About the book
What happens between reading a sentence and truly understanding it? In Thought Power: Its Control and Culture (1901), Annie Besant explores the nature of thought, how prior opinions shape what we perceive, memory and observation, and the training of concentration and meditation, all within the philosophy of Theosophy.
Her later chapters turn to Theosophical claims about thought-transference and to the idea of helping others by thought. These are Besant’s historical teachings, presented for study rather than as established psychology or proven psychic fact.
This HIPS Books edition is a searchable, printable PDF, not a raw archive scan. Besant’s complete historical argument is reset in readable type and checked against the 1901 printing, while the new vocabulary, reader guides and questions are clearly labelled and kept separate from her words.
What this edition includes
191 pages. The 1901 Foreword, Introduction, all ten chapters and Afterword; the reset original title, Contents and complete original Index (221 entries, with this edition’s page numbers); a HIPS editorial introduction; 107 vocabulary entries; 11 reader guides with reflection questions; a 30-term linked glossary; clickable contents, 43 PDF bookmarks and linked original notes.
Inside the book: selected contents
A reading overview, not the complete text.
- The Nature of Thought: the mind as an instrument and the two sides of consciousness.
- Perception and opinion: how existing views shape what a reader notices.
- Memory and observation: Besant’s account of attention, recollection and reflective reading.
- Concentration and meditation: distraction, practice and the steadying of the mind.
- Thought-transference and helping others: Theosophical claims and the ethic of service that closes the book.
Key concepts for reading
HIPS editorial explanations of the historical text.
- Concentration: in Besant’s usage, holding the mind deliberately on one subject, not suppressing every thought.
- Thought-form: the Theosophical idea that thoughts take a subtle shape; a historical teaching, not a measured phenomenon.
- Thought-transference: Besant’s term for influence between minds, which she presents as fact; read it as a period claim.
Before you buy
How is this different from an archive scan?
An archive scan preserves photographed pages. This is a prepared reading edition: reset text and modern reading support, with the historical author’s words kept distinct. The edition details and preview pages above show what is included in this particular book.
What will I receive, and where do I buy it?
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