Thread: Lucid Dreaming book reviews and recommendations

Lucid Dreaming for Beginners by Mark McEllroy

I may not have spelled this correctly. But this is the first book I even read on Lucid Dreaming, and because of it, I had my first lucid dreams about a week or so (don't think it was any longer) after I started reading it. It is a very easy and engaging read, with good humor, advice and techniques. He has also written some things on the tarot.

I was also playing White Knight Chronicles on the PS3 at the time. Not sure how relevant that is.

My education, A Book of dreams: William S. Burroughs:

I see that many people has read many books about LD, so here is something completely different. Burroughs was a author of fiction who where influenced by he's dreams and he's books have helped me to remember my dreams and inspired my travels in the dream state. He's series: Cities of the red night, The western lands and The place of dead roads are for me, he's best work, wiki says: Inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, it explores the after-death state by means of dream scenarios, hallucinatory passages, talismanic magic, occultism, superstition, and Burroughs’ characteristic view of the nature of reality.

For me I can learn a lot from books that giving instructions and explain stuff. But inspiration is more often from other places.

For me Are You Dreaming? by Daniel Love is the best lucid dreaming book since ETWOLD

I'm looking for a good book to be my first about lucid dreaming, any suggestions?

See my previous post.

I finally got the time to read all of this thread, which was a great way to get to know you people a bit. Very entertaining that debate you had on Robert Wagoners book. It is not easy to do PSI research in the world, that's for sure. I would recommend the first half of the book, witch I found lovely. I am a person who are becoming more and more interested in a spiritual path, but I love to both read and talk to skeptics. As long as they have good arguments. I gave away all my Castaneda books in my mid twenties, but I start to regret it a little. The man must have been stoned and dreaming a lot, but it is also interesting. To the point which are two books that is not mentioned:

Dreaming Yourself Awake: Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation
by B. Alan Wallace (Author), Brian Hodel (Author)

I have not completed it, but it is promising. First half is on the general matter of Lucid Dreaming. Second half is related to Dream Yoga. As for the author, Alan Wallace is one of the most appreciated Buddhist teachers out there.

I recently discovered this book:

Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness
His Holiness the Dalai Lamai (Author), Francisco J. Varela (Author), Francisco J. Varela Ph.D. (Editor), B. Alan Wallace (Translator), Thupten Jinpa (Translator)

Some of the chapters are:
- What is self?
- Brain's sleep
- Dreams ans the Unconscious
- Lucid Dreaming
- Levels of Consciousness and Dream Yoga
- What is Bodily death

I am looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for a good forum.

Originally Posted by kaiern9999

I'm looking for a good book to be my first about lucid dreaming, any suggestions?

See all previous posts.

For me Lucid Dreaming for Beginners by Mark McEllroy, although from what I have read of Robert Waggoner's, "Lucid Dreaming" book that's a good one too. Anything by Stephen LaBerge.

If you want to get all mystical with the previous poster, try, "Realities of the Dreaming Mind" by Swami Sivananda Radha and "The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep" by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche . However if your spiritual understanding and/or reading comprehension is low, you should probably stay away from these.

I don't know how to explain that statement. All I can say is that when I was in transition, going through the processes of being a Christian and leaving my faith, I tried to read John Daido Loori's, "The Zen of Creativity." My reading comprehension has always been high - it was college level in the 6th grade. But I couldn't understand a word of that book the first time I tried to read it. Then I get back to it later and it all clicks. Similar thing with "The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep" except I haven't gotten back to it yet. Just be aware of this.

Mark McEllroy's book is super easy to understand, no matter your spiritual development or reading comprehension.

It was mentioned briefly, but I must second The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming by Janice Brooks and Jay Vogelsong. This seems like the best book beyond the basics (Laberge or Daniel Love). It is a few proficient lucid dreamers doing their own experiments with lucid dreams, which will provide both information and inspiration for your own. I waited a while, but was very happy with the purchase, because it really stands out among the many other books, which often add little bits to previous works. This one stands alone!

That being said, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it if I hadn't already had some lucid dream experience. Definitely start with the basics, but for those looking for the next level, this is the book that did it for me. And personally, I think their scientific approach to experimentation is really important.

I also found that new books about the science of dreaming, not necessarily lucid ones, were helpful for me and my lucidity. Don't restrict your readings to just lucid books. If we are to control it, we should know what it is...

I've read Michael Raduga's book and I think it's the most comprehensive on the subject. He groups every phenomenon that occurs which has any affiliation at all with REM sleep into the term "The Phase" and lists more classes of methods than any other author on the subject, and the methods actually do work. I do think, however, that Raduga should participate in Neuroscientific research in order to gain some scientific veracity that he's lacking in when compared to Stephen LaBerge.

Raduga's website also is very trashy, with videos that make SpikeTV original programming look like Spielberg. Regardless, though, his ebook is completely free on the site, so it's not like he's trying to sell you something.

hi I would like to know if anybody has joined a work shop group as I have asked if I can so that it can help me to discover lucid dreaming, I really don't know much about lucid dreaming so any advice would be good.

I would really like to learn more about lucid dreaming and obes as well as I have always been interested in all things spiritual and supernatural

Originally Posted by sleepingSYNAPSE

It was mentioned briefly, but I must second The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming by Janice Brooks and Jay Vogelsong. This seems like the best book beyond the basics (Laberge or Daniel Love). It is a few proficient lucid dreamers doing their own experiments with lucid dreams, which will provide both information and inspiration for your own. I waited a while, but was very happy with the purchase, because it really stands out among the many other books, which often add little bits to previous works. This one stands alone!

This is my current favorite as well! Admittedly I am only a third of the way through, since I pretty much only read my LD books during my WBTBs (there's too much else I need to read during the day), but I really like this book's down-to-earth perspective. It's also a refreshing change from the tendency of many books to rehash the same introductory ideas and techniques; it explores instead more advanced issues about the topic.

hi thanks for the feedback, as I am new to the lucid dreaming site I thought that I would obviously have a look at u tube and I found a couple of videos which were for beginners of lucid dreaming so have started looking at them but so far all I am able to do is go into like a hypnotic state and fall asleep. so far no lucid dreaming but I will try and look at Raduga's website that you mention so thanks once again.

Right now I'm reading "Dreams Of Awakening: Lucid Dreaming And Mindfulness Of Dream And Sleep", by Charlie Morley. I've read a few books about lucid dreaming by western authors and, of course, they all end up talking about more or less the same. I also once read a book about dream yoga, but it was hard to read for me. This book in particular gets the western and eastern ideas about lucid dreaming and mixes them, providing a new insight on the matter. A good read if you have read the basics and want something slightly different.

Originally Posted by martakartus

Right now I'm reading "Dreams Of Awakening: Lucid Dreaming And Mindfulness Of Dream And Sleep", by Charlie Morley. I've read a few books about lucid dreaming by western authors and, of course, they all end up talking about more or less the same. I also once read a book about dream yoga, but it was hard to read for me. This book in particular gets the western and eastern ideas about lucid dreaming and mixes them, providing a new insight on the matter. A good read if you have read the basics and want something slightly different.

Really? I couldn't stand that book and it's one of the few LD books I've given to charity as I found it made me cringe and feel embarrassed to be a lucid dreamer. Really hippy drippy and the author comes across like a new age conman. I really felt like Charlie Morley doesn't know how to lucid dream or isn't at all experienced with it and is just teaching stuff he took from other books and online but doesnt really get it. There's just something about his tone and way he acts on his youtube videos that makes it seem like he should be selling insurance or part of some kind of evangelical cult. I don't know about anyone else but I can always tell a lucid dreamer from a wannabe, it's like an intuitive thing. Morley seems like a wannabe to me.

I'm interested in dream yoga but I don't get the feeling that a young guy who decided to give up his career as a rapper to become a self-help guru is really the person to trust to teach it. I found "Dreaming Yourself Awake" by Alan Wallace to be SO much better, and he's got a huge amount of real experience and is hugely respected, it even got the thumbs up from LaBerge.

Originally Posted by LucidMoon

Really? I couldn't stand that book and it's one of the few LD books I've given to charity as I found it made me cringe and feel embarrassed to be a lucid dreamer. Really hippy drippy and the author comes across like a new age conman. I really felt like Charlie Morley doesn't know how to lucid dream or isn't at all experienced with it and is just teaching stuff he took from other books and online but doesnt really get it. There's just something about his tone and way he acts on his youtube videos that makes it seem like he should be selling insurance or part of some kind of evangelical cult. I don't know about anyone else but I can always tell a lucid dreamer from a wannabe, it's like an intuitive thing. Morley seems like a wannabe to me.

I'm interested in dream yoga but I don't get the feeling that a young guy who decided to give up his career as a rapper to become a self-help guru is really the person to trust to teach it. I found "Dreaming Yourself Awake" by Alan Wallace to be SO much better, and he's got a huge amount of real experience and is hugely respected, it even got the thumbs up from LaBerge.

This is interesting for me to read LucidMoon. I was checking out Charlie Morley's web site a couple of weeks ago, I tell you why soon. The first thing that where thrown in my face was an ad for David Icke... The site is now all different but here is some proof of there earlier bromance https://mbasic.facebook.com/profile....118711877&_rdr

If one is trying to present one self as a serious teacher maybe David Icke not should be in the boat with you? Allan Wallace is indeed very carefull. And he are saying a lot of stuff that is outside the scientific deductive and inductive box. As his holiness the Dalai Llama says (After my memory.) Science can be very helpful and important for human advancement, (he says some Buddhist theories must be re investigated on the grounds of what science have proved.) Science can help us prove some phenomenon to exist, and likewise prove them not to exist. But, there always gonna be a lot of things that science cant prove either way, and to trow that away just because it cant be objectively measured is in fact unscientific. Mystic things do happens, they are discovered by scientists all the time!

Well Charlie Morley was on the list of teachers that Allan Wallace send out after a retreat he held on Shamata practice where I attained. A excellent retreat. Allan Wallace really are a excellent teacher, but some people find he's writing a little boring. I think he's book on this subject are good, but not juicy. It lacks personal story's and it can be a little dry in my opinion. I am sure there is a good reason for it. Wallace has done a tremendous job in both translating and writing important dharma texts. But as for a newcomer, why not read Wagoner, or this Morley character (just don't spend all your money going to a grapefruit juice and lucid dream retreat on a faraway island with him and say I told you so.)

I think that people should, at least in the beginning, follow once interests. For people who like the shamanic tradition try one book by Castaneda (one book will do cause they are pretty much the same). For people who like Christian Gnostic mysticism try Samael Aun Weor, I find him kind of creepy and cool. In Buddhism there is a few books to choose from. Every body should at least read one book by Joseph Campbell if they are interested in what dreams are made of.

The reason most of us here don't like mystical lucid dreaming books is because they impose all kinds of bogus constraints on people.

The more clear headed members of this site are quite often advocates of understanding and experimentation. Almost all of us have found that lucid dreams are capable of exactly what our current understanding of science says it can do, and we utilize this fact. Basic prospective memory, habit formation and confidence allows us to achieve absolutely anything we want.

Mystical and esoteric lucid dreaming books (as well as websites) often flaunt methods and explanations relying on unproven concepts, with the only potential source off the author themselves. Things like not being able to look in a mirror, or not being able to read, ending a dream by closing your eyes, initiating a dream by calling on spirits.

I personally disdain this crap because I know how it's done simply. I've done all of these things without constraint as have hundreds of others. It bothers me that so many people must go through the process of deluding themselves.

Thanks Dutchraptor, you said exactly what I was thinking!

I prefer my lucid dream books to be about lucid dreaming and not blurred with other peoples opinions on spirituality. Imagine if you could only buy cookery books that were all mixed up with the spiritual beliefs of the authors and you had to meditate holding a boiled egg in one hand and a banana in the other to "really understand cooking"

Morley seems pretty fame hungry and happy to say, sell and rub shoulders with anyone who'll help him become better known. Even the positive reviews for his book are a bit of a scam, I follow him on facebook and noticed that he basically begged for people to write nice reviews and then a week later, suddenly his book has more reviews than books that have been out since the 90s! The David Icke example really shows how low he'll stoop for fame. He's definitely not someone I trust to give good advice on lucid dreaming and I hope he doesn't succeed and become a spokesperson for LDers because that'll make us all look like gullible idiots. It's hard enough talking seriously to people about LDing already without them thinking you're a weirdo and you buy into all that other BS.

I've got a passing interest in dream yoga and how other cultures have used lucid dreaming but I definitely dont follow the fashionable way of thinking that just because a religion is old or from far away that it has all the answers. There may be a few things to learn but that doesn't mean they belong to that religion it's just they found them first. It also doesn't mean that any of the other beliefs of the religion are true. I agree with Dutchraptor that if you buy into this mystical stuff you can actually really limit your experience of lucid dreaming.

Auke you said

But, there always gonna be a lot of things that science cant prove either way, and to trow that away just because it cant be objectively measured is in fact unscientific. Mystic things do happens, they are discovered by scientists all the time!

In that case if something can't yet be proven/disproven by science and is seen as mystic, how does that give Waggoner, Morley or any other self proclaimed new-age expert some special authority to explain it? Anyone can claim to have answers to the unexplained but that doesn't give them any credibility. Surely the unexplained is the unexplained?

I think this thread at times has an air of "high-falluting holier-than-thou-ness" about it, which provokes me like few things do. So I'll just vent a little bit now.

Personally, I'm tired of the pseudo-scientific "XILD" books, that spend eternity listing the same old same old LD methods. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and the beer-mug, and the memory of the foul stench in the nostrils!

Instead, give me books on WHAT TO USE LUCID DREAMING FOR! Not than I'm low on ideas myself, but it's always good to hear other peoples ideas; sometimes this can open up for entirely new alleys of investigation and endeavour.

So I like Waggoner, for linking psychology and dreams, and Castaneda, for putting dreams into a much larger (and almost frightening) perspective. Even Robert Moss can yield inspiration for further dreaming.

Oh, and while the topic of constraining one self is being poked around: what better way to constrain one self, than to a priori declare dreams as entirely produced within the brain? Now, there is a constraint for you!

QUOTE=LucidMoon;2117449]

I've got a passing interest in dream yoga and how other cultures have used lucid dreaming but I definitely don't follow the fashionable way of thinking that just because a religion is old or from far away that it has all the answers. There may be a few things to learn but that doesn't mean they belong to that religion it's just they found them first. It also doesn't mean that any of the other beliefs of the religion are true. I agree with Dutchraptor that if you buy into this mystical stuff you can actually really limit your experience of lucid dreaming.

Auke you said In that case if something can't yet be proven/disproven by science and is seen as mystic, how does that give Waggoner, Morley or any other self proclaimed new-age expert some special authority to explain it? Anyone can claim to have answers to the unexplained but that doesn't give them any credibility. Surely the unexplained is the unexplained?[/QUOTE]

There are off course false prophets, but some of them are genuine enough. The reason I mentioned Joseph Campbell is because he is a expert on mythology. There is, at least on a relative plain, something that is good and something that is not good. And he's main point, in so many books, is that today's people are lacking the road map to a less egoistic and better/higher self. I would say that following your hedonistic wishes in the conscious dream state, is at least a waste of the opportunity to train in being a better and happier person in RL. I give a short example.

My normal dreams lately has been circling around my work and my things, I interpret from this that I am to attached. Nothing mystical about this. I have worked a lot both at my home and in my work lately and my account of LD's has dramatically dropped. It is not because of what I do, but where my mind are. Now I find myself at crossroads again. Should I drop the practice of LD'ing for a while, just accept that right now it is carrier, status, and shiny stuff that is important. Or, should I try to bring my view back on track to a more healthy perspective. What is important for me? What would I regret and what would I be happy about when I am at my death bed? Maybe I will die to morrow? What a waste to spend all my dreaming on business as usual. What are the thing I truly would like to achieve in this life?

I would like to be happy. Not for a couple of minutes here and there, but stably happy. Extreme materialism will not give that to me, I close to the top of the food change so I know. Sensory pleasures will not give that to me. Power will not give that to me. Al types of hedonistic behavior will not give me lasting and stable happiness. Hedonic treadmill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So what can bring me what I seek? Who can help me? I think Wagoner believes in what he writes, and he does not state that he can prove anything. But for me, today, he lacks the tradition, it is to much speculation to take him as more than just good inspiration. I would like to look at the religions, and myths of ancient cultures. And look at science preformed in the shady part of town. On specially trained and gifted subject. On phenomena that we can not understand, that Einstein could not understand. But we know are there.

About your comment on old and faraway religions I would say you are over simplifying things Lucid Moon. If a tradition is old and has worked purposefully for a very long time, why is not that to be more reliable than something that for instance a kid think he has discovered just now? Dalai Llama says that people does not need religion, they need to do good. Buddha taught that one should examine everything like a gold merchant examined a lump of gold. In what ever you do, do it wisely. If you lucid dream, interpret dreams, meditate, work, sing, feel, and so on, without wisdom, you might as well collect matchboxes. Cooking is a good example as well. Is it better to cook with a stressed out, distracted mind and no recipe, or a stable and calm mind and a book on wise cooking in your hand?

I am going to go against the flow here and withdraw any recommendation or support for a book.

"Lucid Dreaming - Gateway to the Inner Self" by Robert Waggoner

I really do not understand this book's high reviews. I am on chapter 14, and not one thing in this book has helped me with lucid dreaming or working with my dreams. So I do not recommend you spend money on it, unless you wish to have a huge collection of Lucid Dreaming books and you have the income. My guess is that "Beginner's Guide To Licd Dreaming" by Mark McEllroy and Stephen LaBerge's stuff will prove far more valuable. I will also add support for a book here.

"Realities of the Dreaming Mind" by Swami Sivananda Radha

Do not be put off by the author's name. This book is really easy to read, illustrated to boot, and right off the bat you get the best advice for dream work I have ever seen in any book on dreaming. Hands down. She has a format that you follow, and she is the only author I have found to include interpretation. So you are not only recording your dreams, you are giving an initial interpretation, you are building your own personal Dream Dictionary with your own symbolism, and you are applying the dream's message to your life.

It can be a lot of writing. But you never have to transcribe anything or go over it again, unless you want to, or unless you wish to create a Dream Dictionary document on your computer and fill it up with your symbols as you learn them. You record the dream, initially interpret it, work with your symbols, give a final interpretation, and finally apply the message. So you are all done with your dream in one sitting.

I will share how this has affected me personally. My very first dream I worked with, I only had a small paragraph of writing. But it packed a big punch! I had been struggling with my creativity, with beliefs I held about time. I had been tying my hands behind my back creatively, so to speak, with these beliefs. The dream helped me see what I needed to see and it opened things up for me.

My latest dream took 18 pages (and counting) which is the highest recall I have ever had. The most details I have ever remembered. I still haven't fully figured out the meanings. There was a lot going on there - you are taught to look at things from different perspectives so you can get all the meanings a dream may have for you. This dream too was a result of waking life issues, showing me things I needed to know.

This book beats out McEllroy's by far. Not sure how it will stack up to LaBerge yet. Nothing specifically on lucidity. But if you are recalling your dreams better and honoring your dream source by working through them, your awareness should increase. In other words, it should be easier to become lucid the more thoroughly you work through your dreams and apply their messages.

I will give a report on the effect this book has on my lucid dreaming, if any.

I have a few recommendations:

Check my signature!

And also see: the pirate bay has a great collection of torrents you can download with ebooks on the occult sciences. Shh!

Journeys out of body is not really so good when it comes to overcomplication, not good for beginners, but a good take on the outta body experience.

Arnold Mindell's book is a great all-around awareness practice book. I recommend it.

Castaneda's art of dreaming is okay. very far out. good for someone who is curious about all these things that are for some reason called "the occult." (shadowed)

Klocek's "The Seer's Handbook" is legitimate metaphysical advice for a life of spiritual fruits. I love the painting with the hand coming from a tree with a divine apple.

stay smaht! read up! most importantly, trust yourself. avoid overcomplicating texts. the children dream so freely. just ask the spirit to lead you, it's my best advice. if you don't belive in yourself, ask a friend to tell you that you exist. if you already know that, then just trust your instincts and ask for spiritual assistance for new techniques for dream awareness. they are always overly simple and childishly easy, and they are always going to be fun! lets dream!

Has anyone here read the book "The Toltec Secret: Dreaming Practices of the Ancient Mexicans"? I looked on Amazon and it has some pretty good reviews. I might buy it. But I need to know if anyone here read it and might recommend it. Seems like it has some very interesting lucid techniques.
This one, as the title says, focuses more on ancient Mexican dream practices. Seems pretty intriguing.....

Just finished Are You Dreaming? by Daniel Love (I know, I'm late to the party, but whatever ) Definitely one of the best books on not just lucid dreaming, but dreaming as a whole. The way he explains the sleep cycle is awesome. And there's something about the tone of his writing that just keeps me reading over and over.
Oh, and by the way, I am planning on ordering The Toltec Secret: Dreaming Practices of the Ancient Mexicans and hopefully reviewing it soon. I think it does seem a bit too "mystic".... but I don't mind that.

Charlie morley first book was the one for me. A perfect well balance book that its in the middle between a completly hedonic approach to lucid dreaming and the very advance practices of dream yoga that are only taught in strict long term retreat.

Its funny that some people think that its "hippie like", "new age" and "woo woo" since this i like it because it lacked of those characteristics.
I guess from the materialistic point of view anything that doesnt accept the assumptions of materialism fits into that "name calling". Specially if its a charismatic guy nice guy who respect people who you share views or not

But what do i know? I probably was brainwashed by those evil buddhist/hippies and maybe its the start of a global lucid dreaming conspiracy to take over the lucid dreaming world.
I love some materialists paranoia