My rating: 4.3 out of 5
Scientology intrigues me, not that I particularly like to admit it sometimes. Like a number other groups labeled as cults or religious aberrations, their often negative publicity arouses my distrustful yet inquisitive curiosity and I’m suddenly keen to find out why this movement attracts so much flak. Of course (by virtue of being an avid science fiction fan) I'm well aware of L. Ron Hubbard and where he sits on the science fiction landscape, and this made me doubly curious to see what exactly it was that he came up with. Why did his ideas spawn this large esoteric and now wealthy global organization with seemingly so much influence? How could it turn him into such a god-like figure, with his image and name effectively becoming idols? Inside Scientology sounded like it might begin to answer these questions and be an ideal starting point for a person like me, so when the opportunity to pick it up came along I leaped at the chance. A little background checking reveals that Janet Reitman is a well-known journalist in the entertainment field and her credentials appear solid. She's worked for top publications like Rolling Stone magazine, and her skills shine through in this good piece of investigative writing. She’s connected well enough to gain access to both current and active Scientology members as well as to many high profile ex-members and the result is a very interesting read.
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| Dianetics - 1st Edition 1950 |
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| L. Ron Hubbard |
The history of L. Ron Hubbard and his philosophies has been widely chronicled in many books previously but this book offers a good and fairly current overview (published 2011) of the key points. Divided into four main parts, this book begins with a decent study of Hubbard’s early life and work, the establishment of his theories of self-help mental health and his ideas about how to treat sicknesses that exist in people. As the pages turn, more is revealed about the initial rise and fall of his invention Dianetics followed by its rebirth and evolution to become the Scientology movement, which was later declared a bonafide religion (in the eyes of the law anyway) as The Church Of Scientology. I was particularly fascinated with the story of how Hubbard and his band of followers arranged themselves into an actual sea-going “navy” complete with uniforms and ships, taking their small fleet to various ports around the place with the goal of spreading their faith and ideals. This, along with Hubbard’s short and unusual career in the U.S. Navy during World War Two, explains the nautical themes that often pop up in Scientology, including the name of their elite division called The Sea Organisation (or Sea Org) which I had previously found slightly odd. As things move on and the Church grows, the transformation to a mega-corporation is quite swift and rather incredible. After the death of Hubbard in 1986 the Church takes on a number of new tactics, not least of these is the concerted recruitment and use of celebrities who can utilize their profile and status to spread the Scientology word. This is possibly the most well-known aspect of Scientology for many of us, and this book presents an insightful view of the involvement of people like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Also, we read about some key high profile events that occurred in and around Scientology as well as the life of it’s powerful and rather mysterious current leader David Miscavige, a man who seems to me to have backed himself into a very tight corner and is fighting said corner quite savagely.
Some years ago I’d read about the story of Xenu that Hubbard had come up with but I had no idea that Scientologists actually believe it to be the history of mankind and the main reasons for our woes, our mental health (or lack of) in particular. Without delving into the details and my own views of Scientology (and not meaning to trash their charitable works) it certainly does appear that, given the evidence presented, the movement was created at its core to make money above other things, and this book presents very well the methods and tactics which they employed to achieve this. Of the people that the author interviews closely, she seems to have struck pay dirt because the insights that they give are revealing. In fact, Reitman claims that “not a single one of these people had ever spoken publicly prior to my interviewing them” and “all references to these people, their stories, and their quoted words come from my own interviews and conversations with them.” Her writing style is very good (as one would expect), easy to read with no wasted words just filling up space, all of it telling the reader interesting things cohesive with the overall subject.
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| Scientology logo |
All in all, it’s a well-packaged essay about Hubbard and Scientology that certainly answered many of the questions that I had. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from reading this book it’s this: L. Ron Hubbard had an impressive mind, imagination by the ship-load and a fair chunk of charisma which all worked together to create something rather weird yet strangely successful. While I still cannot fathom just how Scientology has become what it has, Inside Scientology does present very well the reasons why the people within the movement believe what they do and their motivations to spread their faith. The vehicle of that faith, The Church Of Scientology, sounds very much as though it has some issues, severe issues which cause not a little grief that we just don’t need in this world. Okay, they’re not the only movement like this and not even in the same playing field as the worst but, still, are they doing more good than bad around the place? I’m not so sure that they are, and you’ll be able to take a more considered position yourself if you read this book. It's definitely a recommended read for those with an interest in such things.
4/5 for theme
5/5 for delivery
4/5 for education
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