American Scientist

To the Editors: 

I enjoyed the article by Deirdre Barrett, “When the Answer Comes in a Dream.” When she wrote about “directed dreaming,” I was reminded of the 1971 novel The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

In the novel a man whose dreams can change the world falls into the hands of a hubristic psychiatrist who wants to use him to make the world better—with every attempt actually making things worse. For example, to eliminate racial prejudice everyone becomes gray, and world peace is achieved when aliens invade from outer space. The book was adapted into a movie twice, first in 1980 and again in 2002. 

Sheila J. Gross
Piscataway, NJ