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On 3 August 1929, at a camp at Ommen in the Netherlands, the 34-year-old Krishnamurti dissolved the Order of the Star, the organisation the Theosophical Society had built around him as the coming World Teacher. “I maintain that Truth is a pathless land,” he told its members. Twenty years earlier C. W. Leadbeater had picked him out, a fourteen-year-old boy, on the Theosophical Society’s beach at Adyar. For the rest of his life he gave talks, from Ojai to Saanen to Madras, where he spoke for the last time on 4 January 1986, six weeks before his death. Almost all of his books are those talks, recorded, transcribed and edited by others; a few are notebooks he wrote by hand or, at the end, dictated into a tape recorder. This guide covers the key books in order, where to start, and how the talks became books.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 key books · 1910–1996 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
This guide covers 12 key books, from At the Feet of the Master (1910), whose authorship is disputed, to the anthology Total Freedom (1996), plus 16 more in the list further down. The last book he made himself, spoken into a tape recorder in Ojai, is Krishnamurti to Himself (1987). Because nearly everything began as a talk, where to start depends on whether you want argument, conversation or a diary.
Where to Start with Jiddu Krishnamurti
If you want the book that brought him a wide readership
→ The First and Last Freedom (1954).
If you want one short book
→ Freedom from the Known (1969).
If you prefer scenes and conversations to argument
→ Commentaries on Living (1956).
If you want him writing for himself, day by day
→ Krishnamurti’s Notebook (1976).
If you want his last words, on dying
→ Krishnamurti to Himself (1987).
12 Key Jiddu Krishnamurti Books, in Order
At the Feet of the Master
A short book of moral instruction published in December 1910 by the Theosophist Office at Adyar, under the name “Alcyone”, the pseudonym C. W. Leadbeater had given Krishnamurti, then fifteen. Its foreword says: “These are not my words; they are the words of the Master who taught me.” Who actually wrote it has been argued over since the first edition: Krishnamurti’s handwritten notes were arranged and typed by Leadbeater and are now lost, and decades later Krishnamurti said he had no memory of writing it. Within a year it had gone through twenty-seven editions.
Education and the Significance of Life
A 125-page book published by Harper in New York in 1953; the Krishnamurti Foundation of America’s chronology calls it his first commercially published book. It asks what schools are for and what parents and teachers pass on to children besides information. According to Radha Rajagopal Sloss it was edited, without credit, by D. Rajagopal, his associate, editor and business manager.
The First and Last Freedom
Published in May 1954 by Harper & Brothers in New York and Gollancz in London, and built from verbatim reports of talks he gave between 1947 and 1952. Twenty short chapters on fear, desire, the self and the relation between the thinker and his thought are followed by 38 questions from audiences and his answers. Aldous Huxley, a friend since 1938, wrote a ten-page foreword and had brought the work to Harper; D. Rajagopal edited it without a credit.
Commentaries on Living
Notes he kept on and off through the 1930s and 1940s: observations, descriptions of nature, and conversations with people and groups who came to see him. Aldous Huxley encouraged him to keep writing and to publish them. Harper issued them in three series, edited by D. Rajagopal: 254 pages in 1956, 242 in 1958 and 312 in 1960.
Think on These Things
Talks and discussions with students, teachers and parents in India, first published in 1964. It belongs with Education and the Significance of Life and the later Letters to the Schools as his work on education, alongside the schools he founded in India, the oldest of them Rishi Valley, about ten miles from his birthplace at Madanapalle.
Freedom from the Known
A 124-page book published by Harper & Row in 1969. Mary Lutyens, a lifelong friend who later wrote his biography in three volumes (1975, 1983 and 1988), chose and edited passages from talks that had not been printed before. It is the shortest of the books built from his talks.
The Only Revolution
Published in 1970 and edited by Mary Lutyens, it alternates descriptions of landscape with conversations and short passages on meditation. The people who come to see him include a lawyer who believes in Vedanta, a widow who has lost her husband and child, a gunnery instructor looking for God, a sannyasi, a psychoanalyst and a film director.
Krishnamurti’s Notebook
Written by hand almost every day from 18 June 1961 in New York to 23 January 1962 in Delhi, by way of England, Switzerland, France, Italy and India: about 214 entries. Many describe what he called “the process”, a painful physical condition with headaches that he had had on and off since 1922. Gollancz and Harper & Row published it in May 1976 (252 pages); a 2003 full-text edition adds about thirty entries, to 19 March 1962, found when 32 more pages turned up in 2000.
Krishnamurti’s Journal
Begun on 14 September 1973 at Brockwood Park in Hampshire, continued in Rome, and taken up again in California in April 1975, with the last entry on 24 April 1975 at Malibu. Mary Lutyens said that she had suggested he keep it. The first edition, published by Gollancz and Harper & Row early in 1982, was about a hundred pages; a 2023 edition, The Beauty of Life, adds thirteen entries he wrote in August 1981.
The Ending of Time
Conversations with the physicist David Bohm, with whom he had been holding recorded dialogues since August 1965, after a gathering at Saanen in Switzerland. In 1980 the two held a series of fifteen dialogues, some of them videotaped; thirteen make up this book. It was edited, without credit, by Mary Cadogan, and a later edition adds the remaining two.
Krishnamurti to Himself
Too old by then to write a journal by hand, he spoke into a portable tape recorder, alone, between 25 February 1983 and 30 March 1984, almost always at his house in Ojai; one entry was recorded at Brockwood Park on 31 May 1983. Mary Lutyens transcribed the 27 sections with few changes. It was published in June 1987, sixteen months after his death, and runs to 134 pages; the last entry is about dying.
Total Freedom
An introduction to the whole body of work, published ten years after his death and made of selections from his books and talks. It was edited by four people, Mary Cadogan, Alan Kishbaugh, Mark Lee and Ray McCoy, and gives a reader a sample of each period in one volume before choosing a single book.
How Many Books Has Jiddu Krishnamurti Written?
There is no single number: one trade source counts more than 75 books, and by 2010 library catalogues recorded 4,580 publications in 53 languages, because the same talks were transcribed, edited, anthologised and re-titled many times. The groups below follow how the books were made.
- Early Theosophical text — At the Feet of the Master Read the entries →
- Edited talks — The First and Last Freedom, Think on These Things, Freedom from the Known Read the entries →
- Written in his own hand — Commentaries on Living, Krishnamurti’s Notebook, Krishnamurti’s Journal Read the entries →
- Dialogues and dictation — The Ending of Time, Krishnamurti to Himself Read the entries →
- Early talks, letters and collected editions — the seventeen-volume Collected Works and other titles See the list →
In What Order to Read Jiddu Krishnamurti
None of the books depends on another, and because most are edited talks the same questions — fear, thought, conflict, the self — come back in each. It helps to read one book of talks, one of the books he wrote himself and one of the dialogues, rather than several of a kind.
Three books belong together as diaries: Krishnamurti’s Notebook (written 1961–62), Krishnamurti’s Journal (1973–75) and Krishnamurti to Himself (1983–84), best read in that order. At the Feet of the Master is a Theosophical text from before 1929 and reads differently from everything after it; it is best left until the later work is familiar.
A reading path
1. The First and Last Freedom (1954), with Huxley’s foreword
2. Freedom from the Known (1969)
3. Commentaries on Living (1956), the first series
4. Krishnamurti’s Notebook (1976)
5. The Ending of Time (1985), with David Bohm
6. Krishnamurti to Himself (1987), to finish
Everything Else Jiddu Krishnamurti Published: The Full List
Beyond the 12 key books: 16 more titles, grouped by form.
Open a form with the + to see every book in it.
Early talks, 1930–1934
5
5 books · 1930–1934
- 1930Experience and Conducttalks published the year after the dissolution at Ommen
- 1930The Purpose of Educationan early talk on education, published the same year
- 1930Pathless Realitya title that echoes the 1929 speech
- 1934A Vision of Lifetalks from the early 1930s
- 1934Tradition Which Has Lost Its Soula talk published as a short book
Talks and dialogues, edited
8
8 books · 1964–1987
- 1964This Matter of Cultureedited by D. Rajagopal
- 1971The Urgency of Changea book-length set of questions and answers, edited by Mary Lutyens
- 1972You Are the Worldtalks
- 1973The Awakening of Intelligenceedited by Cornelia and George Wingfield Digby
- 1975Beginnings of Learningtalks and discussions
- 1977Truth and Actualityedited by Cornelia and George Wingfield Digby
- 1978The Wholeness of Lifetalks and dialogues, published in abridged form
- 1987Last Talks at Saanen, 1985his last talks at Saanen, published after his death
Letters to his schools
2
2 books · 1981–1985
- 1981Letters to the Schools, Volume Onepublished by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust at Bramdean
- 1985Letters to the Schools, Volume Twothe second set of letters
Collected editions
1
1 book · 1991
- 1991The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurtiseventeen volumes, 1991–92, covering his talks from 1933 to 1967
Quick facts about Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Born
- 11 May 1895, Madanapalle, in what is now Andhra Pradesh, India
- Died
- 17 February 1986, Ojai, California, aged 90
- Known for
- Walking away in 1929 from the role of World Teacher that the Theosophists had prepared for him, and spending the rest of his life telling audiences that no teacher, path or organisation could lead them to truth
- Discovered
- In 1909, by C. W. Leadbeater on the Theosophical Society’s beach at Adyar, Madras
- 1929
- Dissolved the Order of the Star at Ommen, the Netherlands, on 3 August
- Home
- Ojai, California, from 1922
- Foundations
- England 1968, America 1969, India 1970
- Schools
- Rishi Valley in India, Brockwood Park in England (1969) and Oak Grove in Ojai, among others
How Krishnamurti Taught: Talks Turned into Books
He spoke far more than he wrote. From 1944 a company, Krishnamurti Writings, Inc., printed his talks, and most of the books were made by editors from verbatim reports: D. Rajagopal edited Education and the Significance of Life, The First and Last Freedom and Commentaries on Living, and Mary Lutyens edited Freedom from the Known, The Only Revolution and The Urgency of Change. Aldous Huxley, whom he met in 1938, encouraged him to write and brought his work to Harper. The exceptions are the notebooks and journals he wrote by hand, and his last book, which he dictated into a tape recorder and Lutyens transcribed.
The same questions run through all of it: what the self is, fear and desire, the relation between the thinker and the thought, and an attention he called choiceless awareness. Many books keep the shape of the meetings they came from, with questions from the audience and his answers, and from 1965 he held long recorded dialogues with the physicist David Bohm. He had rejected the role prepared for him: the 1929 speech at Ommen said that truth “cannot be approached by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.”
The First and Last Freedom, with Huxley’s foreword, brought larger audiences to his talks after 1954. His later years were marked by a break with Rajagopal: in the early 1970s he and the new Krishnamurti Foundation of America went to court against Krishnamurti Writings, Inc., which Rajagopal ran, to recover donated property, funds and the rights to his books and manuscripts; part was settled in 1974 and the remaining matters in 1986, shortly after his death. In 1991 Radha Rajagopal Sloss published Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti, which says he had a relationship of about twenty-five years with Rosalind Rajagopal, beginning in 1932. Mary Lutyens’s reply, Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals (1996), acknowledged the relationship; Krishnamurti never spoke about it publicly.
Frequently asked questions about Jiddu Krishnamurti’s books
How many books did Jiddu Krishnamurti write?
There is no fixed number. One trade source counts more than 75 books, almost all of them edited transcripts of talks and discussions, and by 2010 library catalogues recorded 4,580 publications in 53 languages. This guide covers 12 key books, from At the Feet of the Master (1910) to Total Freedom (1996), and lists 16 more, including the seventeen-volume Collected Works (1991–92).
Which Krishnamurti book should I read first?
The First and Last Freedom (1954), edited from talks he gave between 1947 and 1952, with a foreword by Aldous Huxley. For something shorter, Freedom from the Known (1969), edited by Mary Lutyens, runs to 124 pages.
What was Krishnamurti’s last book?
Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal, published in June 1987, the year after his death. He dictated it into a tape recorder between February 1983 and March 1984, mostly at his home in Ojai, and Mary Lutyens transcribed it. The last entry is about dying.
Did Krishnamurti really write At the Feet of the Master?
It is disputed. The book was published in 1910 under the name “Alcyone”, when he was fifteen. His handwritten notes were arranged and typed by C. W. Leadbeater and have been lost, so it is unclear how much was changed, and it has been proposed that Leadbeater was the real author. Decades later Krishnamurti said he had no memory of writing it.
What is The Ending of Time?
A book of conversations between Krishnamurti and the physicist David Bohm, published in 1985. It contains thirteen of the fifteen dialogues the two held in 1980; they had been recording dialogues together since 1965.
Why is The First and Last Freedom so well known?
It was the first of his books to reach a large general readership, published by Harper and Gollancz in May 1954 with a ten-page foreword by Aldous Huxley. The Krishnamurti Foundation of America’s chronology says it brought greater numbers to his talks.
What were the Rajagopal lawsuits?
D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti’s associate, editor and business manager, ran Krishnamurti Writings, Inc., which published his talks from 1944. In the early 1970s Krishnamurti and the Krishnamurti Foundation of America sued to recover donated property, funds and the rights to his books and manuscripts. Part of the case was settled in 1974 and the remaining matters in 1986, shortly after his death.
Who was Jiddu Krishnamurti?
An Indian speaker and writer, born in Madanapalle in 1895, who was raised by the Theosophical Society as its coming World Teacher and in 1929 dissolved the organisation built around him, saying that truth is a pathless land. For the next five decades he gave talks in India, Europe and the United States, founded schools such as Rishi Valley and Brockwood Park, and died in Ojai, California, on 17 February 1986.
Footnotes
- Jiddu Krishnamurti — Wikipedia
- Jiddu Krishnamurti — Encyclopædia Britannica
- Timeline 1905–1914 — The Life of Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti Foundation of America
- Timeline 1925–1934 — The Life of Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti Foundation of America
- Timeline 1945–1954 — The Life of Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti Foundation of America
- Timeline 1965–1974 — The Life of Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti Foundation of America
- About the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust — kfoundation.org
- About Brockwood Park School — brockwood.org.uk
- Jiddu Krishnamurti bibliography — Wikipedia
- At the Feet of the Master — Wikipedia
- The First and Last Freedom — Kirkus Reviews
- Commentaries on Living — Wikipedia
- Krishnamurti’s Notebook — Wikipedia
- Krishnamurti’s Journal — Wikipedia
- The Dialogues — bohmkrishnamurti.com
- Krishnamurti to Himself — Wikipedia
Bibliography last verified 7 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 maintain that Truth is a pathless land and cannot be approached by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti, speech dissolving the Order of the Star, Ommen, 3 August 1929
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