A Book of Dreams: The Book That Inspired Kate Bush's Hit Song 'Cloudbusting'

by Peter Reich

Book Overview

This famous book, the inspiration behind Kate Bush's 1985 hit song 'Cloudbusting', is the extraordinary account of life as friend, confidant and child of the brilliant but persecuted psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Peter, his son, shared with his father the revolutionary concept of a world where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable, and the sense of mission which set him and his followers apart from the rest of the human race. Here, Peter...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1786069628
• ISBN13: 9781786069627
• Release Date: June 2019
• Publisher: John Blake
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 4.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

You Must Be Brave

A son's memories of his father, Wilhelm Reich, during his last years. At times you feel as though you are standing next to Dr. Reich as he shares his feelings, saying to his son "I may be killed. You must be brave." Peter's memory of the FDA Agents, who came to Organon to supervise the destruction of the Orgone Accumulators, is particularly stunning and vivid--YOU ARE THERE. Kate Bush's song, Cloudbusting, is based on this book.

A Sad but true story...

It might be mentioned that the NSA destroyed his lab and all his work-but kept his documents-while he died in prison-there was a mass recall ordered of his books back from retailers and publishers, and there was a bookburning bonfire in Wash DC- Ive seen pictures; If he was a quack-as they charge-they would have ignored him or at worst shut him down-even a couple years in the brig-but burning his books and sending him to life in prison-he was onto something that the Fascist Gov didnt like. Further, whenever they used the CLOUDBUSTER, which essentially caused charged particles to collect in one spot, attracting water vapor, UFOs would appear. He could also quell great storms by dispersing the DOR-deadly orgone. "Orgonon" as Kate mentions in the first line, was the Orgonon Institute where Reich lived and worked You can bet the NSA took notice He wrote THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM, among a dozen other books, mostly on psychology and repressed sexual energy-he believed in 'free love'-and was a little ahead of his time. Kate's emotion put all the pain and all the hope into her performance-as a little boy who loved his deeply loved his father and mutually-sadly watched him be taken away-never to be seen again. It is likely they tortured him in prison.It is a very moving piece of film. Donald Sutherland stopped dead in the middle of a Hollywood production just to fly to the UK to do this with Kate. SCALAR technology and weather control-to a point are already a reality-and HAARP-a new horror super weapon that can destroy the ionosphere, and fry armies-and cities from a distance;-are likely outcomes of the evil uses of Reichs and Teslas work and research. HAARP's PR babble-"they are creating ways to communicate with submarines over the horizon" Do they think were dumb-how do we communucate with subs over the horizon now? VIA SATELLITE! The only glaring flubs I noted were that the 'NSA' agents looked and dressed more like prim and proper Downing street Accountants , and they drove a RRs(?) instead of black sedans-suits and sunglasses were absent. [I still dream-of Organon-I wake up crying...] [I just know that something good is gonna happen-I dont know when-but just saying it could even make it happen...] Sadly this is one one of the last pieces Michael Kamen worked on - a true genius-before he died. The arrangement s are heart rending and Kates singing is so heart felt which is why I love her. Reichs books have been in and out of print over the years-and only because someone had the foresight to stash away the galleys proofs I dedicate this notation to Wilhelm, Peter-and to Kate- one beautiful lady that has been a part of my life for many years.

A beautiful memoir

Even though it's a pricy out-of-print book, A Book of Dreams is worth the money. The language is beautiful and the way the story unfolds is really great. I should have bought this ten years ago--if you're on the fence, just do it. Peter Reich perfectly captures the experiences of dreams and childhood. But I have to disagree with the comments about Patti Smith's lyrics. I just finished the book and looked up her lyrics, and they don't seem to be Peter's words at all. If they were, she would have known that Peter rode on the tractor with Tom, not Wilhelm. She just loosely bases the song on this story.

FYI

Sizeable chunks of the lyrics to Patti Smith's Birdland are taken almost from this book

"We're cloudbusting Daddy!"

"I still dream of Organon"...goes the song 'Cloudbusting' by Kate Bush. That is how we discovered this moving, if somewhat curious, book. The Book of Dreams tells the true story of a man (Peter Reich) recalling (through a series of flashbacks) his close and loving relationship with his father - the famous scientist Wilhelm Reich. Wilhelm Reich was at the forefront of scientific thinking on human sexuality and, in particular, the 'Cosmic Orgone Energy Theory' in the 1930s and '40s. He wrote many books on the subject, including the then enlightening 'The function of the Orgasm.' He also experimented with various forms of energy, attempting to capture 'Orgone' - energy in its purest form. Together with his young son, Peter, he went on to build a machine that could affect cloud formations, capture 'Orgone' and, to all intents and purposes, make clouds rain. Although the book touches on many interesting scientific ideas, the book concentrates mostly on Peters memories, on the love, devotion and encouragement he received from his father. On his father's insistence that he stay in touch with his feelings and not become hard like most people in the world -hardness in people, Reich senior believed, made people ill. He didn't want Peter to suffer from that illness as he grew up. Reich senior was later arrested for his beliefs and his experiments and died soon after in prison. Much of his research was destroyed by 'the authorities,' leaving a (still) young Peter with only his memories, most of which as an adult he could only recall through his dreams. Informative, gripping and eminently readable.