The twenty-ninth volume of the Collected Works of V. I. Lenin consists of summaries, excerpts, notes on various books, and articles on philosophy, as well as Lenin's observations and notes in the margins and texts of the philosophical books from his personal library.

The various editions of the 'Philosophical Notebooks' differ not only in composition but also in the arrangement of the documents. This volume is divided into three parts, and in each of these, materials of more or less similar character are published.

The first part includes summaries and excerpts, the second various notes on books, articles, and critiques of philosophical literature, and the third contains excerpts from books, with observations and notes by Lenin. The arrangement of the documents within the sections of the book was done in chronological order based on the dates established earlier or during the work on this volume in an indirect way, because almost all the documents are not dated by the author.

[Excerpt from the text of the preface]