From: lindsay+@cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Books
Date: 9 Apr 92 03:31:18 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon


isds22013010@memstvx1.memst.edu writes:
>    Another thing that I would like to add is that very often people who
>make derogatory statements about Scientology are criminals, drug abusers, or
>people who profit from keeping other people in ignorance about their 
>spirituality.  The only way you will really know what Scientology is about
>is to read some of L. Ron Hubbards books for yourself.

They are also very often reputable, honest people, such as judges. To
read some non-Church viewpoints, try to find any of the following
works.  (It may be difficult - the Church regularly sues publishers,
and anti-Church works reportedly vanish from libraries.)

------------------------------------------------------------

L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman -- by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
(Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1987)

Bare-Faced Messiah -- by Russell Miller (N.Y.: Henry Holt & Co., 1987)

A Piece of Blue Sky -- by Jon Atack

Review by revpk@cellar.UUCP (Brian 'Rev P-K' Siano):

        "Messiah or Madman?" is a poorly organized, sloppy piece of work, 
with little sense to its organization or even writing style. Passages that 
skip between various events do so with little reason, and frequently without 
even citing dates or times. There's no index, little sourcing, and much of it 
seems gleaned from court records. Howeveer, it's the only one widely 
available.

        "Bare-faced messiah" is better written, better documented, and is 
perhaps the one indispensable biography of L. Ron Hubbard. The problem is, it 
doesn't deal with much of the Church's history; but it does provide lots of 
innarestin' details about life aboard the Sea Org, and it's the best written 
of the three books available.

        "A Piece of Blue Sky" is a history of both the Church and Hubbard-- 
very well researched, lots of documentation, and well structured. It's too 
bad Atack's not much of a stylist, because the book amounts to a series of 
facts listed after each other for easy access. Still, Atack's book is the 
single best overall guide to Scientology that I've ever read, and I recommend 
it to everyone.

Review by rjhall@CIE.UOREGON.EDU:

_Bare-Faced Messiah_ was actually written by the British journalist
Russell Miller, but it is indeed a must-read.
New York publisher Henry Holt & Co., $19.95

Review by tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook):

The book is called A PIECE OF BLUE SKY by Jon Atack,
and it is great!  I spent the last week totally absorbed in this
book, and I highly recommend it.  Atack is an ex-Scientologist,
and he has done a fine job of explaining their beliefs, and also
he presents a very interesting history of Hubbard and Dianetics.

---
Cooper, Paulette.  _The Scandal of Scientology_, New York: Tower
    Publications, 1971. 
--
Renunciation and Reformulation: a Study of Conversion in an American
Sect -- by Harriet Whitehead, 1987, Cornell University Press. 

Review by acarvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Andy Carvin):
Whitehead, who is a sociologist, actually joined a Church in order to
get firsthand knowledge of the members and practices.  Anyway, it's
interesting, informative, and non-biased.  I would think that it can
be obtained in a good research library.
---
Mind Game -- by Norman Spinrad, Jove Books, copyright 1980.

Review by lindsay@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu:
This is a novel, a "roman a clef", about an author whose wife joins the
"Transformationalism" cult. Yes, the cult is led by a pulp-era
science-fiction writer.  He even says things like, "We're developing
the Atomic Age of the mind."  Gee, any guesses? One of the
revelations was that the cult ordered members to make various career
moves, and then gave them "life directives" to steer business to
enterprises that were secretly cult-owned.
---
From: paj@mrcu (Paul Johnson)
Organization: GEC-Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow, UK
I have just read "Cults of Unreason" by Christopher Evans.  Most of
the book is devoted to a history and discussion of Dianetics and
Scientology.  This is readable and at times very funny.  As Evans
says, "A rich vein of unconsious humor runs through the official
publications of the cult" (or words to that effect).  The book is old
and somewhat out of date, but it is detailed and impartial
---
From: andrewd@chook.adelaide.edu.au (Andrew Dunstan)
See also "The Mind Benders" by Cyril Vosper. (I think this is right!)
The Scientologists went to a GREAT deal of trouble in the UK to try
to suppress this book.
---
"Bigger Secrets", by William Poundstone, 1986, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN
0-395-45397-6. PP 58-62 are titled "The Secret Teachings of L. Ron
Hubbard". Summarizes Zemu. Dirt on Hubbard's war hero status.
Claims they pull in $100M/yr and have dummy corporations in "no tell
countries like Leichtenstein, Luxembourg, and Liberia".
---
lippard@uavax0.ccit.arizona.edu (James J. Lippard) posted material
from The Arizona Skeptic, vol. 5 no. 2 (September/October 1991), pp. 1-5.
which gave:

Stewart Lamont, Religion, Inc.: The Church of Scientology
(London: Harrap, 1986)

Albert I. Berger, "Towards a Science of the Nuclear Mind:
Science-fiction Origins of Dianetics", Science Fiction Studies, 1989,
vol. 16:123-141.

Jack Fox, Alvin E. Davis, and B. Lebovits, "An Experimental
Investigation of Hubbard's Engram Hypothesis (Dianetics),"
Psychological Newsletter 1959, 10, 131-134.

S.I. Hayakawa, "From Science-fiction to Fiction-science", Etc.: A
Review of General Semantics, 1951 Vol. 8 (4) 280- 293.  p. 293. 
---
From: lippard@uavax0.ccit.arizona.edu (James J. Lippard)

Jeff Jacobsen wrote an article about the origins of Dianetics for the
September/October 1991 issue of _The Arizona Skeptic_ in which he
points out that the major tenets of Dianetics bear strong resemblance
to theories put forth in issues of Psychoanalytic Review in 1941 and
1949.  He also refers to an experimental investigation of Dianetics
which appeared in vol. 10 (1959) of the Psychological Newsletter
(Jack Fox, Alvin E. Davis, and B. Lebovits, "An Experimental Investigation
of Hubbard's Engram Hypothesis (Dianetics)").

Other books critical of Hubbard, Dianetics, and Scientology include
   ...
   Roy Wallis, _The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis
      of Scientology_, 1977, Columbia University Press.

Wallis also had an article in the first issue of The Skeptical Inquirer
(then known as The Zetetic) titled "'Poor Man's Psychoanalysis?' 
Observations on Dianetics."

The Jacobsen article may be obtained from Jacobsen (who also has other
stuff on Scientology) at P.O. Box 3541, Scottsdale, AZ 85271, or from
the Phoenix Skeptics, P.O. Box 62792, Phoenix, AZ 85282-2792.
---
There was a cover article on Scientology in Time Magazine, 6may 1991:
"The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", by Richard Behar.
The same author apparently published a similar article a few years
ago in (Forbes?) - I seem to have lost the reference.

-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay 	Carnegie Mellon Computer Science