Can't read while dreaming

[whitedevilbrewing]

Because you're planning it? Hehe.  I do believe that dreams turn out to be quite a bit shorter than we perceive or remember. 

[KarenX]

Last night I read:

1. A checklist for skills kids need before starting preschool.
2. Two mailing addresses (one for the UK)
3. A personal note written on the front of one of the mailed packages (some thrift shop wallpaper for Mrs. Muth from Mrs. Mastny)
4. Marketing literature for Shiseido

[Citizen Skeptic]

Wow!  Do you read yourself to sleep.

[KarenX]

No, although I was working on crossword puzzles before bed last night. It was actually the first dream I did any reading in for several days; I've started paying closer attention after this thread started. I had a couldn't fit into my wedding dress on my wedding day two nights ago, but I didn't think you all wanted a blow-by-blow of that. It did include a blue sand beach, but also a grouchy uncle Phil.

[Ansalem]

If what I'm reading is short, like a stop sign or something, I can always read it with no problems. If it's long, say an article in a magazine, then it'll be filled with both readable and unreadable words. I usually consider the unreadable words to be type-o's and keep going. Often the words will change as I'm reading, but if that's happening I don't tend to notice it in the dream unless it's a lucid dream.

It's especially bad if I fall asleep while I'm reading. Often I end up with really cool alternate plots. Of course I am of the opinion that I experience dreams all at once, and the whole time-passing thing is just an illusion created by false memories. Otherwise, why do I know how my dreams are going to end?

Because what you expect to happen is what happens. That's always been my experience. When I'm dreaming, everything I think will happen ends up happening to some degree.

[mkultra]

this was a key plot point to an episode of batman the animated series, and I dare not question the logic of that show. 

Amazing, I was going to say the same thing.  So, this is what I'd thought for YEARS because of that episode.  Only, a few months ago, I had a very vivid dream where I actually WAS reading and understood what I was reading (and it was normal English).  I actually, after the dream, made a point to mention it to my bf and he said that he had thought the same thing because of that Batman episode ... but I can tell you that I, at least, can read in my dreams.

off topic, but that episode was awesome.

Off topic, but I totally agree.

I third it.

I have no solid evidence, but I'm willing to bet that this meme originated in that episode of B:TAS.  When people bring it up, and I ask them where they heard it, I've gotten two answers - dunno, and Batman: The Animated Series.

[Rider]

this was a key plot point to an episode of batman the animated series, and I dare not question the logic of that show. 

Amazing, I was going to say the same thing.  So, this is what I'd thought for YEARS because of that episode.  Only, a few months ago, I had a very vivid dream where I actually WAS reading and understood what I was reading (and it was normal English).  I actually, after the dream, made a point to mention it to my bf and he said that he had thought the same thing because of that Batman episode ... but I can tell you that I, at least, can read in my dreams.

off topic, but that episode was awesome.

Off topic, but I totally agree.

I third it.

I have no solid evidence, but I'm willing to bet that this meme originated in that episode of B:TAS.  When people bring it up, and I ask them where they heard it, I've gotten two answers - dunno, and Batman: The Animated Series.

No as several people have pointed out there clearly is something strange with reading in a dream for at least some people.

[mkultra]

this was a key plot point to an episode of batman the animated series, and I dare not question the logic of that show. 

Amazing, I was going to say the same thing.  So, this is what I'd thought for YEARS because of that episode.  Only, a few months ago, I had a very vivid dream where I actually WAS reading and understood what I was reading (and it was normal English).  I actually, after the dream, made a point to mention it to my bf and he said that he had thought the same thing because of that Batman episode ... but I can tell you that I, at least, can read in my dreams.

off topic, but that episode was awesome.

Off topic, but I totally agree.

I third it.

I have no solid evidence, but I'm willing to bet that this meme originated in that episode of B:TAS.  When people bring it up, and I ask them where they heard it, I've gotten two answers - dunno, and Batman: The Animated Series.

No as several people have pointed out there clearly is something strange with reading in a dream for at least some people.

Yes, Rider, there's certainly something strange with reading in dreams - in the same way that most everything related to short-term memory or reality-checking is screwey in dreams.

What isn't strange in dreams?

I walked into my old house in a dream, and then it turned into an abandoned building.  That's strange!  That's what dreams do.  But that doesn't mean that the spatial recognition parts of my brain turn off during dreams (which might happen - just an example out of my ass!).

The OP wasn't about whether there is "something strange with reading in a dream for at least some people."  The question was, "Is it true that you can't read while you're dreaming?"

Enough people have chimed in saying, "I have read in dreams" that I think we can say with confidence, "No, that is not true."

If I recall correctly, the assertion central to that episode of the Batman: The Animated Series was "You can't read in dreams, because the reading part of your brain shuts off during sleep."  I asserted (based only on anecdotes, admittedly) that that meme, that you can't read in dreams because the reading part of your brain is shut off, comes from B: TAS.

Am I wrong about that?  Totally possible.

[note] edited out a line that on, rereading, sounded condescending.  sorry, Rider, if I was a dick.

jb