This book presents a new theory of dreams: a theory intended to supplement the work of Freud. The author's hypothesis is that the dream is primarily a reaction to the fact that we are asleep, and that there is a basic dream which represents this reaction. To this basic dream other layers, derived from our working life, are then added. Going to sleep represents uterine regression and giving up the security of the object world; and the dream itself is an attempt to get out of the womb, but at the same time carries with it the undirected id, coitus, and uterine regression which it is trying to negate.

The author presents his argument with data from his own experience, from clinical practice, and from Australian mythology. Instead of a closely reasoned argument, however, a great series of dreams and myths is recorded. Such an overwhelming collection of data, while interesting in itself, is sharply out of balance with the limited theoretical analysis, and makes the book unnecessarily long and expensive.