Dreaming to Some Purpose

{{short description|2004 book by Colin Wilson}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Dreaming to Some Purpose

| image =

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| author = Colin Wilson

| orig_lang_code = en

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| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

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| genre = autobiography

| publisher = Century

| pub_date = 2004

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| pages = 402

| isbn = 9781844131884

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Dreaming to Some Purpose is a 2004 autobiography by the English writer Colin Wilson. It covers Wilson's youth as a school dropout, his brief critical success with The Outsider and subsequent public life in the 1950s, his return to bestseller lists with The Occult: A History from 1971, and his following career of writing books at a high pace, often about occult and paranormal subjects.{{cite news |last=Lachman |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Lachman |date=6 June 2004 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/dreaming-to-some-purpose-by-colin-wilson-731298.html |title=Dreaming to Some Purpose by Colin Wilson |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=13 April 2025 }}{{cite news |last=Mars-Jones |first=Adam |date=13 June 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/13/biography.features |title=I was a teenage nail biter |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=13 April 2025 }}{{cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter |date=20 June 2004 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/review-autobiography-dreaming-to-some-purpose-by-colin-wilson-7knjhp3shxp |title=Review: Autobiography: Dreaming to Some Purpose by Colin Wilson |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Sunday Times |access-date=13 April 2025 }}