Inside Scientology

The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion

By: Janet Reitman

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. And ex-members use the Internet to share stories of harassment and abuse.

Now Janet Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an even-handed account that at last establishes the astonishing truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology's development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a worldwide spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and even ex-followers.

Based on five years of research, unprecedented access to church officials, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the defining book about a little-known world.

©2011 Janet Reitman (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A detailed and readable examination of the life of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the church, and his successor, David Miscavige." ( Publishers Weekly)

Was Looking For A Story This Was More Documentary

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not, as none of my friends have any curiosity in scientology.

Prior to this I listened to Shattered Dreams: My Life As A Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer which gave one woman's firsthand account of another religion/cult that I know little about.

I expected a story but this read as a newspaper article. Given that context I could not submerge into the material as I would have if told from a firsthand account.

Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. And ex-members use the Internet to share stories of harassment and abuse.

Now Janet Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an even-handed account that at last establishes the astonishing truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology's development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a worldwide spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and even ex-followers.

Based on five years of research, unprecedented access to church officials, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the defining book about a little-known world.

Would you ever listen to anything by Janet Reitman again?

No, her other writing is outside of my area of interest.

What aspect of Stephen Hoye’s performance would you have changed?

It was fine - a narrator really has to hit it out of the park to get an above average rating from me.

Any additional comments?

This is 13+ hours of the history of scientology. It is very dry and detail oriented. There are no central characters to gravitate towards making it difficult for me to invest in.

Scientology exposed

Needham makes a compelling case why Big Data technologies like Hadoop are allowing more and more companies and researchers work at internet speed and scale. The super computer clustering capabilities at unbelievably low costs will change everything for companies struggling to keep up with the Von Newman centric computing paradigms that just can't keep up.

Not Unbiased, but I Don't Mind

This book was insightful into the origins of not the creator of Scientology as well as how the organization currently operates. Some of the stories I expected but others were pretty disturbing, especially given the protection given to them by their status as a recognized religion in the US. What I found very interesting is the attempts by Scientology to remain mysterious and have secret information only given to members that reach a high level within the organization. With all the technology and access to information provided by the Internet, it is hard to keep much of anything hidden when people are allowed to come and go from a group, even though this group tends to keep tabs on high members that leave. I think this book as a whole shows an example of how an idea can spark faith and a religion.

This book will astound you, a MUST read.

What made the experience of listening to Inside Scientology the most enjoyable?

Its amazing how many of us are so vulnerable to compelling but fraudulant cults.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

What grabs the thinking reader is the similarity, in many ways, of Scientology to all other religions; believe only what your leader tells you, read only our literature, fear of leaving.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story of Lisa McPherson was heart-rending.

Scientology; Phenomenally & Outrageously Flawed

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I strongly recommend this book to anyone considering joining Scientology or knows someone who is. Fortunately, I learned what a scam they are after feeling worse from their treatments and loosing only $15,000.

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Who was your favorite character and why?

At the height of my high-tech career, which was going great, I was suddenly stricken with a suicidal depression, one which lasted 7 years. I went to a psychiatrist, but got only sporadic relief. I foolishly turned to Scientology, and after scoring a “minus 90%” on the optimism-depression scale of their Oxford personality test, I was told that they had a cure and I would really be able to “go places” once they had repaired me. Further, that I had been a victim of psycho-quackery which would never help me (and they were right on this point), but now I had found the source of all healing. I signed up.

After a year of treatments, at $130 an hour, I took their test again and scored a “minus 95%”.
By their own measure, I was even more depressed. I asked,

What does Stephen Hoye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He keeps the listener interested, even when some details seem tedious.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

It is simply amazing what can be achieved just with BS and PR.

Any additional comments?

Scientology's assertions, methods and planned responses to perceived threats make Bernie Madoff's scam appear downscale, friendly, and amateurish.

interesting

Any additional comments?

An interesting listen. It's fascinating to hear how a religion can be founded by a pathological liar and loser and become such a huge success. Also fascinating what people are willing to believe in.

The writer interviewed a lot of scientologists to write this book, and there's a pretty broad perspective here with lots of insider stories. It can be dry at times but I found it interesting overall.

This book is scarier than a Stephen King novel!

This is the first of three major books regarding Scientology that I have purchased to listen to this year and I believe I got off to a great start with Janet Reitman's excellent book on the subject.

As a longtime crusader for the rights of all, I often found myself publicly defending (vocally and in written blog articles) Scientology and Tom Cruise for their outspoken opinions regarding the drugging of our children with prescription drugs, the drugging of america, psychiatry, and other issues that I have had strong opinions about for years.

Some of the concepts of Scientology I agree with; however, they go way beyond reasonableness and as a result many people apparently have been injured or lost their families, friends, or even their lives as a result of the extremeness of the church.

Reitman clearly has done her homework and clearly demonstrates that Scientology goes way too far on many social issues and appears to be a very extreme organization that hides behind the label of "religion." By claiming to be a religion and having tax-exempt status from the IRS, they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the general public and government officials all too often.

They use their "religion" label to hide behind billions of dollars in profits without paying taxes; they hide their human rights abuses of their members; and there are clearly people who died in the name of Scientology (such as Lisa McPherson) who I am convinced would be alive today if it weren't for the extreme policies and procedures of this so-called religion.

I will try to hold final judgment on Scientology until after reading "Going Clear," by journalist Lawrence Wright, as well as "Beyond Belief," by Jenna Miscavige Hill, but I think perhaps Reitman may have already convinced me about what I currently think about Scientology, and it isn't pretty. Scientology may very well be responsible for some of the most serious cover ups of all time!

The narrator, Stephen Hoye, was phenomenal in helping tell Reitman's story about a book that should have been published more than a decade ago!

Riveting

I used this as my "commuting" book, and I'm sure I looked a fool, driving down the highway with my jaw hanging open the whole time. The book is a fascinating glimpse into this movement--fascinating and disturbing--and seems to be unbiased in its research. The narration was also well-done, in my opinion, and I felt the writing was pretty good. The only thing I wished for was an index of the innumerable acronyms, but I realized finally that I didn't really need to keep them straight in order to follow the story--and that was an interesting fact, in an of itself. I highly recommend this book.

Enthralling story of Scientology!

Where does Inside Scientology rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Most of this information was new to me. I have heard of Scientology and even experienced some of their tactics to get me to join in the 70's, but I knew little of the beginnings and dirty dealings of this so called religion. This book was an eye opener to me. I was engrossed in this book for a lot of the time.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Inside Scientology?

When the book gets into the death of Lisa McPherson, it's like an Ann Rule true crime book. I listened straight through that section, dreading what was going to happen to her. I won't forget that for along time.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Mr. Hoye was adequate. Not great.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the woman whose husband had left Scientology finally is able to escape from the church by jumping over the wall and finding her husband waiting on the other side I almost cried. I can't remember all of their names but that whole section was a tear jerker.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the beliefs and tactics of Scientology. It's hard for me to believe they get away with this kind of stuff. To me it's not a religion but a self help group out to make money and not pay taxes.

Fair and Enlightening, but a little scary

The book gives a fair historical perspective to the history of Dianetics and Scientology. Very balanced, non-judgementalof the belief system and members. Slightly weighted to the negative experiences of those that have left the "religion". I had hoped the precepts of this belief would be more greatly represented. I guess I'll just have to read Dianetics and get a better foundation of knowledge. I'm sure there are good things in this system, but this audiobook would keep me away from the organization.