mavromatis does generally well. There are large swathes of repetition however, overly scientific and annoyingly abbreviated explanations, and some tenuous links between various disorders and hypnagogic experience.

I have been reading this on my breaks at work, hence the age to finish!! It's something I would only recommend to read if you have a VERY strong interest in hypnagogia, otherwise leave well alone as you may feel as though you've stuck your head in the proverbial blender!!

[Douglas]

A well researched investigation into what seems like only a trivial state of consciousness...Mavromatis thinks developing good hypnagogic habits will save the world. He is probably right. (better review to come soon)

[Kai Gutzeit]

Excellent scientific read on a topic that way too often gets pulled towards the esoteric or even "woo-woo"

[Mark]

Fascinating but sometimes credulous.

[Enya]

3.5 stars

The topic is fascinating, especially since it receives so little attention, but the book was very slow-paced due to the writing style. And then there's also the caveat that it was published 33 years ago, which doesn't matter for the descriptive part, but I can't help but wonder how the neuroscientific/physiological part would hold up nowadays, for example the connection Mavromatis makes between hypnagogia and the pineal gland.

[Teja]

Some brilliant research with many examples and methods on the 2 states of the mind that can be accessed to achieve higher states of thinking. Edison and Dali come up in the book, and what a reality bending book. Must read for neuro researchers, thinkers and meditators.

[Diego]

Impossible to find for under $100. Anyone got a copy to lend out?