<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Very insightful yet flawed.
Review: Dunne is onto something very important. The first half of the book is easy to follow and very insightful. It is an important work that, in my opinion, successfully demonstrates the precognotive nature of some dreams. I am perhaps more easily convinced than others as I too have had similar experiences. However, Dunne goes beyond proving the existance of such dreams and attempts to explain how and why they happen. The infinite regress argument seems to be flawed. He claims it to be proof of God's existance. I do not feel that he has successfully proven this theory about the how and why of time. For a very good analysis of Dunne's theory, see "Man and Time" by J.B. Priestly. Regardless, "An Experiment with Time" is a very important book that attempts to take an objective view on a very subjective subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Sickening anti-scientific pseudo-science...!
Review: I've been borrowing this book from the library for many many years. I'm ecstatic I can finally have my own copy!I still don't know how I feel about Dunne's theory----basically, that our dreams are memories from the future. But it's something that makes sense (no matter how far fetched it sounds....) and it's something that I'd *like* to believe. A regular person can easily understand the text; it's not all heavy-handed scientific terms. An enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: The forgotten and fantastic.
Review: In this gem first published in 1927, John W. Dunne puts forth a theory of multidimensional consciousness which manifests itself mainly in the "Dream effect". A mathematician and aeronautical pioneer, Dunne found himself having precognitive experiences throughout his adult life. His dreams would come true. Often times the very next day and in rich detail. I am myself mathematicly inclined, and can only ponder at the discomfort this would have created to a scientist of such a logical mind. And surely enough, he spent the rest of his life seeking an answer to the riddle.
In "An experiment with time", he reveals his startling conclusions, which are based in deductive reasoning and experiments.
By applying the concept of regression in human consciousness and time to the results of the experimental work he finds an answer to the problem of apparent psychic abilities in his more or less ramdomly chosen subjects.
Not only that; he thereby also explains the phenomena of deja vu and many cases of clairvoyance, common precognition, ESP and many other "paranormal" occurances.
It is important to note that this theory, which I can only describe as analogous to the theory of general relativity in its ingenuity and brilliance, have NEVER been disproven in its 77 year history.
Furthermore there is no known physical law or concept that would disallow the "dream effect", even today.
The pieces of the puzzle, therefore, fits uncannily well in the map of the eye-opening reality that Dunne unfolds.
Towards the end, Dunne takes the theory even further to prepose the exsistance of an eternal multidimensional concsiousness and a higher, supreme consciousness, which it has to be said, I find rather speculative and philosophical. However, It is an extrapolation that is not wholly unnatural, at least in case of the seamingly immortal qualities of human serial consciousness.
This piece is in my mind one of the most important books of the last century, and almost tragic that so few know of it. This is in part, I think, due to the non-scientific material which it brushes up against, but ultimately deciphers for the first time.
As to the question of whether or not it is psuedo-science: The experiments can be repeated at all times in any laboratory with any subjects, and from that, the same results have so far been found. These are the parameters which define scientific research. And the more experiments are conducted, the more probable Dunne's conclusions are. This book is exeptionally engaging to anyone interested in these matters. Its my all-time favorite non-fiction piece and I can only recommend it, so that awereness of the theory increases.
Rating:
Summary: Sickening anti-scientific pseudo-science...!
Review: It's sick that people are allowed to write such horrible material and spread incorrect idiotic misinformation. This guy uses pseudo-science to try to convince (feeble minded idiots) that dreams show you the future. After using flawed logic, twists of linguistics, and pseudo-science to make this claim, he actually goes on to claim this proves God exists. This is a horrible horrible book. This should get NEGATIVE stars for using incorrect misinformation to try to convince people of false claims. These are the type of people who ruin humanity for the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: A classic study of precognitive dreams
Review: The reader who was "sickened" by this book apparently didn't notice that it was written about 80 years ago. That reader also missed a central historical point: People have been reporting precognitive dreams for a very, very long time and trying to grapple with how to understand them in scientific terms for about a century. Dunne was one of the first to write about his experiences, and his training as an engineer led him to a thoughtful series of analyses and fledgling theories. Anyone who has had precognitive experiences will find this book interesting. But if you strongly believe that such experiences are mere coincidences, or logically incoherent, or impossible, you should avoid this book because it will just make you angry.
Rating:
Summary: A classic study of precognitive dreams
Review: The reader who was "sickened" by this book apparently didn't notice that it was written about 80 years ago. That reader also missed a central historical point: People have been reporting precognitive dreams for a very, very long time and trying to grapple with how to understand them in scientific terms for about a century. Dunne was one of the first to write about his experiences, and his training as an engineer led him to a thoughtful series of analyses and fledgling theories. Anyone who has had precognitive experiences will find this book interesting. But if you strongly believe that such experiences are mere coincidences, or logically incoherent, or impossible, you should avoid this book because it will just make you angry.
Rating: 
Summary: "Time" or "Destiny"?
Review: This book came to my attention when I read Agatha Christie's auto-bio. I would like to copy part of what she felt about it; "I realise that something happened to me - not a change of heart, not quite a change of outlook, but somehow I saw things more in proportion; myself less large; only one facet of a whole, in a vast world with hundreds of inter-connections.... I did feel from that moment onwards a great sensation of comfort and a truer knowledge of serenity than I had ever obtained before." As an Eastener I couldn't agree more with her that Dunne's purpose of writing wasn't about the experiment with dreams but the believe of future or destiny, as individual and a whole. Everyone's destiny has already laid to (or in) the future and one has to follow one's path without avoiding it. If one could see or realise about one's destiny, one then will be able to see all material things in a different perspective. Because of the society and believe in that period when the book was published, I believe that was why Dunne was trying in extreme to explain his believe in a very physical terms instead of philosophical terms.
<< 1 >>
| 
