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Dr James Hall's exposition of the clinical use of dreams by Jungians presents to the world of psycho-dynamics a systematic description of a subject about which, apart from Mattoon (1978), rather less has been written at length and in depth than might have been expected. His book comes at a time when the outcome of studies and experiments carried out by the sleep laboratories compels a reconsideration of Jung's ideas while at the same time implying their increased credibility. The same consideration, as Edward Whitmont points out in his foreword to the book, may be applied to the results of more recent neuro-physiological studies centred on activities of the right cerebral hemisphere, to say nothing of investigations into peak LSD experiences and paranormal cognition. Hall deals with the first, though not the second, at length and most instructively. The second would have elaborated upon the somatic basis of imaginative, dream-making, holistic, timeless and other experiences as well as that of Jung's ‘two modes of thinking’ and their potential complementarity. Dr Hall's book, however, is already a massive assemblage of material more directly related to the clinical use of dreams and draws upon a very wide knowledge of the ways in which therapists of a variety of schools approach their patient's dreaming.
Hall's earliest experiences of having his own dreams analysed were, according to his account, with non-Jungian therapists—a good starting qualification for such a widely embracing book and consonant with the broad-based and open-ended outlook avowed by Jung. Thus his accounts of non-Jungian attitudes towards dreams seem full and fair—not least in his exposition of Freud's ideas on dreams in which full recognition is given to the fact that much later psychoanalysis has implemented the radical revisions of that theory that needed to be made. In this connection adequate weight is given to the important contributions made by object-relations theory through Klein, Guntrip