Reviews Overview
Through the years, Paul Brunton’s writings have received many favorable reviews from a wide variety of sources, dating back to newspapers and journal reviews written in the 1930s and as recently as today! As time and opportunity allow, we will be adding both original and modern reviews to this section. Follow the links below to the longer reviews; the books are listed in order of publication—with the exception of the Notebooks, which come first. We welcome ‘readers reviews,’ so if you would like to review any of the books, please contact publications@paulbrunton.org.
SHORT NOTES ABOUT THE NOTEBOOKS OF PAUL BRUNTON
“Paul Brunton was a great original and got to a place of personal evolution that illumines the pathways of a future humanity.”
—Jean Houston
“Paul Brunton's Notebooks are a veritable treasure-trove of philosophic-spiritual wisdom.”
—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“The meticulousness of his reading and interviewing, as well as his personal, inward application of that knowledge, reveals a genius for balance.
—San Francisco Chronicle
“...sensible and compelling. His work can stand beside that of such East-West bridges as Merton, Huxley, Suzuki, Watts, and Radhakrishnan... It should appeal to anyone concerned personally and academically with issues of spirituality.”
—Choice
“Any serious man or woman in search of spiritual ideas will find a surprising challenge and an authentic source of inspiration and intellectual nourishment in the writings of Paul Brunton.”
—Jacob Needleman
“Vigorous, clear-minded and independent... a synthesis of Eastern mysticism and Western rationality... A rich volume.” (volume 1, Perspectives)
—Library Journal
“With the possible exception of Alan Watts, Dr. Paul Brunton has probably been the most influential exponent of Eastern philosophy and systems of self-realization in this century... significant commentaries on nearly every conceivable aspect of the spiritual quest... unreservedly recommended as the final, eloquent summing up by one of the West's most perceptive thinkers and deepest students of the Ancient Wisdom.”
—The American Theosophist
“His work should therefore help readers assess the present deluge of books in New Age philosophy... the work as a whole is a rich vein of wisdom to be mined by the interested and the spiritually concerned.”
—Library Journal (on volume 11)
“A simple, straightforward guide to how philosophical insights of the East and West can help to create beauty, joy, and meaning in our lives... His keynote is balance, and his uplifting message encompasses all phases of human experience.”
—East West Journal
“ ...a great gift to us Westerners who are seeking the spiritual.”
—Charles T. Tart
“With each succeeding volume of these remarkable Notebooks, we are more and more impressed with the extent of Brunton's wisdom... particularly important for everyone who is engaged in meditation, 'New Age' thinking... Very highly recommended.”
—Millard Nachtwey, (Spiritual Studies Center)
“It is to the likes of Brunton, Vivekananda, and A.E. Burt that I bow in gratitude for early initiations.”
—Stephen Levine
“The notebooks of Paul Brunton represent the acme of wisdom on the nature of human spirituality. Every serious student of this subject will profit enormously by becoming acquainted with Brunton's seminal work.”
—Kenneth Ring
“A person of rare intelligence... thoroughly alive, and whole in the most significant, 'holy' sense of the word.”
—Yoga Journal
“...attuned to today's holistic health movement... Healing of the self is the guiding principle behind these writings.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This is a work (vol. 13) both brilliant and profound. For the student of mysticism, metaphysics and/or spiritual disciplines, there are enough important ideas and gems of wisdom to provide food for thought for at least one lifetime.
—Robert Masters, Ph.D., The Foundation of Mind Research
“Mr. Brunton's writings are most sensitive, deep, and original. One has to admire his most positive attitude toward life, nature, beauty, and his respect for both cultures, east and west, their ways of life, religions, arts, and search for truth and goodness. A very inspirational reading.”
—Karel Husa
“Nowhere else will you find such a profound synthesis of East-West philosophic mysticism stripped of all the usual obscurity and extravagances. Both the modern intellect and the weary heart will find unlimited inspiration, wisdom, and guidance for action in these notebooks.”
—Victor Mansfield, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University
“Paul Brunton was surely one of the finest mystical flowers to grow on the wasteland of our secular civilization. What he has to say is important to us all.”
—Georg Feuerstein
1 The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
1.9 The Notebooks of Paul Brunton Volume 9 Human Experience
Review of The Notebooks of Paul Brunton Volume 9 Human Experience and The Arts in Culture by Paul Cash
2 A Search in Secret India 1934
Book Review in Hinduism Today
3 The Secret Path 1935
4 A Search in Secret Egypt 1936 (Re-issued in 2007)
Book Review By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
5 A Message from Arunachala 1936
6 A Hermit in the Himalayas 1936
7 The Quest of the Overself 1937
8 Discover Yourself / aka The Inner Reality 1939
9 The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga 1941
10 The Wisdom of the Overself 1943
11 The Spiritual Crisis of Man 1952
12 Essays on the Quest (Paperback) 1985
13 Paul Brunton: A Personal View by Kenneth Thurston Hurst 1989
14 Paul Brunton: Essential Readings (Paperback) ~ Joscelyn Godwin (ed.) 1990
15 Inspired Wisdom in Practice: Quotations from Paul Brunton ~ Arthur Broekhuysen (ed.) 1992
16 Meditations for People in Charge 1995
17 Meditations for People in Crisis 1996
18 What is Karma? 1998
Review from Sudakshina Trust
19 The Gift of Grace: Awakening to Its Presence 2011
Review from Spirituality and Practice
