A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming

As narrator, Andy Paris must walk a tight line in this audiobook, providing a serious tone of respect for a topic that is legitimate in the eyes of the authors but not necessarily everyone else while also being able to be lighthearted when the occasional joke is delivered. In clear and largely objective prose, the book walks listeners through the benefits of lucid dreaming as well as the means for inducing it. Paris executes the straight prose with good emphasis and tone. He even delivers the quotes of random people's experiences with lucid dreaming well. However, his attempts at the lighthearted moments within the book of sound flat. L.E. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

August 12, 2013
Three self-professed lucid dreamers take a modern look at oneironautics, or lucid dreaming, in this refreshingly practical guide to controlling dreams. Tuccillo, Zeizel, and Peisel bring a casual, youthful tone to a topic about which much has already been written. In dreams, they note, you can be “free of your physical body, leaving behind silly things like gravity.” The writers focus on instruction—to encourage lucid dreams, for instance, set your alarm for six hours after bedtime, then wake up and go back to sleep after 20 minutes. The trio broadly covers the cultural history of dreams and the science of sleep, but always returns to the core idea that guiding your dreams is a great adventure, as emphasized by old-fashioned line drawings by Mahendra Singh, featuring travelers discovering new lands and walking through walls. Excerpts from lucid dreamers’ own experiences also add to the text. The variety of material limits the book’s depth—more neuroscience coverage would be welcome—but it makes for an easy read.