Neville Goddard's books in order, and which one to read first
Read Feeling Is the Secret (1944) first. It is short, about half an hour of reading, and it teaches his whole method in four chapters. Then read The Power of Awareness (1952), Awakened Imagination (1954), The Law and the Promise (1961) and Out of This World (1949). Save his first books, from 1939 and 1941, for later.
The reading order
Start with short, practical books, then go deeper.
- Feeling Is the Secret (1944). About half an hour. It gives his whole method in four short chapters. You learn what to feel, when to feel it (as you fall asleep), and why feeling matters more than words.
- The Power of Awareness (1952). About an hour and a half, in 27 short chapters. It is the fullest how-to he wrote. It covers assumption, attention and persistence, which means holding on to your assumption over time. Real-life stories come at the end.
- Awakened Imagination (1954). About an hour. It explains what imagination is and how your silent inner talking shapes your days. It also has his best chapter on revision. Revision means replaying a bad moment in your mind the way you wish it had gone.
- The Law and the Promise (1961). About two and a half hours, but most of it is stories, so it reads fast. It is full of letters from his students about what they imagined and what happened. The last chapter tells of his own spiritual experiences.
- Out of This World (1949). About 35 minutes. Its four chapters give the clearest steps for building one small scene. It comes fifth because it talks about a “fourth dimension.” That idea makes more sense once you know the basics.
After these five, read whatever interests you. Choose the early books if you love the Bible side of Neville. Choose the later ones if his spiritual teaching speaks to you.
Why not start with his first book?
His first books are harder to read, and they give you less to practice tonight.
At Your Command (1939) is short, but it reads like one intense sermon. It is about “I AM” as the name of God, with little step-by-step advice. Your Faith Is Your Fortune (1941) is long and reads almost like a Bible study.
Both books share the core idea he taught all his life. But he explained it far more simply later, with examples and stories.
A modern reader usually wants two things: to understand the idea, and to try it tonight. Feeling Is the Secret gives you both in one sitting. That is why it is the usual first book, and our pick too.
Which is his most popular book? There are no public sales figures. Judging by what people search for, Feeling Is the Secret is the best known. The Power of Awareness is close behind.
Every Neville book at a glance
Here is every book in the order he published it, with our pick for your first read in bold. In the table, “the Promise” means Neville’s teaching of a spiritual rebirth that every person will one day go through.
| Book | First published | Length (reading time) | What it teaches | How hard | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At Your Command | 1939 | About 35 minutes | “I AM” as the name of God, and your awareness as the cause of your world | Medium. Old-fashioned, with lots of Bible | Readers who already know the method |
| Your Faith Is Your Fortune | 1941 | About 2 hours | “I AM”, the Bible read as an inner story, the “I’m-pression” | Hard | Readers who love the Bible side |
| Freedom for All | 1942 | About 55 minutes | Bible stories as the law of creation, plus a chapter called “The Secret of Feeling” | Medium to hard | Readers who love the Bible side |
| Feeling Is the Secret | 1944 | About half an hour | Feeling the wish fulfilled, especially as you fall asleep | Easy | Everyone, first |
| Prayer: The Art of Believing | 1945 | About 35 minutes | Prayer as a relaxed, guided daydream, which he calls “Controlled Reverie” | Medium | Anyone who prays, or wants to |
| The Search | 1946 | About 10 minutes | One mystical experience at sea | Easy to read, strange to understand | Curious readers |
| Out of This World | 1949 | About 35 minutes | Building one scene, how assumptions become facts, and “No One to Change but Self” | Easy to medium | Beginners who know the basics |
| The Power of Awareness | 1952 | About 1.5 hours | Assumption, attention, persistence, real-life stories | Medium | Anyone practicing daily |
| Awakened Imagination | 1954 | About 1 hour | Imagination as God in us, inner talking, revision | Medium | Anyone learning revision |
| Seedtime and Harvest | 1956 | About 1 hour | A mystical reading of the Bible | Hard | Advanced readers |
| I Know My Father | 1960 (as usually listed) | About 35 minutes | “I AM.” Much of it reworks chapters of Your Faith Is Your Fortune | Medium to hard | Readers who want every book |
| The Law and the Promise | 1961 | About 2.5 hours | Students’ stories of imagining (the Law), then his visions (the Promise) | Easy to medium | Anyone who wants proof in stories |
| He Breaks the Shell | 1964 | About 15 minutes | His spiritual experiences, retold as God’s work in four acts | Hard | Readers of the Promise |
| Resurrection | 1966 | Essay about 25 minutes. The book also reprints four earlier books | The Promise, in his last full book | Hard (the essay) | Readers of the Promise, collectors |
The five books to read first
Each of these teaches something the others do not.
Feeling Is the Secret (1944): his whole method in one sitting
This is the book to read tonight. It has four chapters. They are called “Law and Its Operation,” “Sleep,” “Prayer” and “Spirit: Feeling.”
The heart of the book is the chapter on sleep. As you drift off, you feel your wish as already true. What you feel as true in that state becomes true in your life. In his words, “Sleep is the door into heaven.” This is where the bedtime practice people call SATS comes from. SATS is short for “state akin to sleep,” his phrase for that drowsy state.
If you find it hard to picture things in your mind, this book is good news. It puts feeling, not pictures, at the center. There is more on that in manifesting with aphantasia.
The Power of Awareness (1952): the daily practice
If Feeling Is the Secret is the idea, this book is the manual. The chapters are short, so you can read one a day. Mark three of them. “Power of Assumption” is chapter 3, and “Persistence” is chapter 22. In “Case Histories,” chapter 23, he retells stories of people who used his method.
It is the book that uses the words “the law of assumption” again and again. It also explains that a chain of ordinary events carries you to your wish, so you do not have to plan how. His line for this comes from this book: “An assumption builds a bridge of incidents.”
Awakened Imagination (1954): revision and inner talking
Here Neville explains what he means by imagination. He calls it “the very gateway of reality.”
The chapter to read twice is “The Pruning Shears of Revision.” Its advice is simple. When a day goes wrong, replay it in your mind the way you wish it had gone. If bad news comes in the mail, he says, “Revise the letter.”
The book also covers inner talking. That means the silent conversations you have in your head, and how to change them. It also tells the story of his 1933 trip home to Barbados, and the advice his teacher Abdullah gave him.
The Law and the Promise (1961): the stories
Most of this book is letters from his students, so it reads like a collection of short stories. One story in the chapter “Turn the Wheel Backward” is a favorite of people who want a specific person, or SP.
A woman met a man on a blind date, moved the same week, and lost touch. Each night, she fell asleep twisting an imaginary wedding ring on her finger. She said to herself, “I really am Mrs. J.E.!” Her letter says he found her again about a month later. They married the next spring.
These are the writers’ own letters, printed by Neville. They show exactly what people did, night by night, and what then showed up in their lives. The last chapter, “The Promise,” tells of the visions he began to have in 1959.
Out of This World (1949): building the scene
It has four chapters. The first is called “Thinking Fourth-Dimensionally.” Its most useful advice is how to choose a scene. Imagine something that would only happen after your wish came true, like a friend congratulating you.
The title of the last chapter sums up the Law of Assumption in six words: “No One to Change but Self.” Change your inner state, and your outer world follows.
The “fourth dimension” language sounds strange at first. That is why this book works best after the first four.
Which book for what you want
Pick the book that matches your goal right now.
| You want to… | Read | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Manifest a person you love | The Law and the Promise, then Feeling Is the Secret | “Turn the Wheel Backward” for the wedding ring story, and “Sleep” for the bedtime method |
| Get a job or a promotion | Out of This World | Chapter 1, the congratulation scene |
| Undo a bad day or a bad text | Awakened Imagination | “The Pruning Shears of Revision” |
| Keep going when nothing is changing | The Power of Awareness | “Persistence” |
| Understand the spiritual side | The Law and the Promise, then Resurrection | “The Promise” |
For love goals, also read how to manifest a specific person. With Neville’s method you change your own assumption and never try to control anyone. Your outer world, and the people in it, then reflect your new inner state.
The early and later books
His first books build the idea, and his last books turn to the spiritual Promise.
The early books (1939 to 1946). These are At Your Command, Your Faith Is Your Fortune, Freedom for All, Prayer: The Art of Believing and The Search. They lean on “I AM,” which Neville used as a name for God and for your own sense of being. They also read Bible stories as events that happen inside you.
These books are worth reading once you know the method, because you will see where his later ideas started. Prayer: The Art of Believing is the easiest of them.
The later books (1956 to 1966). Seedtime and Harvest, I Know My Father, He Breaks the Shell and Resurrection are mostly about the Bible and the Promise. The Promise is Neville’s teaching that every person will one day go through the spiritual rebirth he described.
Read these books if that side of him speaks to you. If you only want the practice, you can skip them. You will not miss a technique.
Lectures, if you would rather listen
Neville gave far more lectures than he wrote books. Some of his clearest teaching is in them.
- Five Lessons (1948). A five-part course he gave in Los Angeles. It was printed after his death. Many readers think it is his clearest teaching. Lesson 3 has the longest version of the Barbados story. Lesson 2 is called “Assumptions Harden into Fact.”
- The KECA radio talks (1951). Nine short talks for a Los Angeles radio station. One of them is called “The Law of Assumption.” Each takes a few minutes to read.
- His later lectures (1960s to 1972). Many were recorded, so you can hear his own voice. A good first one is “What Are You Doing?” from 30 October 1967. It is about why imagining once is not the same as imagining now.
Books are better for learning the method step by step. Lectures are better for hearing how he talked about it, with stories and questions from the audience.
Free copies, audiobooks and faithful editions
Most of his books are easy to read for free. But check that you are reading his own words.
Free copies. His books from 1939 to 1949 are in the public domain in the United States. That means no one owns the copyright, so anyone can share them. Free copies are online, for example at readnevillegoddard.com and on the Internet Archive. DeVorss & Company, his longtime publisher, still sells his books in print.
Audiobooks. Any reading of the full original text is fine. Feeling Is the Secret is a short listen, so it is a good first audiobook too. Most audiobooks of his books are read by other narrators. If you want Neville’s own voice, listen to his recorded lectures.
Spotting a changed edition. Some editions say “revised,” “updated,” “modern,” “simplified” or “expanded.” They can be helpful, but they are not exactly his words. Before you buy, check these things.
- The chapter count. Feeling Is the Secret has 4 chapters, and Out of This World also has 4. Awakened Imagination has 8, The Law and the Promise has 15 and The Power of Awareness has 27. If your copy has a different number, compare it with a free original.
- The Bible verses. Neville quotes the Bible all the time. An edition without the verses has been rewritten.
- Whose words are whose. Introductions and notes are fine when they are clearly marked. Comments mixed into his text are not.
- The author name. He signed his books “Neville.” Many reprints add “Goddard,” which is fine. But the text inside should match the free originals.
A two-week reading plan
Two weeks are enough to read the two most useful books and practice as you go.
- Nights 1 to 4: Feeling Is the Secret. Read one chapter a night. After the chapter on sleep, start doing what it says. Fall asleep inside one small scene that shows your wish has already come true.
- Nights 5 to 13: The Power of Awareness. Read three chapters a night. Keep the same scene every night.
- Night 14: look back. Write down the one line from each book that stayed with you. Also write what has changed, in how you feel and in your life.
Here is a scene to start with, if your wish is a person:
I’m in the passenger seat, singing along to the radio. They glance over at me, laugh, and say, “You’re so annoying. I love you.”
And if your wish is a home:
I hang my coat on the hook by the door of my new apartment and drop my keys in the little bowl. It smells like the candle I lit this morning.
After two weeks, keep your scene going every night until your wish shows up in your life. Move on to Awakened Imagination and learn revision. For his full method in plain words, read the Law of Assumption explained. For the man behind the books, read who was Neville Goddard? Everything else on Neville is in the Law of Assumption guide.