Dreaming Is a Private Thing
Encyclopedia
"Dreaming Is a Private Thing" is a science fiction
short story
by Isaac Asimov
, first published in the December 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1957 collection Earth is Room Enough
. Asimov's original title for the story was "A Hundred Million Dreams at Once", but F&SF editor Tony Boucher changed it, and Asimov liked the new title so much he kept it.
s for the individual's private use, just as films used to be viewed, although they've been superseded by 'dreamies'. Dreamies can be viewed in private at home by anyone with the equipment and cash to buy or rent them (like present day videos or DVDs). They are produced by specially trained individuals, often social loners or eccentrics as a result of their intensive training over many years.
Weill is shown a new development - under-the-counter pornographic dreamies - and asked by the governmment to assist in cracking down on them. Meanwhile, he interviews a ten year old boy as a potential dreamer, a lucrative occupation if he turns out to be suitable and undergoes training.
He also gets told by one of his best dreamers that he does not want to work any more, as it is ruining family life, the dreamer also feels he has lost himself. But Weill knows from experience that the dreamer can't stop dreaming once he's become used to that way of life, even if he wants to.
One of Weill's staff tells him that a competing company is opening a chain of 'dream palaces', where everyone can absorb the same dream simultaneously, but he is of the opinion that it will not work. As he says, dreaming is a private thing.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, first published in the December 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1957 collection Earth is Room Enough
Earth Is Room Enough
Earth Is Room Enough is a collection of fifteen short science fiction and fantasy stories and two pieces of comic verse published by Isaac Asimov in 1957. In his autobiography In Joy Still Felt, Asimov wrote, "I was still thinking of the remarks of reviewers such as George O. Smith . . ....
. Asimov's original title for the story was "A Hundred Million Dreams at Once", but F&SF editor Tony Boucher changed it, and Asimov liked the new title so much he kept it.
Plot summary
Jesse Weill is founder and owner of Dreams Inc, a company that produces dreamDream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
s for the individual's private use, just as films used to be viewed, although they've been superseded by 'dreamies'. Dreamies can be viewed in private at home by anyone with the equipment and cash to buy or rent them (like present day videos or DVDs). They are produced by specially trained individuals, often social loners or eccentrics as a result of their intensive training over many years.
Weill is shown a new development - under-the-counter pornographic dreamies - and asked by the governmment to assist in cracking down on them. Meanwhile, he interviews a ten year old boy as a potential dreamer, a lucrative occupation if he turns out to be suitable and undergoes training.
He also gets told by one of his best dreamers that he does not want to work any more, as it is ruining family life, the dreamer also feels he has lost himself. But Weill knows from experience that the dreamer can't stop dreaming once he's become used to that way of life, even if he wants to.
One of Weill's staff tells him that a competing company is opening a chain of 'dream palaces', where everyone can absorb the same dream simultaneously, but he is of the opinion that it will not work. As he says, dreaming is a private thing.