Author Guide · Physics & Philosophy
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In May 1949 the physicist David Bohm, then an assistant professor at Princeton, was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to testify against his colleagues. He was acquitted in 1951, but Princeton did not renew his contract, and he spent the rest of his life working abroad: in São Paulo, Haifa, Bristol and, from 1961, at Birkbeck College in London. He wrote a standard textbook on quantum theory, proposed his own interpretation of it in 1952, and later turned to the nature of thought itself, in long conversations with Jiddu Krishnamurti and in group dialogues of his own. This guide covers his 13 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 13 key books · 1951–1999 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
David Bohm’s best-known book is Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980). His other widely read titles are The Ending of Time (1985), his dialogues with Jiddu Krishnamurti, and On Dialogue (1996), published after his death. Start with On Dialogue, a short collection from his later talks; the sections below explain what each of his books asks of the reader, from no mathematics to a great deal.
Where to Start with David Bohm
If you want a short way in
→ On Dialogue (1996) — his late talks on thinking together.
If you want his central idea
→ Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980) — the implicate order, without equations.
If you want the conversations with Krishnamurti
→ The Ending of Time (1985) — the 1980 dialogues on time and thought.
If you want the physics in full
→ The Undivided Universe (1993) — his interpretation of quantum theory, with the mathematics.
13 David Bohm Books, in Order
Quantum Theory
A textbook written at Princeton, within the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, and published by Prentice-Hall. Einstein admired it. Writing it convinced Bohm that the orthodox account was incomplete, which led to his 1952 papers proposing a different, deterministic interpretation.
Causality and Chance in Modern Physics
A short philosophical book, published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, arguing that chance in physics does not have to be final: what looks random at one level may reflect an order at a deeper level not yet reached.
The Special Theory of Relativity
A textbook on Einstein’s special relativity, published by W. A. Benjamin four years after he became professor of theoretical physics at Birkbeck College, London.
Wholeness and the Implicate Order
His central book for general readers, and it requires no mathematics. Bohm argues that the world we perceive unfolds from a deeper, enfolded ground he called the implicate order, and that thought which treats things as broken into separate, self-existent parts produces a fragmented world. Parts of it first appeared in Fragmentation and Wholeness (1976).
Unfolding Meaning
The record of a weekend of talks and group dialogue with Bohm, edited by Donald Factor and first published by Foundation House.
The Ending of Time
Conversations between Bohm and Jiddu Krishnamurti that took place in America and England between April and September 1980, on time, thought and whether the mind can end its psychological conflict. Some of them were filmed. The later edition also includes their two dialogues published as The Future of Humanity (1986).
Science, Order, and Creativity
Written with the physicist F. David Peat and published by Bantam. It looks at how science actually advances, the place of creative insight in it, and how twentieth-century science became narrower than the questions it set out to answer.
Changing Consciousness
A book written with Mark Edwards and published by HarperSanFrancisco. As the subtitle says, it traces social, political and environmental crises back to the way people think. It is now out of print.
Thought as a System
The transcript of a seminar Bohm gave in Ojai, California, first published by David Bohm Seminars in the year he died. It treats thought as a physical process with its own momentum, one that creates problems and then hides its own part in them.
The Undivided Universe
His final work, written with his Birkbeck colleague Basil Hiley and published by Routledge the year after his death. It is a technical monograph, with the full mathematics, setting out the interpretation of quantum theory Bohm first proposed in 1952.
On Dialogue
A short collection drawn from his later talks, edited by Lee Nichol and published by Routledge four years after his death. It describes dialogue as a discipline in which a group suspends its assumptions and tries to think together rather than argue positions.
On Creativity
A collection of Bohm’s writing on creativity, edited by Lee Nichol and published by Routledge in 1998.
The Limits of Thought
A further series of discussions between Krishnamurti and Bohm, edited by R. McCoy and published by Routledge. The original recordings of the series have been made available by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust.
In What Order to Read David Bohm
Bohm’s books fall into two groups that ask very different things of a reader. The physics books — Quantum Theory, The Special Theory of Relativity and The Undivided Universe — are written for people who can follow the mathematics. The rest, from Wholeness and the Implicate Order onward, are mostly talks, dialogues and essays for general readers.
For the second group, publication order is not much help: several of the best-known titles were edited from recordings after his death in 1992. A practical route is to begin with the short On Dialogue, move to Wholeness and the Implicate Order for the larger idea behind it, and then read the conversations with Krishnamurti in The Ending of Time.
A reading path
1. On Dialogue (1996)
2. Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980)
3. The Ending of Time (1985)
4. Thought as a System (1992)
5. The Undivided Universe (1993)
Everything Else David Bohm Published
Beyond the 13 key books: 9 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Early and out-of-print books
4
4 books · 1962–1989
- 1962Quanta and Realityan early short book on quantum physics
- 1976Fragmentation and Wholenesspublished by the Van Leer Jerusalem Foundation; parts reused in Wholeness and the Implicate Order
- 1986The Future of Humanitytwo dialogues with Krishnamurti, now included in The Ending of Time
- 1989Meaning and Informationa short work listed in his bibliography
Letters, anthologies and posthumous collections
5
5 books · 1999–2020
- 1999Bohm–Biederman Correspondenceletters on creativity in art and science with the artist Charles Biederman, edited by Paavo Pylkkänen
- 2002The Essential David Bohman anthology edited by Lee Nichol
- 2017David Bohm: Causality and Chance, Letters to Three Womenletters edited by Chris Talbot
- 2018The Unity of Everythingwith Nish Dubashia
- 2020David Bohm’s Critique of Modern Physicsletters to Jeffrey Bub, 1966–1969, edited by Chris Talbot
The years · 1917–1992
Quick facts about David Bohm
- Known for
- David Bohm is known for his deterministic interpretation of quantum theory, the Aharonov–Bohm effect, the idea of an implicate order beneath the visible world, and a form of group conversation now called Bohm dialogue.
- 1917
- Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
- 1949
- Refuses to testify before HUAC
- 1961
- Professor at Birkbeck College, London
- 1992
- Dies in London, aged 74
- Born
- 20 December 1917, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
- Died
- 27 October 1992, Hendon, London
- Education
- Penn State (1939); PhD at Berkeley (1943) under J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Worked
- Princeton; University of São Paulo; Technion, Haifa; Bristol; Birkbeck College, London, 1961–1987
- Known for
- Bohm interpretation (1952); Aharonov–Bohm effect (1959, with Yakir Aharonov)
- Honours
- Fellow of the Royal Society (1990); Elliott Cresson Medal (1991)
- Married
- Sarah Woolfson, whom he met in Haifa, in 1956
The red mark is 1980: Wholeness and the Implicate Order, the book in which he set out the idea he is best known for outside physics.
How David Bohm Writes: From Equations to Conversation
Bohm wrote in two registers. His early books and his last, The Undivided Universe, are working physics, with derivations and equations. Wholeness and the Implicate Order keeps the questions of physics but drops the mathematics, and moves from the behaviour of particles to the habits of thought that divide the world into separate pieces.
Much of his later work was spoken before it was written. Unfolding Meaning, Thought as a System and On Dialogue come from weekends and seminars, edited from recordings, so they read as transcribed talk and group discussion rather than written argument. The editors who shaped them, Donald Factor and Lee Nichol, are credited on the books.
The longest-running conversation was with Jiddu Krishnamurti, which lasted about 25 years and produced The Ending of Time and The Limits of Thought. In them Bohm brings a physicist’s questions about time, order and thought to Krishnamurti’s inquiry into the mind. For the other side of those talks, see the guide to Jiddu Krishnamurti’s books.
Watch
Krishnamurti and David Bohm: The Transformation of Man
A filmed 1976 conversation from the Transformation of Man series, in which Bohm and Krishnamurti, joined by David Shainberg, discuss thought and the possibility of psychological change.
Frequently asked questions about David Bohm’s books
How many books has David Bohm written?
Around twenty books appear under his name, many of them edited from talks and letters after his death in 1992. This page lists 13 key books, from Quantum Theory (1951) to The Limits of Thought (1999), and 9 more early, out-of-print and posthumous titles.
What are David Bohm’s books in order?
Quantum Theory (1951), Causality and Chance in Modern Physics (1957), The Special Theory of Relativity (1965), Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980), Unfolding Meaning (1985), The Ending of Time (1985), Science, Order, and Creativity (1987), Changing Consciousness (1991), Thought as a System (1992), The Undivided Universe (1993), On Dialogue (1996), On Creativity (1998) and The Limits of Thought (1999).
Where should I start with David Bohm?
With On Dialogue (1996), a short collection from his later talks that needs no background in physics. Then read Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980) for the idea behind it.
What is David Bohm’s most famous book?
Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980), in which he introduced the implicate order: the idea that the world we see unfolds from a deeper, enfolded whole. In physics he is known above all for his 1952 interpretation of quantum theory and the Aharonov–Bohm effect.
Why did David Bohm leave the United States?
In May 1949 he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to give evidence against colleagues. He was arrested in 1950 for refusing to answer questions and acquitted in May 1951, but Princeton had already suspended him and did not renew his contract. He took a professorship at the University of São Paulo, where the US consul confiscated his passport on his arrival in October 1951. He later became a British citizen and regained his US citizenship in 1986 after a lawsuit.
What is The Ending of Time about?
It is a series of conversations between Bohm and Jiddu Krishnamurti, held in America and England between April and September 1980, on time, thought and whether psychological conflict can end. It was published in 1985; the later edition adds their two dialogues from The Future of Humanity.
How long did David Bohm work with Krishnamurti?
About 25 years. Their published dialogues include The Ending of Time (1985), The Future of Humanity (1986) and The Limits of Thought (1999), and many of their conversations were recorded on audio or film.
What is a Bohm dialogue?
A form of group conversation Bohm developed in his later years, described in On Dialogue (1996): participants suspend their assumptions and try to observe how thought works in the group, rather than trying to win an argument.
Is David Bohm still alive?
No. He died of a heart attack on 27 October 1992 in Hendon, London, aged 74. The Undivided Universe, written with Basil Hiley, was published the following year.
Is there a biography of David Bohm?
Yes: Infinite Potential by the physicist F. David Peat, his co-author on Science, Order, and Creativity, published in 1997. A documentary film about Bohm shares its title.
Footnotes
- David Bohm — Wikipedia
- Books by David Bohm — David Bohm Society
- Audio and video recordings of David Bohm — David Bohm Society
- Krishnamurti and David Bohm: audio and video conversations — Krishnamurti Foundation Trust
- David Bohm books: a reading list — Infinite Potential
- David Bohm and the challenge of a fragmented society — Pari Center
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Indeed, the attempt to live according to the notion that the fragments are really separate is, in essence, what has led to the growing series of extremely urgent crises that is confronting us today.”
— David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980)
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