Something slightly different for the final book review of this volume of Industrial and Commercial Training. It is about a book that may not find fans in those wanting to explore detailed examples and peer-reviewed articles, but it is one that just may change your life.
Dream: Your Life, Your Future was written by John Peter Wilson. John was the previous Book Review Editor and still contributes to these pages with his book reviews from time to time. John is a Researcher and Consultant, with 40 years of experience in education and training. He works with international organisations, speaks at International Conferences and teaches at the University of Oxford and the University of Sheffield. A distinguished pedigree.
In this book John sets out his thoughts on why dreaming is so important to our well-being and our existence, and what you can do to both encourage dreaming and to make the most of it. It is based on extensive research into psychology and cognitive science. But John says in the preface that the book is not about complicated terminology but about simple guidelines and practical solutions.
John uses the terms dream and dreaming in a broad sense. Sometimes this refers to night-time dreams, but more often he is referring to daytime activity – day-dreaming, mental rehearsal, thinking, etc. In these terms, he is correct in his assertion that “It all begins with a dream – apart from the natural world, almost everything we see originally began as a waking dream of what might be inside our head”. He cautions that dreams alone will not do the job. Dreams have to lead to action for them to have any fruitful outcomes. This book concentrates on having those dreams, ending with a chapter on turning them into deeds.
The style of the book is decidedly populist rather than academic and I presume this is a deliberate choice. It is not a book to sit on the shelves of a learning institution or of a corporate training department. Instead it is a book to be read. It is a book to inspire individuals and – the reason for the review – a book to inspire those who wish to inspire others to make changes in their life.
It is packed with quotes, examples and poems. Some are familiar to me and some are not. A couple that struck a chord with me: “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” (James Allen), and “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” (Eleanor Roosevelt). Each chapter ends with a useful bullet-point summary.
Areas explored in the book include dreams and feelings (how positive attitudes can lead to positive results), the benefits of mental rehearsal and visualization, the ability of the mind to “time travel”, and the resilience needed when something gets in the way of your dream. The last chapter concentrates on turning dreams into reality by taking action.
The examples of dreams and dreamers and of the science quoted are good and wide-ranging. There is a short (selected) bibliography for those wishing to read more. However, for me, I would have liked a little more. I know this is not an academic tome, but I personally would have benefited from some additional notes around the main examples and science, referring me to other papers or sources.
I cannot say I learned a lot new in this book, but it was a great reminder of a lot of the stuff that I have come across in different sources, skilful crafted into a very readable book.
