An English translation by Archibald J. Wolfe of the first Russian edition, which was organized by subject, was published in 1919.

An English translation of the second Russian edition, which was organized by calendar date, was begun in 1911 as a monthly serial but abandoned after the first volume.

The first translation of the entire yearly cycle, but which omitted some of the individual readings, was made by Peter Sekirin and published in 1997.

The book, whose title is literally translated as Circle of Reading, was described by Tolstoy as "a wise thought for every day of the year, from the great philosophers of all times and all people" which he himself would consult daily for the rest of his life.

Teachings from historical figures including Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Emerson, Kant, Ruskin, Seneca, Socrates, Thoreau prompted Tolstoy to write in the introduction, "I hope that the readers of this book may experience the same benevolent and elevating feeling which I have experienced when I was working on its creation, and which I experience again and again when I reread it every day, working on the enlargement and improvement of the previous edition."