Book Reviews

Short Notes about the Notebooks of Paul Brunton

“…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

“Paul Brunton’s Notebooks are a veritable treasure-trove of philosophic-spiritual wisdom.”

—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“I couldn’t say it any better than PB has put it in these Notebooks.”

—His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya Chanderasekarendra Saraswati, the Shankara of Kanchipuram

“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

“Paul Brunton was a great original and got to a place of personal evolution that illumines the pathways of a future humanity.”

—Jean Houston

“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

“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

“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

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.