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    • Man's Supreme Inheritance

      This is the first of Alexander's four books. It was first published in 1910. This edition, published in 1996 by Mouritz, has been meticulously edited, with extensive notes, by Jean Fischer.

      Alexander had previously written and published a number of leaflets and pamphlets about his work and a lot of this material is incorporated into this book. The big difference between this book and the earlier publications is the scope and magnitude of Alexander's vision. The earliest papers are concerned with speech and elocution - "Speech Culture and Natural Elocution", for instance. Later papers are concerning with breathing - "Introduction to a New Method of Respiratory Vocal Re-Education", and "The Dangers of Deep Breathing", for instance. In "Man's Supreme Inheritance" Alexander regards his discoveries as offering mankind the opportunity to make progress using conscious awareness as the means of taking control of one's manner of use (seeing "use" in the widest possible way). He believes that he brings this message at a time when mankind is rapidly regressing, responding to the ever greater demands of our evolving world in ways that an instinctive and inappropriate, inadequate for our current needs.

      The book does not contain much practical explanation - although as you understand the significance of Alexander's proposals so you might see the practical implications of his work. For the most practical exposition that Alexander ever wrote, read his third book, "The Use of the Self".

      The blurb on the back says...
      Man's Supreme Inheritance was Alexander's first book: it was published in 1910 and was followed by an Addenda (1911) and Conscious Control (1912). All of these were incorporated in the enlarged version of Man's Supreme Inheritance which was published in 1918. It was reprinted several times in England and the USA. The present edition consists of Alexander's authorised 1946 edition with additional material from earlier editions. It contains two prefaces by Alexander, an introduction by the educational philosopher John Dewey, appreciations, appendices with reviews of the early editions, and a comparison table of the 1910 and the 1918 editions. Also included is a new foreword by Walter Carrington, who trained with Alexander in the 1930s.

    • Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual

      • Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, published in 1923, was Alexander's second book. Once again Alexander sets out his understanding of his discoveries and their implications. His preoccupation is that humans have all developed poor use of themselves and that they can only address this and improve their use by developing a conscious awareness of what they are doing. The theme that links the sections of the book is "sensory appreciation". According to Alexander a consequence of our misuse is that our sensory appreciation is debauched. Our unreliable sensory appeciation is both the result and the cause of our further decline. Only by a process of re-education can improved sensory appreciation lead to improved use.

    • Use of the Self

      "The Use of the Self" is the clearest and most approachable of Alexander's books. In the first and longest chapter of the book Alexander sets out the story of how he made his discoveries and the reasons that he set out on his quest. Having started on a successful acting career, he began to have trouble with his voice. He sought the help of voice trainers and medical men but nobody was able to help. Eventually he concluded that the problem was that he was doing something wrong - he was using his voice badly. He set out to find out what he was doing and in the process discovered that his interference was not just with his voice but with his whole way of using himself. It understanding this and developing a technique to improve his poor use of himself he evolved what is now known as the "Alexander Technique", a method by which anybody can improve their use and gain the benefits of so doing.

    • The Universal Constant in Living

      Alexander's fourth and final book.

      First published in 1941

      The blurb on the dust jacket says...
      The Universal Constant in Living was Alexander's fourth and last book. It contains his most mature and consummate thoughts on the technique.
      This edition consists of the complete text of Alexander's final 1946 edition with additional material from earlier editions and comprehensive notes.

      In The Universal Constant in Living Alexander shares with the reader knowledge accumulated in the course of more than 45 years of practical teaching experience. Having fully developed the concepts of his technique, he presents a clear exposition of the fundamental principles: prevention (inhibition), the primary control of use, and the unity (wholeness) of the human organism, among others.

    • Articles and Lectures

      We should all feel indebted to Jean Fischer who has brought these papers together in a wonderfully annotated volume that gives us a more complete view of Alexander's writing throughout his life than we can get from the four books alone.

      Published in 1995.

      The blurb on the dust jacket says...
      This book is the first published compilation of F. M. Alexander's articles, published letters and lectures on the Alexander Technique. The book consists of six sections:
      Early Articles
      Published Letters
      Lectures
      Teaching Aphorisms
      "Alexander and the Doctors"
      Autobiographical Sketch

      Each paper is preceded by an introduction which gives the historical context. In addition, a substantial number of notes provide information on people, places, events and particular subjects which were part of Alexander's life and times. Comprehensive cross-references and a detailed index are also given.

    • Aphorisms

      This wonderful collection of Aphorisms were collected at various times by Alexander's pupils and his assistant teachers.