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A Book of Dreams
‘“Cloudbusting”…was inspired by a book that I first found on a shelf... It was just calling me from the shelf, and when I read it I was very moved by the magic of it. It’s about a special relationship between a young son and his father. The book was written from a child’s point of view. His father is everything to him; he is the magic in his life, and he teaches him everything, teaching him to be open-minded and not to build up barriers’ – Kate Bush
This famous book, the inspiration behind Kate Bush’s 1985 hit song ‘Cloudbusting’, is the extraordinary account of life as friend, confidant and child of the brilliant but persecuted Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Peter, his son, shared with his father the revolutionary concept of a world where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable, and the sense of mission which set him and his followers apart from the rest of the human race.
Here, Peter Reich writes vividly and movingly of the mysterious experiences he shared with his father: of flying saucers; the ‘cloudbuster’ rain-makers and the FDA narks; and of the final tragic realization of his father’s death, which woke him up to the necessity of living out his life in an alien world.
Already regarded as a modern classic, A Book of Dreams is not only a beautifully written narrative of a remarkable friendship and collaboration, but a loving son’s heartfelt tribute to a loving father.
WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
195 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
114 people are currently reading
2610 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
February 22, 2008
I had forgotten all about this strange little book. I picked it up at a market in Sydney, having never heard of it. As I read, I thought "I've heard this story somewhere before...", and then, the next time I heard "Cloudbursting" by Kate Bush (one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite singers), it all fell into place. The seemingly nonsensical lyrics pretty much tell this boy's story word for word. His Dad was a demented scientist who developed a luminous but toxic paint, all taces of which had to be destroyed. But the boy couldn't part with his favourite yo-yo, painted with the stuff, so he buried it in the garden - hence the lyric. Well, the Dad's ideas and inventions became ever more, well, worrying, including his design for a machine to burst the clouds and make it rain ("But every time it rains, you're here in my head...your son's coming out..."). He got into ever more serious trouble with the government, and holed himself up in a lab with a gatehouse, where his son could keep watch and raise the alarm in the event of a raid by the police. Which is exactly what happened - the police came, and the boy couldn't run fast enough to warn his Dad. It's a heartbreaking tale, beautifully summed up by Kate; "I can't hide you from the government...". Both the song and the book convey the author's sense of despair at, as he sees it, letting his father down and not being able to protect him. The book is a wonderful little oddity, and I love it.
February 20, 2008
Let's force this beautiful book back into print.
January 5, 2012
In a tapestry of dream-like memories Peter Reich relates his experience of something which, when he wrote this book in 1973, he was still struggling to comprehend.
Peter Reich is the son of Wilhelm Reich, one of the most brilliant and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. He began as a student of Sigmund Freud, but, whereas Freud believed that sexual repression was necessary to provide the structure and driving force for civilisation, Reich believed that it was at the very heart, not only of many psychological and physical ailments, but that it is part of a destructive tendency in human behaviour which at times expresses itself through the murder of the healthiest individuals - e.g. Jesus and Giordano Bruno - and a willingness to surrender one's freedom to the most neurotic - e.g. Hitler or Stalin. Later, through his study of the storing of repressed emotions in the musculature and the energy flows which occur during orgasm, Reich claimed to have discovered a form of cosmic life energy which he called "orgone". He built boxes which he called "orgone accumulators" which he claimed were helpful in the physical and psychological healing of patients who sat in them. He also built other devices, such as "cloud-busters", which were supposed to direct orgone into clouds and make it rain. Apparently independent research has provided some support for his claims about the accumulators, and there is anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of the cloud-busters, such as Peter Reich's childhood memories recorded in this book. But, not surprisingly, many claimed that Reich had gone insane.
From the late 40s through to the mid-50s Reich was under investigation by the American Food and Drug Administration for providing an unauthorised form of treatment - the accumulators. In 1954 he was ordered to destroy all of the accumulators and to burn all of his books which mentioned them. Unbeknownst to him, some of the accumulators where moved to New York, and, as a result, he was put on trial for contempt of court. He was sentenced to two years in prison. While still in prison, in 1957, he died of a heart attack.
Was this the response of a government apparatus trying to protect its citizen's against a shonky medical treatment or was it a social manifestation of something deeper? Reich, in his books, had pointed out that mental illness was the norm and not the exception in our society and that the very structure of our civilisation is sick. In this he was correct, and sometimes it is easier to shoot the messenger than to take his message on board.
In A Book of Dreams Peter Reich tells us what it was like to have a father who stood defiantly against the status quo, who did strange experiments, who shared with him his deepest hopes and fears, and who was taken from him when he was only 12. Reich says that this book just poured out of him when the moment came to write it, and the passages about his childhood really have that feeling of having been written by his twelve-year-old self. The feeling of what it must be like to be a child caught up in events beyond one's comprehension is very powerfully conveyed. Much of the book reads like a novel. And this is what makes it worth reading. If you want to know about Wilhelm Reich's ideas and his life there are better places to go. I first found out about him by reading Myron Sharaf's excellent Fury on Earth . But then read Book of Dreams for its own sake.
Peter Reich is the son of Wilhelm Reich, one of the most brilliant and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. He began as a student of Sigmund Freud, but, whereas Freud believed that sexual repression was necessary to provide the structure and driving force for civilisation, Reich believed that it was at the very heart, not only of many psychological and physical ailments, but that it is part of a destructive tendency in human behaviour which at times expresses itself through the murder of the healthiest individuals - e.g. Jesus and Giordano Bruno - and a willingness to surrender one's freedom to the most neurotic - e.g. Hitler or Stalin. Later, through his study of the storing of repressed emotions in the musculature and the energy flows which occur during orgasm, Reich claimed to have discovered a form of cosmic life energy which he called "orgone". He built boxes which he called "orgone accumulators" which he claimed were helpful in the physical and psychological healing of patients who sat in them. He also built other devices, such as "cloud-busters", which were supposed to direct orgone into clouds and make it rain. Apparently independent research has provided some support for his claims about the accumulators, and there is anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of the cloud-busters, such as Peter Reich's childhood memories recorded in this book. But, not surprisingly, many claimed that Reich had gone insane.
From the late 40s through to the mid-50s Reich was under investigation by the American Food and Drug Administration for providing an unauthorised form of treatment - the accumulators. In 1954 he was ordered to destroy all of the accumulators and to burn all of his books which mentioned them. Unbeknownst to him, some of the accumulators where moved to New York, and, as a result, he was put on trial for contempt of court. He was sentenced to two years in prison. While still in prison, in 1957, he died of a heart attack.
Was this the response of a government apparatus trying to protect its citizen's against a shonky medical treatment or was it a social manifestation of something deeper? Reich, in his books, had pointed out that mental illness was the norm and not the exception in our society and that the very structure of our civilisation is sick. In this he was correct, and sometimes it is easier to shoot the messenger than to take his message on board.
In A Book of Dreams Peter Reich tells us what it was like to have a father who stood defiantly against the status quo, who did strange experiments, who shared with him his deepest hopes and fears, and who was taken from him when he was only 12. Reich says that this book just poured out of him when the moment came to write it, and the passages about his childhood really have that feeling of having been written by his twelve-year-old self. The feeling of what it must be like to be a child caught up in events beyond one's comprehension is very powerfully conveyed. Much of the book reads like a novel. And this is what makes it worth reading. If you want to know about Wilhelm Reich's ideas and his life there are better places to go. I first found out about him by reading Myron Sharaf's excellent Fury on Earth . But then read Book of Dreams for its own sake.
February 20, 2020
I originally learned about this book when looking up the lyrics for the Patti Smith song "Birdland", from her debut album "Horses". In doing so I was surprised to learn that the song was actually based off of a memoir written by a man named Peter Reich about his childhood and experiences with his father, psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.
I then learned that another musical idol of mine, Kate Bush, has a song (and music video) about this book as well: "Cloudbusting".
If you haven't gathered already from some of these lyrics, this is a very unusual book about a very unusual childhood. Written more like a stream of consciousness than a play-by-play retelling, it weaves a beautiful but tragic story of a man trying to make sense of his childhood trauma.
Before I say more about the book itself I feel it is important to include some background on Wilhelm Reich, as the book can be a bit confusing if you aren't already aware of some of the details of his fascinating life.
Wilhelm Reich studied under Sigmund Freud, who he later parted ways with due to a disagreement in their approaches to sexuality. While Freud viewed sexuality as something to be controlled and repressed, Reich viewed sexuality as something to be practiced freely, even coining the phrase "the sexual revolution".
After fleeing the Nazi regime to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Reich eventually settled down in the United States, where he began on a series of inventions and theories which made his colleagues question his sanity. Here he invented the "Orgone Energy Accumulator", or the "the Accumulator" for short. The Accumulator was a wooden box just big enough for an adult to climb in. Reich believed that the Accumulator had the ability to charge up the human body with life, and could therefore treat cancer and a host of other ailments.
Although the exact science of the Accumulator was disputed (and is now considered pseudoscience), it became a hit among many, who claimed that it gave them a boost in energy as well as sexual vigor. This helped make Reich a celebrated name among bohemians-including some very notable names in the counterculture of the time such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs, who viewed him as a sexual liberator.
Reich also believed that human energy (orgasmic energy, in particular) could help control the weather. He invented a device called a "Cloudbuster", meant to control the weather by directing this energy back into the atmosphere to form and manipulate clouds and rain. Reich believed his Cloudbuster could be used to fight against aliens, who he believed were attempting to destroy the Earth.
Wilhelm soon came under fire from the FDA, who ordered him to cease shipments of his Accumulators as they had not been proven to be effective in any of the diseases which he claimed they could cure. When he refused to do so, he was sent to prison where he soon died due to heart failure.
Peter, who was only 13 at the time of Wilhelm's death, was now left to mourn the tragic loss of his father while at the same time being forced to face the idea that the life he had always known was not in line with reality. A life of chasing UFOs and controlling the weather with his father, all left to question.
And this is where A Book of Dreams comes in, as we see an adult Peter struggling to come to terms with his experiences as a child and the guilt he felt for not being able to somehow save his father from his arrest and early demise. It's a very touching look at an incredibly interesting and bizarre life which proves that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.
In his writing, Peter celebrates the love between a father and son while also exploring the trauma he faced as a result of his father's eccentric beliefs. There is something intimate about being allowed to witness this very private reflection, and for this reason the book is as emotionally compelling as it is absolutely strange. Peter's poetic way of writing makes this experience all the more enjoyable, and I can absolutely see why both Patti Smith and Kate Bush were so moved by this book, and I'd highly recommend it to both fans and non-fans of these wonderful musicians.
“Little boy's face lit up with such naked joy
That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns,
White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight,
No black funeral cars, nothing except for him, the raven
And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out,
No, daddy, don't leave me here alone,
Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship,
Let the ship slide open and I'll go inside of it
Where you're not human, you are not human."
https://youtu.be/OReJIwNVOz4
I then learned that another musical idol of mine, Kate Bush, has a song (and music video) about this book as well: "Cloudbusting".
"I hid my yo-yo
In the garden
I can't hide you
From the government
Oh, god, daddy
I won't forget"
https://youtu.be/pllRW9wETzw
If you haven't gathered already from some of these lyrics, this is a very unusual book about a very unusual childhood. Written more like a stream of consciousness than a play-by-play retelling, it weaves a beautiful but tragic story of a man trying to make sense of his childhood trauma.
Before I say more about the book itself I feel it is important to include some background on Wilhelm Reich, as the book can be a bit confusing if you aren't already aware of some of the details of his fascinating life.
Wilhelm Reich studied under Sigmund Freud, who he later parted ways with due to a disagreement in their approaches to sexuality. While Freud viewed sexuality as something to be controlled and repressed, Reich viewed sexuality as something to be practiced freely, even coining the phrase "the sexual revolution".
After fleeing the Nazi regime to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Reich eventually settled down in the United States, where he began on a series of inventions and theories which made his colleagues question his sanity. Here he invented the "Orgone Energy Accumulator", or the "the Accumulator" for short. The Accumulator was a wooden box just big enough for an adult to climb in. Reich believed that the Accumulator had the ability to charge up the human body with life, and could therefore treat cancer and a host of other ailments.
Although the exact science of the Accumulator was disputed (and is now considered pseudoscience), it became a hit among many, who claimed that it gave them a boost in energy as well as sexual vigor. This helped make Reich a celebrated name among bohemians-including some very notable names in the counterculture of the time such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs, who viewed him as a sexual liberator.
Reich also believed that human energy (orgasmic energy, in particular) could help control the weather. He invented a device called a "Cloudbuster", meant to control the weather by directing this energy back into the atmosphere to form and manipulate clouds and rain. Reich believed his Cloudbuster could be used to fight against aliens, who he believed were attempting to destroy the Earth.
Wilhelm soon came under fire from the FDA, who ordered him to cease shipments of his Accumulators as they had not been proven to be effective in any of the diseases which he claimed they could cure. When he refused to do so, he was sent to prison where he soon died due to heart failure.
Peter, who was only 13 at the time of Wilhelm's death, was now left to mourn the tragic loss of his father while at the same time being forced to face the idea that the life he had always known was not in line with reality. A life of chasing UFOs and controlling the weather with his father, all left to question.
And this is where A Book of Dreams comes in, as we see an adult Peter struggling to come to terms with his experiences as a child and the guilt he felt for not being able to somehow save his father from his arrest and early demise. It's a very touching look at an incredibly interesting and bizarre life which proves that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.
In his writing, Peter celebrates the love between a father and son while also exploring the trauma he faced as a result of his father's eccentric beliefs. There is something intimate about being allowed to witness this very private reflection, and for this reason the book is as emotionally compelling as it is absolutely strange. Peter's poetic way of writing makes this experience all the more enjoyable, and I can absolutely see why both Patti Smith and Kate Bush were so moved by this book, and I'd highly recommend it to both fans and non-fans of these wonderful musicians.
August 5, 2011
This book is truly a work of magic. I was not entirely sure what to expect when I picked this up and paid the most money I have ever paid for any used book - but I did know that there was something special about it because of the sheer amount of other works of art that used this text as an inspiration. The book is short, slim, and important, written by a man whose careers spanned journalism and child daycare according to the jacket. I am not sure what other creative writing Mr.Reich did prior to writing this, but it reminds me of the creative writing that some of my creative writing students do when they put out something that is so magnificent and do not realize how beautiful it really is because they do not normally create with words. Reich's writing is a stream-of-consciousness foray into the world of his childhood, rife with personal struggles and momentous events that shaped his identity. Relationships between a son and his father has always puzzled me, and as my life has taken turns itself, it has gotten only more confusing and metaphorical. Painful and true, this book sweeps the reader through visual and complex images that turn from wakefulness to sleep, and back through to the other side of reality. One finds themselves constantly asking whether what one is reading is meant to be reality, or a dream, or under water, or in the sky. Images of nature, energy, aliens, war, kindness, compassion, intimacy, struggle, fear, and discovery all seem to fade and sweep back and forth throughout this amazing book, and I came out of it a better person. In the span of owning this book since this summer and adding it to this list, I have read it three times prior to deciding to put it down for a while. Once, I read it chapter by chapter. Next, I read it two chapters at a time but let time sweep through readings. Last, I read it all in one sitting. I think that all fashions and methods are worth it, and all must be done. If I were to hypothesize, I would say that there are many artists who owe their careers to this wonderful text, a book that shows the Blue-Velveteen Lynchian horrors that writhe underneath the surface of modern society, and that have made such a horrific and troubling impact on the young dream-life of the son of Wilhelm Reich. Amazing, stellar, and beautiful. I do not know why this book ever came out of print.
May 15, 2013
J & I just visited the Wilheim Reich museum in Rangeley, Maine. He was a trippy, kooky genius, way ahead of his time, whose life was destroyed by the government. Afterwards, I realized that the Kate Bush song "CloudBusting" was about Reich & his son, Peter. This is the book the song is based on.
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February 4, 2016I did psychology A-level before it was all glowing brains and no-one was making much of a pretence to know anything definitive about the mind, and we covered a whole bunch of theories that I'm guessing don't get a lot of class time today. Including Reich, who I remember pretty well because his whole thing was inventing a special magic box you could wank off and if you remember just one thing from your A-levels, it's going to be the magic wanking scientist (I got an 'E').
Anyway, I'm still keen to learn more about Reich, because his ideas were interesting, and while clearly a lot of what he ended up believing was nonsense, there's apparently something in some of what he did, and there was something weird going on with the FDA smashing his orgone accumulators and him dying in prison and all... But this book isn't that, it's understandably too close to what happened and I guess I'm after something straighter and more detached. That doesn't make this a bad book, and I'm glad it inspired one of the most sublime songs (and videos) ever.
Anyway, I'm still keen to learn more about Reich, because his ideas were interesting, and while clearly a lot of what he ended up believing was nonsense, there's apparently something in some of what he did, and there was something weird going on with the FDA smashing his orgone accumulators and him dying in prison and all... But this book isn't that, it's understandably too close to what happened and I guess I'm after something straighter and more detached. That doesn't make this a bad book, and I'm glad it inspired one of the most sublime songs (and videos) ever.
October 26, 2021
Curious because of the fabled link with Kate Bush's Cloudbusting but the overlap is finished and done with early in this slim volume; the book focusses on Reich's confused relationship with his father, a brilliant scientist and psychiatrist who tipped over into mania and the worst sort of conspiracy-obsessed quackery before dying while serving a prison sentence.
The later pages howl with young Reich's pain and the difficulty of coming to terms with his father: genius or madman? Is young Reich the keeper of secrets his father trusted him with? Or should the father be disavowed?
But the book as a whole hasn't aged well. It reminded me of Richard Brautigan and similar authors from the 1970s: chronology and point of view lurch all over the place, reality and fantasy merge and are hard to disentangle. It probably felt daring and modern at the time, but now feels tricksy and flimsy.
The later pages howl with young Reich's pain and the difficulty of coming to terms with his father: genius or madman? Is young Reich the keeper of secrets his father trusted him with? Or should the father be disavowed?
But the book as a whole hasn't aged well. It reminded me of Richard Brautigan and similar authors from the 1970s: chronology and point of view lurch all over the place, reality and fantasy merge and are hard to disentangle. It probably felt daring and modern at the time, but now feels tricksy and flimsy.
July 11, 2012
Great book. Out-of-print for quite some time but available as an e-book.
Peter Reich recalls his childhood, living with his father, Wilhelm Reich, a controversial psychologist and scientist. He was also a student and contemporary of Freud.
I was fortunate enough to find this at a used book store for $1.50 :D
Peter Reich recalls his childhood, living with his father, Wilhelm Reich, a controversial psychologist and scientist. He was also a student and contemporary of Freud.
I was fortunate enough to find this at a used book store for $1.50 :D
April 28, 2011
Fantastic book about one of the most misunderstood persons in history, as well as the victim of one of the worst examples of censorship in the United States. The relationship Wilhelm Reich shared with his son is both touching and eye-opening.
March 9, 2025
Why would someone who finds descriptions of dreams the pinnacle of boring, read a book called, "A book of dreams"?
Obviously Kate Bush, that's why we're all here. And unlike Wuthering Heights, I think she actually read this.
Unfortunately I don't have the copy she flashes in the music video, pulled from Donald Sutherland's jacket pocket, which is how I found my way to reading this. (Not wikipedia!!!!!1)
First thing I have to say, the amount of times the word "daddy" is used in this book makes my skin crawl.
ANYWAYS, I liked the book I guess, but also I'm not steeped in the lore of William Reich. I think if you've already got a working knowledge of his background before reading this, it'll probably be a lot more entertaining.
In closing it's a really strange little memoir and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I'm mildly irked, the writing was good, nice imagery, less chest hair and skin oil references would have been nice, weird sex stuff.
That's all I've got. Read it and then put it on your shelf cause it's COOL, and it makes you COOL, even if stranger things kinda mucked with the Kate Bush fandom for a while there back in 2022.
Obviously Kate Bush, that's why we're all here. And unlike Wuthering Heights, I think she actually read this.
Unfortunately I don't have the copy she flashes in the music video, pulled from Donald Sutherland's jacket pocket, which is how I found my way to reading this. (Not wikipedia!!!!!1)
First thing I have to say, the amount of times the word "daddy" is used in this book makes my skin crawl.
ANYWAYS, I liked the book I guess, but also I'm not steeped in the lore of William Reich. I think if you've already got a working knowledge of his background before reading this, it'll probably be a lot more entertaining.
In closing it's a really strange little memoir and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I'm mildly irked, the writing was good, nice imagery, less chest hair and skin oil references would have been nice, weird sex stuff.
That's all I've got. Read it and then put it on your shelf cause it's COOL, and it makes you COOL, even if stranger things kinda mucked with the Kate Bush fandom for a while there back in 2022.
July 19, 2022
A Book of Dreams inspiró a Kate Bush a escribir una de las mejores canciones de los 80, por ser un libro bellísimo, narrado desde la perspectiva limpia e inocente de un niño que recuerda la vida de su padre. Wilhelm Reich fue un incomprendido que terminó sus días encarcelado y lejos del hijo que amaba, quien lo recordaría por el resto de sus días en ese horizonte extraño que desdibujó la realidad y el sueño y convirtió a su infancia en un misterio indescriptible. Peter inmortaliza esa vida dejada atrás muy temprano con las reflexiones de un adulto que busca crecer, soltar y sanar, mientras repasa con sumo detalle lo que vivirá con él para siempre. Me parece una historia apasionante, escrita por un hombre real con emociones reales, con una belleza descriptiva que cautiva a cualquiera que lo lea y lo invita a soñar.
December 21, 2007
Peter Reich's narration of his childhood with his father, battling spaceships, and seeing his father carted off to prison for practicing Orgone therapy.
The writing was at times really amazing, I would give this book a rating of five, except that the part where he becomes an aimless hip twenty something in the 60s kind of detracts.
This is the book that Kate Bush wrote Cloudbusting about (see the video, it was shot by Terry Gilliam).
The writing was at times really amazing, I would give this book a rating of five, except that the part where he becomes an aimless hip twenty something in the 60s kind of detracts.
This is the book that Kate Bush wrote Cloudbusting about (see the video, it was shot by Terry Gilliam).
March 9, 2021
Jos eräs lempibiisini Kate Bushilta, Cloudbusting, ei perustuisi tähän kirjaan, en olisi varmaan koskaan lukenut tätä. Kirja on lumoavan kaunis ja haikean kipeä, mutta jokin osa jäi puuttumaan. Luulen, että välillä melko hankala kieli oli kynnyskysymys kohdallani. Lisäksi Reichin lapsuusmuistot tuntuivat hieman liian tarkoilta ollakseen uskottavia. Kirja kuitenkin parani huomattavasti loppua kohden, enkä tosiaankaan kadu sen lukemista!
September 21, 2012
Peter Reich was thirteen in 1957, when his father, Wilhelm, died in prison. This book is more about the son than the father, more about sons and fathers in general.
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April 28, 2024Now I can gatekeep Kate bush even harder
June 27, 2024
Låter titeln bekant? I så fall är det nog för att du har hört Kate Bushs fenomenala låt Cloudbusting och känner igen öppningsraden från den ("I still dream of Orgonon ...). Den låten baserar sig på just den här boken som kom ut på engelska 1973 och nu har översatts till svenska för första gången av förlaget Bakhåll.
Författaren Peter Reich är son till Wilhelm Reich, en av Freuds lärjungar som skrev mycket om sexualitet och som senare bröt med sin läromästare. Han fick därefter flytta från land till land eftersom hans läror inte alltid uppskattades av omgivningen, och hamnade till slut i USA. Där inriktade sig hans forskning på en kraft han kallade orgonenergi, han byggde stora "kanoner" för att skapa regn (därav Bushs val av låtnamnet Cloudbusting) och hamnade i trubbel med rättvisan.
Det är här någonstans som sonen Peters memoarbok inleds, när han i tioårsåldern bor med sin far på den stora gården Orgonon. Det är en skildring av en komplicerad far-son-relation - ena stunden ömsint, nästa auktoritär - och pappans sista tid i livet. Skildringen av barnets perspektiv är väldigt fin, Peter gör ingen åtskillnad av vad som är verkligt och vad som är fantasi, just som ett barn fungerar. Låtsasvänner framstår som lika verkliga som de livs levande.
I bokens andra del är det den unge vuxne Peter som framträder, när han återvänder till gården först med vänner och senare med ett filmteam. Uppväxten har satt sina spår hos honom och han kämpar för att förstå både sig själv och sin far.
Det är dock ingen linjär berättelse utan olika tidsplan och drömmar blandas friskt. Det bidrar till att läsupplevelsen blir intressant, ibland lite som att lägga ett pussel, men här och där funkar det kanske inte helt och särskilt mot slutet finns det delar som saknar något.
Med tanke på bokens tema är det också svårt att som läsare inte ta rollen som psykoanalytiker och försöka analysera Peter. Här finns gott om drömmar och symboler att bena i, för att inte tala om relationen till faden. En bokcirkel bestående av psykologer skulle ha en verklig fest om de läste denna! Men inget hindras oss andra att också läsa och fascineras.
Författaren Peter Reich är son till Wilhelm Reich, en av Freuds lärjungar som skrev mycket om sexualitet och som senare bröt med sin läromästare. Han fick därefter flytta från land till land eftersom hans läror inte alltid uppskattades av omgivningen, och hamnade till slut i USA. Där inriktade sig hans forskning på en kraft han kallade orgonenergi, han byggde stora "kanoner" för att skapa regn (därav Bushs val av låtnamnet Cloudbusting) och hamnade i trubbel med rättvisan.
Det är här någonstans som sonen Peters memoarbok inleds, när han i tioårsåldern bor med sin far på den stora gården Orgonon. Det är en skildring av en komplicerad far-son-relation - ena stunden ömsint, nästa auktoritär - och pappans sista tid i livet. Skildringen av barnets perspektiv är väldigt fin, Peter gör ingen åtskillnad av vad som är verkligt och vad som är fantasi, just som ett barn fungerar. Låtsasvänner framstår som lika verkliga som de livs levande.
I bokens andra del är det den unge vuxne Peter som framträder, när han återvänder till gården först med vänner och senare med ett filmteam. Uppväxten har satt sina spår hos honom och han kämpar för att förstå både sig själv och sin far.
Det är dock ingen linjär berättelse utan olika tidsplan och drömmar blandas friskt. Det bidrar till att läsupplevelsen blir intressant, ibland lite som att lägga ett pussel, men här och där funkar det kanske inte helt och särskilt mot slutet finns det delar som saknar något.
Med tanke på bokens tema är det också svårt att som läsare inte ta rollen som psykoanalytiker och försöka analysera Peter. Här finns gott om drömmar och symboler att bena i, för att inte tala om relationen till faden. En bokcirkel bestående av psykologer skulle ha en verklig fest om de läste denna! Men inget hindras oss andra att också läsa och fascineras.
April 12, 2020
This book really stuck out as original in my mind in the way it fuses together different scenes and characters with a narrative and descriptive flow identical to some of the dreams I've had. This occurs very near the beginning of the book and is a feat never quite repeated in the rest of it. The first third of the book has some very interesting bits in it aside from the previously mentioned. It sort of sucked me into a mystical pseudo-scientific world I used to experience when I was a kid reading those heavily illustrated UFO and Monster-Cryptid books you could get at elementary school book fairs. However, there were places where the text seemed to bog down.
The second third of the book seemed to zoom by and had I the spare time I would have probably read much farther if not finished the book. The last third of the book though was a slower read, at least for me, it also seemed to relate to The Book of the SubGenius in my imagination for some reason or another. The book is split into halves with the first welded together by the framing episode of a motorcycle accident in France and the anesthetic gas that precipitates the dream state where all its ideas swirl together. The second half was very fragmentary and jagged. Whether or not that was the author's intention, I found it abrasive and hard to read as each subsection skipped around. This section of the book also got repetitive with its imagery which seemed intended in order to create some connective tissue but which sort of lost me.
I did like this book if not solely for the dream-like flow at its start but also for its good use of imagery and the science fiction framed but ultimately fantastical element of "cloudbusting". I would recommend this to readers looking for something a little different; an auto-biographical mishmash of dreams and memories with the added elements of weather machines and UFOs.
August 16, 2022
I felt compelled to read this when I became obsessed with the song “Cloudbusting” by the Staves, a cover of a song Kate Bush wrote about this book. The story elaborates on the beautiful and warm, yet sad, vibe of the song. It’s a very real and authentically told story of a childhood, and the closeness and wonder of a child’s relationship to their parents, and the vacuum of love and meaning left behind when the parent is lost, physically and as an invulnerable hero figure.
The world of Wilhelm Reich’s eccentric philosophies and conspiracy theories in this novel aren’t there to be analyzed critically, but to highlight the magical thinking and faith of Peter’s boyhood, which is interesting, because it makes Peter’s need to believe and advocate for these strange beliefs so relatable. I struggle at times to understand how cultures of beliefs that seem irrational to me are so persistent, but this story about a boy needing to keep living in the world of meaning his father created for him makes it so sympathetic; it’s about believing in his family and the relationship as much as any given philosophical or political ideal.
And in the end, the book gave me the same unfinished and sad feeling as the song: that Peter can never fully get past the yearning for the magical ideals he lived in childhood, or let go of his need for the closeness he had for his father, both of which are irretrievably gone. He can only accept that he’ll continue to miss them.
The world of Wilhelm Reich’s eccentric philosophies and conspiracy theories in this novel aren’t there to be analyzed critically, but to highlight the magical thinking and faith of Peter’s boyhood, which is interesting, because it makes Peter’s need to believe and advocate for these strange beliefs so relatable. I struggle at times to understand how cultures of beliefs that seem irrational to me are so persistent, but this story about a boy needing to keep living in the world of meaning his father created for him makes it so sympathetic; it’s about believing in his family and the relationship as much as any given philosophical or political ideal.
And in the end, the book gave me the same unfinished and sad feeling as the song: that Peter can never fully get past the yearning for the magical ideals he lived in childhood, or let go of his need for the closeness he had for his father, both of which are irretrievably gone. He can only accept that he’ll continue to miss them.
March 12, 2017
A Book of Dreams has strong ties to Kate Bush, and her song Cloudbusting. This song has been a part of my life since, well the beginning. The first few notes of the song warms me, and feels like home.
Inspiration for that wonderful song comes from Peter Reich's book. Peter recalls through a child's innocence, the experience of living with his father through his last few years, and the experience of losing his father to bureaucracy and ill health suddenly.
There's many a wretched passage in the book, with Peter struggling with loss and identity in the aftermath of his fathers passing. Peter drifts in and out of a dream, with his dreams (one past, one present) meeting in the future to propel him through to his next steps in life.
Wilhelm Reich can divide opinions, and Peter moves away from the controversy with this honest telling of his family, whereby we meet Wilhelm as a father, rather than a scientist/doctor/con man etc.
Though short, the story hits the right notes as Peter returns to Orgonon as an adult in order to bring his father to life through film.
Inspiration for that wonderful song comes from Peter Reich's book. Peter recalls through a child's innocence, the experience of living with his father through his last few years, and the experience of losing his father to bureaucracy and ill health suddenly.
There's many a wretched passage in the book, with Peter struggling with loss and identity in the aftermath of his fathers passing. Peter drifts in and out of a dream, with his dreams (one past, one present) meeting in the future to propel him through to his next steps in life.
Wilhelm Reich can divide opinions, and Peter moves away from the controversy with this honest telling of his family, whereby we meet Wilhelm as a father, rather than a scientist/doctor/con man etc.
Though short, the story hits the right notes as Peter returns to Orgonon as an adult in order to bring his father to life through film.
September 8, 2024
this strange little story inspired songs by two of my favorite songwriters- Patti Smith & Kate Bush. obviously i wanted to know what was going on there. i kept having to remind myself that this was in fact, not fiction, or at least, not entirely.
i keep thinking about the borders, the lines between science and pseudoscience, between praised scientist and madman. i dont know enough about the specifics to say anything real, but it does haunt me- who decides? if it feels real, who says it can’t be?
i didn’t really enjoy reading this but i also couldn’t stop. i’d already read a lot about reich’s psychoanalyst history and the controversy surrounding his experiments, but it was interesting to read from peter’s perspective, as a 13-year-old living in orgonon and experiencing the happenings up close. recommended if you want to wonder…..
i keep thinking about the borders, the lines between science and pseudoscience, between praised scientist and madman. i dont know enough about the specifics to say anything real, but it does haunt me- who decides? if it feels real, who says it can’t be?
i didn’t really enjoy reading this but i also couldn’t stop. i’d already read a lot about reich’s psychoanalyst history and the controversy surrounding his experiments, but it was interesting to read from peter’s perspective, as a 13-year-old living in orgonon and experiencing the happenings up close. recommended if you want to wonder…..
January 3, 2022
Like many, I picked this up because I’m a big Kate Bush fan and was excited to read a story about a father son relationship, rain machines and other magical things. Unfortunately, Wilhelm Reich felt a bit more like a flat-earther and I found all of the moments which I think were meant to be moving, all v cheesy and overdone.
I just don’t think Peter Reich is a good writer. I’d describe my grammar as average at best, but this was written in a really clunky way, with the narrator even inexplicably switching from first to third person at points?? I do appreciate that Peter Reich just wanted to pay tribute to his father and I’m glad some people found it touching, but it wasn’t for me & I’d generally suggest that Kate Bush fans stick to her music!
I just don’t think Peter Reich is a good writer. I’d describe my grammar as average at best, but this was written in a really clunky way, with the narrator even inexplicably switching from first to third person at points?? I do appreciate that Peter Reich just wanted to pay tribute to his father and I’m glad some people found it touching, but it wasn’t for me & I’d generally suggest that Kate Bush fans stick to her music!
November 27, 2010
One of the most beautiful memoirs ever. I wish the author had more info about himself and what he is up to now but the book is out of print and he has disappeared into anonymity. His sister does not seem to have written anything about their father or his work or how it affected her.
September 6, 2014
just beautiful. a dream of a book.
August 5, 2021
Had to read the book that inspired one of the greatest pop songs of all time. First half was beautiful and dreamy. Second half felt a little lost.
May 4, 2022
Melancholic recollection of a dream and fantasy filled childhood that conflicts, jarringly, with the reality of his world and intruding memories as he comes to terms with his father's death.
No wonder Kate Bush was inspired by these pages.
Seems to lay bear the dangers of taking advantage (even if unknowingly) of a supple mind like that of a child's. And the long term psychological impacts that mental illness and delusions can have on those closest to the sufferer.
No wonder Kate Bush was inspired by these pages.
Seems to lay bear the dangers of taking advantage (even if unknowingly) of a supple mind like that of a child's. And the long term psychological impacts that mental illness and delusions can have on those closest to the sufferer.
January 30, 2022
Intriguing and highly personal, occasionally meandering and mercurial (but that seems to be very much his nature)
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January 25, 2024Wat een prachtig vreemd boek.
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January 26, 2026Easily the weirdest thing I’ve ever spent $10 on
November 15, 2024
All I'll say is Kate Bush is insane for being able to read these 172 pages of pure wack and make something as good as 'Cloubusting' out of it
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