Reading List
The Best Spiritual Teachers to Read
A Harvard psychology lecturer is dismissed in 1963, travels to India and comes home as Ram Dass. In 1986 a depressed woman in California is referred to a women’s counselling centre in Los Angeles, and what she realises there becomes four simple questions she calls The Work. A Yogi’s autobiography from 1946 meant so much to Steve Jobs that copies were handed to the guests at his memorial. These twelve teachers come from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and from no tradition at all, but they share one thing: they write for ordinary people who want to live differently, and each one comes with the single book to start with.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 books · Modern teachers from every tradition · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
Start with Eckhart Tolle if you want the modern classic, Pema Chödrön if you are going through a hard time, or Ram Dass if you want warmth and humour. This list is about teachers who write practical books for everyday life, whatever their tradition. For the philosophy of non-duality across the centuries, see the separate list of non-duality authors; for teachers within Buddhism, see the Buddhist writers list.
The list at a glance
- 01Eckhart Tolle Eckhart Tolle
- 02Ram Dass Ram Dass
- 03Alan Watts Alan Watts
- 04Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti
- 05Pema Chödrön Pema Chödrön
- 06Byron Katie Byron Katie
- 07Michael A. Singer Michael A. Singer
- 08Marianne Williamson Marianne Williamson
- 09Thomas Merton Thomas Merton
- 10Evelyn Underhill Evelyn Underhill
- 11Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda
- 12Rupert Spira Rupert Spira
Twelve spiritual teachers, and where to start
Eckhart Tolle
Born Ulrich Leonard Tölle in Lünen, Germany, he teaches that most suffering comes from identifying with the thinking mind. Oprah Winfrey chose his second book, A New Earth, for her book club in 2008. Critics have called his books derivative of older traditions, but they remain among the most read spiritual books of our time.
Where to startStart with The Power of Now (1997). For readers who live in their heads and want a way out.
Ram Dass
Born Richard Alpert, he was dismissed from Harvard in 1963 after psychedelic research with Timothy Leary. In India in 1967 he met the guru Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him his new name. After a stroke in 1997 left him with aphasia, he wrote about ageing and dying with unusual honesty.
Where to startStart with Be Here Now (1971); if you are facing illness or old age, read Still Here (2000). For readers who want spiritual teaching with warmth and humour.
Alan Watts
Born in Chislehurst, Kent, Watts was an Episcopal priest in America before he left the church in 1950 and became the great popular interpreter of Zen and Taoism for Western readers. His radio talks, recorded from 1953, still circulate widely online.
Where to startStart with The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951). Short and witty, for anxious readers who keep trying to make life safe.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Raised by the Theosophical Society to be a new World Teacher, Krishnamurti dissolved the organisation built around him in 1929, declaring that truth is a pathless land. For the next fifty-seven years he travelled and spoke without followers, rituals or method.
Where to startStart with Freedom from the Known (1969). For readers who distrust gurus, including him.
Pema Chödrön
Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York, she became a Buddhist nun and the first director of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She writes about fear, loss and staying with what hurts. She also appears on the Buddhist writers list, but her books are read far beyond Buddhism.
Where to startStart with When Things Fall Apart (1997). The book people pass on when life breaks open.
Byron Katie
In 1986, depressed and agoraphobic, Katie was referred to a women’s counselling centre in Los Angeles, where she had the insight that became The Work: four questions you ask about any painful thought. She now teaches the method worldwide.
Where to startStart with Loving What Is (2002), written with Stephen Mitchell. For readers who want a practical method rather than a philosophy.
Michael A. Singer
A Florida meditation teacher who founded the Temple of the Universe in 1975 and built a large medical software company. In 2005 he was among former Medical Manager executives indicted over accounting fraud at the company; he has maintained his innocence, and the charges against him were later dropped under a deferred prosecution agreement.
Where to startStart with The Untethered Soul (2007). For readers who want to step back from the voice in their head.
Marianne Williamson
Williamson became famous teaching A Course in Miracles, and Oprah Winfrey championed her first book. She ran for the US presidency in 2020 and 2024. She has drawn sharp criticism for calling the diagnosis of clinical depression a “scam” and for her doubts about antidepressants.
Where to startStart with A Return to Love (1992). For readers drawn to a Christian-tinged language of love and forgiveness.
Thomas Merton
A Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky from 1941, whose memoir The Seven Storey Mountain (1948) became a bestseller. He wrote more about Zen than about any other Eastern tradition and died in Thailand in 1968, at an interfaith monastic conference.
Where to startStart with New Seeds of Contemplation (1961). For readers who want silence and prayer without dogma.
Evelyn Underhill
An Anglican writer and spiritual director who was the first woman officially allowed to lead retreats for the Church of England. In 1921 she became the first woman invited to give a lecture series on religion at Oxford.
Where to startStart with Practical Mysticism (1914), which she subtitled “a little book for normal people”. For readers who want the mystics explained without jargon.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Yogananda arrived in Boston in 1920 and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship the same year, teaching meditation and Kriya Yoga to Americans for more than thirty years.
Where to startStart with Autobiography of a Yogi (1946). For readers who like their teaching in the form of a life story, miracles and all.
Rupert Spira
A London-born potter who studied with the teacher Francis Lucille from 1997 and now leads meetings and retreats on the nature of awareness. He also appears on the non-duality list, but his recent books are written for beginners.
Where to startStart with You Are the Happiness You Seek (2022). For readers who want to explore the question “who am I?” slowly and clearly.
Not sure where to start?
If you want the modern classic
→ Start with Eckhart Tolle or Michael A. Singer.
If you are going through a hard time
→ Read Pema Chödrön or Byron Katie.
If you come from a Christian background
→ Read Thomas Merton or Evelyn Underhill.
If you distrust gurus
→ Read Jiddu Krishnamurti or Alan Watts.
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Frequently asked questions about spiritual teachers
Who is the best spiritual teacher to read for beginners?
Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is the most common first book. Michael A. Singer’s The Untethered Soul and Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart are gentler alternatives.
Which spiritual teachers are women?
On this list: Pema Chödrön, Byron Katie, Marianne Williamson and Evelyn Underhill.
What is the difference between spiritual teachers and non-duality authors?
Non-duality authors write about one idea, that the self and the world are not separate, across many traditions and centuries. This list is about modern teachers of any tradition who write practical books for everyday life; a few, such as Rupert Spira, appear on both.
Is Marianne Williamson controversial?
Yes. She has drawn sharp criticism for calling the diagnosis of clinical depression a “scam” and for her doubts about antidepressants.
Which spiritual book did Steve Jobs read?
Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (1946). Copies were handed to the guests at his memorial.
Footnotes
- Krishnamurti dissolved the Order of the Star in the East at Ommen in the Netherlands on 3 August 1929.
- Oprah Winfrey chose Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth for her book club in January 2008.
- Michael A. Singer was among ten former Medical Manager officers and employees indicted in December 2005 (AuntMinnie, “Former Emdeon execs indicted”); the charges against him were dropped after a deferred prosecution agreement in 2010.
More from the shelf
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Prominent Authors on Non-Duality
From Shankara and Rumi to Rupert Spira.
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The Best Buddhist Writers
Twelve Buddhist teachers, and where to start.
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Books on Spirituality
The books that made me use the word anyway.
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The Best Books on Eastern Philosophy
Tao Te Ching, the Gita, the Buddha and more.
From the bookshelf
“Mysticism is the art of union with Reality.”
— Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism
More books I keep coming back to are on my personal bookshelf, and every month one of them goes out to the Night Owl Bookclub.
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