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The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Dreams for Creative Problem Solving--and How You Can Too
Taking her title from John Steinbeck's observation that "It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it," Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream researcher Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. demonstrates that answers, ideas, and inspiration do indeed come to us in dreams. This rich collection includes examples of how the world’s most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett also offers insights showing us how to encourage more lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary.
In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Khan dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a particularly fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King’s haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee’s tunes. In science, many dream of winning a Nobel Prize, but physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the prize in real life. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. These are only some of the biggest dreams ever dreamed; many more are described in these pages.
Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams tell us something about where we are and where we have been. Now, in The Committee of Sleep, Barrett has gathered a surprisingly diverse and colorful set of examples and vividly reveals how dreams can also tell us where we could possibly go--and how to get there. Read this book, sleep on it, and see what transpires!
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PRAISE FOR THE COMMITTEE OF SLEEP
"This fascinating and balanced compendium is the first critical examination of the tricky subject of the role of dreams and dreaming in creative life--a question which has been pondered since antiquity. Dr. Barrett draws vividly and eloquently on the world's literature as well as her own clinical experience; one leaves this book with much more respect for sleep and dreaming."
--Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist From Mars
"A fascinating account of the fantastic creativity of the dreaming mind. The most extensive collection of creative dreams yet, The Committee of Sleep is well written, thoughtful, and inspiring."
--Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., author of Lucid Dreaming
The Committee . . . is an engaging yet scholarly adventure filled with absorbing anecdotes from the history books and from Dr. Barrett's own interviews with some of the world great scientists and artists. As she explores the sometimes whimsical, often profound creative energy of the dream, her perceptive commentary illuminates why and how nocturnal inspirations occur and provides practical guidance for readers wishing to call upon "the Committee" as a resource. Fascinating reading!
--D. M.
In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Khan dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a particularly fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King’s haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee’s tunes. In science, many dream of winning a Nobel Prize, but physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the prize in real life. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. These are only some of the biggest dreams ever dreamed; many more are described in these pages.
Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams tell us something about where we are and where we have been. Now, in The Committee of Sleep, Barrett has gathered a surprisingly diverse and colorful set of examples and vividly reveals how dreams can also tell us where we could possibly go--and how to get there. Read this book, sleep on it, and see what transpires!
-----------------
PRAISE FOR THE COMMITTEE OF SLEEP
"This fascinating and balanced compendium is the first critical examination of the tricky subject of the role of dreams and dreaming in creative life--a question which has been pondered since antiquity. Dr. Barrett draws vividly and eloquently on the world's literature as well as her own clinical experience; one leaves this book with much more respect for sleep and dreaming."
--Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist From Mars
"A fascinating account of the fantastic creativity of the dreaming mind. The most extensive collection of creative dreams yet, The Committee of Sleep is well written, thoughtful, and inspiring."
--Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., author of Lucid Dreaming
The Committee . . . is an engaging yet scholarly adventure filled with absorbing anecdotes from the history books and from Dr. Barrett's own interviews with some of the world great scientists and artists. As she explores the sometimes whimsical, often profound creative energy of the dream, her perceptive commentary illuminates why and how nocturnal inspirations occur and provides practical guidance for readers wishing to call upon "the Committee" as a resource. Fascinating reading!
--D. M.
184 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2001
About the author
Deirdre Barrett
18 books29 followersDeirdre Barrett is an author and psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School. She is known for her research on dreams, hypnosis and imagery and has written on evolutionary psychology. Barrett is a Past President of The International Association for the Study of Dreams and of the American Psychological Association’s Div. 30, The Society for Psychological Hypnosis.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 2, 2018
This book was referred in 'Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams' by Matthew Walker. 'Why We Sleep' is an exceptional book which incorporates great advice referring to advances in sleep science. This gave me the impression that this book quite possibly also would refer interesting sleep science. However, that is not the case - this book does have many interesting stories on how creative work came about from dreams.
There are stories about artists, actors, writers, scientists and even Mahatma Gandhi. This book discusses how their dreams evolved into creative work such as paintings, movies, scientific theories etc.
For these stories, this book is still work a read - though it is too much of the same thing.
There are stories about artists, actors, writers, scientists and even Mahatma Gandhi. This book discusses how their dreams evolved into creative work such as paintings, movies, scientific theories etc.
For these stories, this book is still work a read - though it is too much of the same thing.
September 12, 2014
I thought it was awful, but I'm giving it two stars because if you are looking for a collection of creative dreams that proved to be useful, it does just that. It's just a series of anecdotes.. no PhD necessary to write this book. She also annoyingly and sometimes outright falsely references other chapters ("as you'll see in Chapter 5..."), presumably to make the book seem longer or more scholarly or something.
The "Committee of Sleep" comes from a quote by John Steinbeck.
The "Committee of Sleep" comes from a quote by John Steinbeck.
January 20, 2014
More anecdotal than informative.
August 19, 2023
More anecdotal than factual, so I skimmed. Just a light 200 page read to grab the facts.
Will review once August is over
Will review once August is over
October 7, 2016
There are a lot of stories about different people using dreams. There is no real information for "How You Can Too". If you like stories this is fine. I was looking for more practical information. Disappointing.
April 4, 2011
Not much useful information, but fun
October 2, 2019
Not much science or history, but lots and lots of little stories of various famous people, the dreams they had, and how those dreams helped with various creative projects.
August 8, 2021
Repetitive but impactful
I wasn't a huge fan of the format of this book for most of it. The continued examples of dreams became tiresome and I found myself wanting to know more about the scientific and psychological aspects of dreaming. However, the book stuck with me. I found myself dreaming more vividly as I read it and started to become more curious about what my dreams mean. Therefore, 4 stars instead of 3.
I wasn't a huge fan of the format of this book for most of it. The continued examples of dreams became tiresome and I found myself wanting to know more about the scientific and psychological aspects of dreaming. However, the book stuck with me. I found myself dreaming more vividly as I read it and started to become more curious about what my dreams mean. Therefore, 4 stars instead of 3.
April 8, 2023
Looked at it to learn how to induce dreams to solve problems. Page 120 is a One page shortcut to do just this. The rest of the book is accounts of people who have used dreams for art / creative or scientific problems
November 20, 2023
Got bored after the first 50 pages, at first blamed myself for not having the ability to finish reading, but soon realised that the book is just a piece of observations based on dreaming and creativity.
September 25, 2021
Dreams are a fascinating topic for me, so I figured this book was right up my alley. I wasn't wrong, but I wasn't quite as right as I'd hoped, either.
I feel a little bad about the four-star rating. But this book does have one defect that alot of the commenters seem to also be remarking on: it doesn't really deliver on the 'and how you can, too' part. It didn't say much about lucidity or induction, and what it did say was mostly a bunch of old wives' tales that I've heard a million times before and can already tell you don't work, at least for me. I also felt like the actual 'committee of sleep' metaphor was overused.
But, on the other hand, the rest of the book was so interesting, especially to an armchair oneirologist like me, that I kind of feel like a prig for docking it. If you want a survey of what dreams can do and have done for people and the world, this is a brief but very interesting read.
I feel a little bad about the four-star rating. But this book does have one defect that alot of the commenters seem to also be remarking on: it doesn't really deliver on the 'and how you can, too' part. It didn't say much about lucidity or induction, and what it did say was mostly a bunch of old wives' tales that I've heard a million times before and can already tell you don't work, at least for me. I also felt like the actual 'committee of sleep' metaphor was overused.
But, on the other hand, the rest of the book was so interesting, especially to an armchair oneirologist like me, that I kind of feel like a prig for docking it. If you want a survey of what dreams can do and have done for people and the world, this is a brief but very interesting read.
July 10, 2023
This is mainly a book of anecdotes. Many of the references were slightly incorrect and this frustrated me. It was an important book in its time, but it is a bit out of date now.
December 14, 2023
An extensive review of stories about various professionals using dreams to problem solve.
December 11, 2025
Fascinantă cercetare despre cum visele au dus la descoperiri științifice și artistice. De la benzena lui Kekulé la "Yesterday" a lui Paul McCartney – demonstrează puterea practică a viselor.
August 10, 2009
This book is full of wonderful anecdotes of major discoveries which came from dreams, scientific research describing how problems are solved in dreams, and practical advice on how to increase what you get out of your own dreams. Well written, fun, inspiring read!
September 28, 2010
Basically a long series of case histories, many of which are fascinating. The skimpiest of research and methodology, but enough to get started if you are interested in utilizing dreams. Still, lots of fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews