I mentioned it, because I fell asleep this afternoon, dreamt, and read, and I knew when I'd heard it before, I thought it sounded contrary to my experience.

Does anyone know the mechanics behind the theory? Is it something like during REM sleep, region A of the brain is I dunno, dead, or something?

Yeah, but I've also heard you can't smell in your dreams, and as I've had dreams centered around both spilling a bottle of Obsession (I had none anywhere near me, but knew the scent well) in Pay n Pak and reading the best Regency I've ever found (I always wake up before I finish reading them, I fear), I don't really believe it.

Oh, I am fairly certain I've dream-smelled odors that were not in my physical proximity while I slept, and that I've incorporated smells in the environment into my dreams.

Okay, Plei, or Ginger, do either of you have anything approaching a photographic memory? I don't have what people would describe as a strictly (or fully functional) photographic memory, but I have moments of it, particularly for the written word. For example, if I'm looking for a particular line in a book, I know whether it's on the left, or right, or top/middle/bottom of a page. I can usually see it, and the line breaks in my head. Sometimes, I can see the whole page, although not all the words. I'm wondering if anything like this might come into play for people who can read in their dreams.

If you read something in a dream, then try to read it again, it will have changed.

Yes, this! I was having a dream about a really interesting X-Men comic (I'm a geek, sue me), and the words kept changing. I often dream of strange book stores with stashes of comics I've never seen before that fit between issues I own.

And I've dreamed some epic space battles that make the opening of Star Wars Ep III look like pop guns and bathtub battleships.

Betsy, and Connie, do you dream about the story, or are you actually reading the words in your dreams?

I'm actually reading the book in my dreams.

I can't read in my dreams. If I stare really hard at text on a page the text never resolves into a stable, fixed image.

I once had a dream where I was looking at a sign or something, and it was gibberish, and I remember wondering if this is what letters looked like before I learned to read.

The changing reading thing is supposed to be a signpost for people who are trying to lucid dream. The first step in trying to change your dreams is to make yourself aware that you are in the dream state.

Usually when I realize I'm dreaming I wake up. I have a friend who when he realizes "I'm in a dream," someone in the dream will talk him into believing he's not dreaming.

One of Freud's famous dream interpretations involves a bit of text that he reads in his dream (it's a chemical formula). So, um, I'm guessing that it *is* possible to read in one's dreams. Why not? I've even *touched* things in mydreams and I know you aren't supposed to be able to do that, either.

I've even *touched* things in mydreams and I know you aren't supposed to be able to do that, either

Really? Huh. Guess my dreams haven't read the rulebook.

Cindy, I have a good visual memory, but not anything that could be described as eidetic.