A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming: Mastering the Art of Oneironautics

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. (Sept.)