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In the early 1940s, while working as an architect in India, Douglas Harding came across a self-portrait by the physicist Ernst Mach: a body seen from its own point of view, with no head at the top of it. Harding looked down at himself and found the same thing. He spent the next eight years turning that observation into a philosophy, published by Faber and Faber in 1952 with a preface by C.S. Lewis, and in 1961 the Buddhist Society in London published the short book that made his name, On Having No Head. He went on writing, and leading workshops around the world, until he was in his nineties. This guide covers his 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1952–2002 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Douglas Harding published around sixteen books between 1952 and 2006. The best known is On Having No Head (1961); the others include The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth (1952), The Little Book of Life and Death (1988) and Look For Yourself (1996). Start with On Having No Head: it is short, and it describes both the original experience and the method he built on it.
Where to Start with Douglas Harding
If you want the book that made his name
→ On Having No Head (1961) — the 1961 account of seeing he had no head.
If you want his full philosophy
→ The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth (1952) — the 1952 book C.S. Lewis prefaced.
If you want his ideas told as a story
→ The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God (1992) — a blasphemy trial set in 2003.
If you want short essays to dip into
→ Look For Yourself (1996) — 29 pieces, his first essay collection.
11 Douglas Harding Books, in Order
The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth
Harding’s first book starts from the question “What am I?” and answers it with what the subtitle calls a new diagram of man in the universe: a person as a hierarchy of levels, worked out over eight years of writing. Faber and Faber published a condensed version in 1952 with a preface by C.S. Lewis, who praised it highly. The full typescript, of more than 700 pages and 400 drawings, was reproduced by the Shollond Trust in 1998.
On Having No Head
A short book, first published by the Buddhist Society in London, describing the day in India when Harding saw that, from his own point of view, he had no head, only the world in its place. He calls it his “rebirthday” and relates it to Zen accounts of awakening. In 1985 he added a chapter, “The Eight Stages of the Headless Way”, and it remains his best-known book.
Religions of the World
A survey of the major world religions, published by Heinemann, that treats them as one family and looks at what each contributes. Harding argues that science supports what he sees as the central insight they share. He revised and extended the book in the 1980s.
The Science of the 1st Person
Published by his own Shollond Publications, this book sets out the case that finding the truth about oneself can be done as methodically as science finds the truth about other things. It belongs to the period, from the late 1960s, when he was developing his practical experiments.
The Little Book of Life and Death
Published by Penguin’s Arkana imprint, this is Harding’s look at dying. He argues that what a person really is, seen from the first person, lies before and beyond death.
Head Off Stress
The second of his three Arkana books takes his method into everyday life. Rather than offering ways to escape stress, it advises accepting it fully, on the argument that the conflict then falls away.
The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God
Harding’s ideas in the form of a court case: in the year 2003, a man is tried for blasphemy for claiming to be God. The trial is a way of dramatising his techniques for seeing who we are. Published by Arkana.
The Spectre in the Lake
A romantic adventure story in the tradition of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, in which a pilgrimage leads beyond the illusory self. It also works as a condensation of The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth. Published by Head Exchange Press.
Look For Yourself
His first collection of essays: 29 pieces, published by Head Exchange Press, including “How to Surrender”, “The Shortest Path” and “Mapping the First Person”. Each takes a different angle on the same question of first-person identity.
Face to No-Face
A series of dialogues with Harding, edited by David Lang and published by Inner Directions, that takes the reader through his exercises one by one.
To Be and Not To Be
A late collection of essays, published by Watkins when Harding was in his nineties, on the themes of being and non-being that run through all his work.
In What Order to Read Douglas Harding
Harding wrote about one subject all his life, so the order matters less than the format. On Having No Head is the obvious first book; after it, choose by form: argument (The Science of the 1st Person), fiction (The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God, The Spectre in the Lake), essays (Look For Yourself) or dialogue (Face to No-Face).
Leave The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth until you know the central idea. It is his longest and most demanding book, and most of what he wrote later is a shorter, more practical route to the same place.
A reading path
1. On Having No Head (1961)
2. Face to No-Face (2000)
3. Look For Yourself (1996)
4. The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God (1992)
5. The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth (1952)
Everything Else Douglas Harding Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 5 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other books and compilations
5
5 books · 1955–2006
- 1955Visible Godsa Socratic dialogue with an astronomer, a Freudian analyst, a biologist and a biochemist
- 1972The Toolkit for Testing the Incredible Hypothesisa kit of his experiments, from Shollond Publications
- 1976The Hidden Gospela workshop manual reading the teachings of Jesus through his experiments
- 2005Open to the Sourceselected teachings, edited by Richard Lang
- 2006The Turning Pointtext, drawings and experiments, published the year before his death
The years · 1909–2007
Quick facts about Douglas Harding
- Known for
- Harding is known for the “Headless Way”: the claim, tested through simple experiments rather than belief, that from your own point of view you have no head, only open awareness filled with the world.
- 1909
- Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk
- 1930
- Leaves the Exclusive Brethren at 21
- 1996
- Shollond Trust founded with Richard Lang
- 2007
- Dies in Nacton, Suffolk
- Born
- 12 February 1909, Lowestoft, Suffolk
- Died
- 11 January 2007, Nacton, Suffolk, aged 97
- Upbringing
- The Exclusive Plymouth Brethren, who excommunicated him at 21
- Profession
- Architect in London and India; Royal Engineers officer in the Second World War
- Teaching
- The Headless Way, through experiments and workshops worldwide
- Trust
- The Shollond Trust, founded in 1996 with Richard Lang
The red mark is 1961: On Having No Head, his best-known book.
How Douglas Harding Writes: Look, Don’t Believe
Harding trained and worked as an architect, and he writes like one: with drawings and diagrams. The full typescript of The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth has more than 400 of them, and the starting point of his best-known book is a picture: Ernst Mach’s drawing of the body seen from its own point of view, with no head at the top.
His central move is to ask the reader to check rather than accept. From the late 1960s he turned his ideas into practical experiments, simple things to do with the eyes and the body, and in 1976 he built a physical model, the Youniverse Explorer, of the layers he believed make up a person. He refused the role of guru: the authority, he said, is the reader’s own first-person experience.
He tried every form he could think of to make the same point: philosophical argument, a Socratic dialogue (Visible Gods), a courtroom drama (The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God), an allegory after Bunyan (The Spectre in the Lake), essays and recorded dialogues. Readers coming from Zen, from Advaita writers such as Nisargadatta Maharaj, or from Alan Watts will find much of the ground familiar; the experiments are what is his own.
Watch
Douglas Harding Interviewed by Ed Musika (1989)
Ed Musika interviews Douglas Harding, then 80, in Santa Monica, California, on 22 November 1989. From the official Richard Lang channel.
Frequently asked questions about Douglas Harding’s books
How many books has Douglas Harding written?
Around sixteen books between 1952 and 2006, according to the Headless Way bibliography. Eleven are the key books on this page, from The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth (1952) to To Be and Not To Be (2002); the other five are listed under “Everything else”. Further collections, such as As I See It, were published after his death.
What are Douglas Harding’s books in order?
The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth (1952), On Having No Head (1961), Religions of the World (1966), The Science of the 1st Person (1974), The Little Book of Life and Death (1988), Head Off Stress (1990), The Trial of the Man Who Said He Was God (1992), The Spectre in the Lake (1996), Look For Yourself (1996), Face to No-Face (2000) and To Be and Not To Be (2002).
Where should I start with Douglas Harding?
With On Having No Head (1961). It is short, it describes the experience everything else grew from, and later editions add “The Eight Stages of the Headless Way”, added in 1985.
What is Douglas Harding’s most famous book?
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, first published by the Buddhist Society in London in 1961.
What is the Headless Way?
The name for Harding’s teaching: that from your own first-person point of view you cannot see your head, only the world appearing in open, aware space, and that noticing this is seeing who you really are. He taught it through experiments rather than doctrine. The Shollond Trust, founded in 1996 with Richard Lang, continues it.
Did C.S. Lewis write the preface to The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth?
Yes. Lewis read a condensed version of the manuscript, wrote to Harding with great enthusiasm, and contributed the preface when Faber and Faber published the book in 1952.
Was Douglas Harding a Buddhist?
Not formally. He grew up in the Exclusive Brethren, a strict Christian sect, and was excommunicated at 21. On Having No Head was published by the Buddhist Society and draws on Zen, but he also wrote on Christianity (The Hidden Gospel) and on all the major religions (Religions of the World).
Is Douglas Harding still alive?
No. He was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 12 February 1909 and died in Nacton, Suffolk, on 11 January 2007, a month before his 98th birthday.
Who was Ernst Mach and why does he matter to Harding?
Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who drew a self-portrait of his body as seen from his own point of view, with no head. Finding that drawing helped Harding see the same about himself, the observation behind On Having No Head.
Footnotes
- Douglas Harding — Wikipedia
- Douglas Harding obituary — The Headless Way
- Douglas Harding — The Headless Way
- Bibliography — The Headless Way
- Full Headless Way Catalogue, October 2023 — The Shollond Trust
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.
“I had lost a head and gained a world.”
— Douglas Harding, On Having No Head (1961)
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