Self-Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Transcendentalist essay behind the whole movement: trust the voice within over custom and opinion.
The Library
Four shelves
New Thought sits at the center, with the self-development, business, and spiritual books that grew up around it. Books marked “Free” are in the U.S. public domain and link to free editions; the rest link to the audiobook.
New Thought
The mind-cure classics and the modern teachers who carried them forward.
The Mental Cure
Warren Felt Evans. The first book to set out mental healing as a system, blending Quimby with Swedenborg.
Lessons in Truth
H. Emilie Cady. Unity's foundational textbook: clear, devotional lessons on denial, affirmation, and faith.
In Tune with the Infinite
Ralph Waldo Trine. The bestseller that carried New Thought to a mass audience, on living in conscious union with the divine.
As a Man Thinketh
James Allen. A short, luminous meditation on thought as the root of character and circumstance.
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
Thomas Troward. A retired judge reasons, step by step, from universal mind to personal creative power.
The Science of Getting Rich
Wallace D. Wattles. A compact, practical method for prosperity through clear vision, gratitude, and action.
The Master Key System
Charles F. Haanel. Twenty-four weekly lessons on concentration and visualization, first sold as a correspondence course.
Your Invisible Power
Genevieve Behrend. Troward's only personal pupil turns his philosophy into a daily practice of visualization.
The Game of Life and How to Play It
Florence Scovel Shinn. Brisk stories and affirmations from a New York illustrator turned metaphysical teacher.
The Science of Mind
Ernest Holmes. The full synthesis of mental science and spiritual philosophy behind Religious Science.
The Secret of the Ages
Robert Collier. A popular course on the creative power of desire and belief, written by a direct-mail copywriter.
The Golden Key
Emmet Fox. A few pages on turning your attention to God instead of the problem. Fox's best-loved teaching.
Feeling Is the Secret
Neville Goddard. Neville's short guide to assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, especially before sleep.
The Power of Awareness
Neville Goddard. The “I AM” teaching in full: your awareness of being is the creative power.
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Joseph Murphy. The mid-century bestseller that put mental science in plain language for millions of readers.
One Simple Idea
Mitch Horowitz. A historian's account of how positive thinking moved from the fringe to the center of modern life.
Self Development
Character, discipline, and the practical psychology of a better life.
The Magic Story
Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey. A short parable about a struggling artist who finds an old manuscript that changes his outlook.
It Works
Roy Herbert Jarrett. A booklet you can read in half an hour: write down what you want, read it often, and tell no one.
The Law of Success
Napoleon Hill. Hill's sixteen-lesson course, from the Master Mind to the Golden Rule. The groundwork for Think and Grow Rich.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Dale Carnegie. Practical, story-driven methods for setting worry aside and living a day at a time.
The Power of Positive Thinking
Norman Vincent Peale. The minister's bestseller on faith, affirmation, and confident expectation.
The Strangest Secret
Earl Nightingale. The spoken-word recording that distilled success into a single line: we become what we think about.
Awaken the Giant Within
Tony Robbins. Robbins on decisions, beliefs, and the emotional habits that steer a life.
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
T. Harv Eker. How a “money blueprint” formed in childhood shapes your financial results, and seventeen “wealth files” for rewriting it.
Essentialism
Greg McKeown. The disciplined pursuit of less: do fewer things, and do them better.
Can't Hurt Me
David Goggins. A memoir and challenge from a former Navy SEAL on callusing the mind.
Money Grows on Trees
Jerremy Alexander Newsome. Trader and educator Jerremy Newsome on reshaping your thoughts and beliefs about money so real wealth feels possible.
The Mountain Is You
Brianna Wiest. On self-sabotage as a signal, and turning it into self-mastery.
Don't Believe Everything You Think
Joseph Nguyen. A short book arguing that suffering comes from thinking about our thoughts.
Entrepreneurialism
Building companies, creating value, and thinking clearly about money.
Acres of Diamonds
Russell H. Conwell. The famous lecture on finding opportunity where you already stand. It helped fund Temple University.
Built to Last
Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras. What lasting, visionary companies have in common, drawn from years of research.
The E-Myth Revisited
Michael E. Gerber. Why most small businesses stall, and how to work on your business instead of in it.
Start with Why
Simon Sinek. Leaders who inspire begin with purpose before product.
Anything You Want
Derek Sivers. Forty short lessons from the founder of CD Baby on building a business your own way.
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson. The authorized biography of Apple's co-founder.
Zero to One
Peter Thiel with Blake Masters. On building something new, and why the best startups aim for monopoly.
What It Takes
Stephen A. Schwarzman. The Blackstone co-founder's lessons from building a global firm.
The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel. Short essays on why behavior matters more than intelligence in building wealth.
Buy Back Your Time
Dan Martell. A system for founders to hire and delegate their way out of the daily grind.
10x Is Easier than 2x
Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy. Why aiming far higher can simplify your work instead of adding to it.
Choose Your Enemies Wisely
Patrick Bet-David. Business planning built around purpose, rivals, and a clear picture of your future self.
Spiritualism
Mysticism, esoteric traditions, and the study of consciousness.
The Song Celestial (Bhagavad Gita)
Sir Edwin Arnold, translator. Arnold's verse translation of the Gita, which brought it to many Western readers.
The Kybalion
Three Initiates. Seven Hermetic principles, from “The All is Mind” to cause and effect, with deep ties to New Thought.
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Manly P. Hall. Hall's huge survey of Hermetic, Masonic, Rosicrucian, and Qabbalistic symbolism.
Journeys Out of the Body
Robert Monroe. A businessman's first-hand record of out-of-body experiences; he later founded the Monroe Institute.
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho. A fable about a shepherd boy who follows his dream, and the signs along the way.
A Return to Love
Marianne Williamson. Reflections on the principles of A Course in Miracles.
The Four Agreements
Don Miguel Ruiz. Four simple vows from Toltec wisdom for personal freedom.
Limitless Mind
Russell Targ. A physicist's account of remote viewing research and what it suggests about consciousness.
Occult America
Mitch Horowitz. The hidden history of séances, mystics, and alternative faiths in American life.
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down
Haemin Sunim. Gentle reflections from a Korean Zen teacher on calm and mindfulness.
Free guide
Not sure where to start?
Where to Begin is our free reading guide: what New Thought teaches, four reading paths, and how to read the classics well. Subscribe and it arrives in your inbox.
Public domain status differs by country. Free links open a search at the Internet Archive; audiobook links open Audible titles on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Where to Begin
Three reading paths
New Thought writing ranges from one-hour pamphlets to dense metaphysics. Each path below is ordered from gentle to demanding.
The first evening
Short books you can finish in a sitting. A good introduction to the tone of the whole movement.
- As a Man ThinkethJames Allen · about an hour
- Self-RelianceRalph Waldo Emerson · one essay
- Thoughts Are ThingsPrentice Mulford · selected essays
Mind and healing
The original concern of the movement: how belief and attention affect the body.
- The Quimby ManuscriptsPhineas P. Quimby · where it started
- The Mental CureWarren Felt Evans · the first systematic book
- Lessons in TruthH. Emilie Cady · the Unity classic
- The Science of MindErnest Holmes · the full synthesis
Law and abundance
The prosperity writers, read in the order their ideas developed.
- The Edinburgh LecturesThomas Troward · the philosophy underneath
- The Science of Getting RichWallace D. Wattles · the practical method
- Your Invisible PowerGenevieve Behrend · Troward's only student
- The Game of LifeFlorence Scovel Shinn · the most quotable
Imagination: Neville Goddard
The mid-century teacher of “assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled.”
- Feeling Is the SecretThe method in brief
- The Power of AwarenessThe fullest statement
- Out of This WorldThinking fourth-dimensionally