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The Church of Scientology
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Blown for Good
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Marc Headley provides an insider's view of life as a member of Scientology's "Sea Organization". Marc worked at Scientology's secret desert compound, which houses all Scientology management, for 15 years. The 500-acre property is located deep in the California desert. The local townspeople were told lectures and films were made there. But is that all that was happening? It is the location of a multi-million-dollar home for L. Ron Hubbard, built two decades after his death. It is the home of Scientology's current leader, David Miscavige.
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Beyond Belief
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Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org - the church's highest ministry - speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape.
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Enjoyable insight into the closest ranks
- By Jamie on 08-12-13
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Commodore's Messenger
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Commodore's Messenger begins by taking the listener into the life of the first family of Scientology in Australia: Yvonne and Peter Gillham and their three children, Peter Jr., Terri, and Janis. Life for the Gillhams is not without its challenges in Australia, but nothing compares to what happens when the family moves to England after dealing with the banning of Scientology in Victoria. Things spiral out of control, as Hubbard leaves England and takes to the sea.
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Scientology: Abuse at the Top
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A former top insider reveals the nightmare world of violence and abuse at the highest levels of the Church of Scientology. One review states: "At home alone, a 14 year old girl takes a phone call from Scientology. This starts a quarter of a century journey of manipulation, betrayal and sexual, physical and mental abuse. This journey leads to the highest management echelon and one woman's courage to break free. A real page-turner." Mark P. Another writes: "Amy Scobee has written a book unlike any other expose of Scientology.
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Boring
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The Church of Fear
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Tom Cruise and John Travolta say the Church of Scientology is a force for good. Others disagree. Award-winning journalist John Sweeney investigated the Church for more than half a decade. During that time he was intimidated, spied on, and followed, and the results were spectacular: Sweeney lost his temper with the Church's spokesman on camera, and his infamous 'exploding tomato' clip was seen by millions around the world.
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Truly Bonkers
- By David on 16-07-15
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The Unbreakable Miss Lovely
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- By: Tony Ortega
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- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.
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No s's
- By T. Webb on 30-10-16
-
Blown for Good
- Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology
- By: Marc Headley
- Narrated by: Marc Headley
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marc Headley provides an insider's view of life as a member of Scientology's "Sea Organization". Marc worked at Scientology's secret desert compound, which houses all Scientology management, for 15 years. The 500-acre property is located deep in the California desert. The local townspeople were told lectures and films were made there. But is that all that was happening? It is the location of a multi-million-dollar home for L. Ron Hubbard, built two decades after his death. It is the home of Scientology's current leader, David Miscavige.
-
-
Kirstie Alley recommended reading a book
- By Purple on 05-09-18
-
Beyond Belief
- My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape
- By: Jenna Miscavige Hill
- Narrated by: Sandy Rustin
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org - the church's highest ministry - speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape.
-
-
Enjoyable insight into the closest ranks
- By Jamie on 08-12-13
-
Commodore's Messenger
- A Child Adrift in the Scientology Sea Organization, Book 1
- By: Janis Gillham-Grady
- Narrated by: Jennifer Moore
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Commodore's Messenger begins by taking the listener into the life of the first family of Scientology in Australia: Yvonne and Peter Gillham and their three children, Peter Jr., Terri, and Janis. Life for the Gillhams is not without its challenges in Australia, but nothing compares to what happens when the family moves to England after dealing with the banning of Scientology in Victoria. Things spiral out of control, as Hubbard leaves England and takes to the sea.
-
Scientology: Abuse at the Top
- By: Amy Scobee
- Narrated by: Danielle Plaso
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A former top insider reveals the nightmare world of violence and abuse at the highest levels of the Church of Scientology. One review states: "At home alone, a 14 year old girl takes a phone call from Scientology. This starts a quarter of a century journey of manipulation, betrayal and sexual, physical and mental abuse. This journey leads to the highest management echelon and one woman's courage to break free. A real page-turner." Mark P. Another writes: "Amy Scobee has written a book unlike any other expose of Scientology.
-
-
Boring
- By AnneDriscoll on 25-03-17
-
The Church of Fear
- Inside the Weird World of Scientology
- By: John Sweeney
- Narrated by: John Sweeney
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Cruise and John Travolta say the Church of Scientology is a force for good. Others disagree. Award-winning journalist John Sweeney investigated the Church for more than half a decade. During that time he was intimidated, spied on, and followed, and the results were spectacular: Sweeney lost his temper with the Church's spokesman on camera, and his infamous 'exploding tomato' clip was seen by millions around the world.
-
-
Truly Bonkers
- By David on 16-07-15
-
The Unbreakable Miss Lovely
- How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper
- By: Tony Ortega
- Narrated by: Tony Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.
-
-
No s's
- By T. Webb on 30-10-16
Summary
Scientology is one of the wealthiest and most powerful new religions to emerge in the past century. To its detractors, L. Ron Hubbard's space-age mysticism is a moneymaking scam and sinister brainwashing cult. But to its adherents, it is humanity's brightest hope. Few religious movements have been subject to public scrutiny like Scientology, yet much of what is written about the church is sensationalist and inaccurate.
Here for the first time is the story of Scientology's protracted and turbulent journey to recognition as a religion in the postwar American landscape. Hugh Urban tells the real story of Scientology from its cold-war-era beginnings in the 1950s to its prominence today as the religion of Hollywood's celebrity elite. Urban paints a vivid portrait of Hubbard, the enigmatic founder who once commanded his own private fleet and an intelligence apparatus rivaling that of the U.S. government. One FBI agent described him as "a mental case", but to his followers he is the man who "solved the riddle of the human mind". Urban details Scientology's decades-long war with the IRS, which ended with the church winning tax-exempt status as a religion; the rancorous cult wars of the 1970s and 1980s; as well as the latest challenges confronting Scientology, from attacks by the Internet group Anonymous to the church's efforts to suppress the online dissemination of its esoteric teachings.
This book demonstrates how Scientology has reflected the broader anxieties and obsessions of postwar America, and raises profound questions about how religion is defined and who gets to define it.
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- G
- Pire sur SeicheFrance
- 13-09-14
long and not very informative
I learnt very little listening to this book. It is unnecessarily long, self-consciously academic in style, very repetitive, and despite containing many promises of "astonishing" and "stunning" descriptions of scientology's activities in the hour-long introduction, it never actually delivers any stories about what it is that happens among scientologists which makes the cult so infamous.
The author clearly says that there are many things he cannot say because of a fear of legal action from scientology, and in the end the listener comes away none the wiser about what the problem really is with this group. For example, it is said that ex-scientologists have been bullied or harassed or threatened, but no concrete examples are given of such incidents.
As for the nature of the "religion" itself, it's such goobledygook that there is nothing to understand. One thing the author does not discuss at all is why anyone in their right mind would ever be attracted to it. It seems to me there is room for a discussion about why this kind of organisation appeals to people, but nothing is said about that.
Finally, the author's approach is politically correct in the extreme, maybe not for an American but certainly for a European. That is to say, he places scientogoly on the same plane as any other religion. He says all religions should be regarded in the same light, with both respect and suspicion, regardless of what they preach or of their methods. He even says government agencies should be treated in the same way. In other words, the IRS and the FBI should be regarded with the same amount of respect and suspicion as scientology!
Ultimatately, a two- or three-hour book, or even a Wikipedia page, would give you just as much information as this book does. Don't bother with it.
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- Frank
- 12-07-16
Excellent Summary of Scientology
Would you listen to The Church of Scientology again? Why?
Perhaps. But there is so much out there on the subject, that I might want to listen to some other things first.
What other book might you compare The Church of Scientology to and why?
"Inside Scientology" - Janet Reitman. They both seem to be a basic history of the "religion".
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
As usual, the cringe-worthiness of Scientology is unparalleled. But in general, I ways feel sad for the rank-and-file mindless robots that do all the work (and yet sometimes still end up tortured for thinking on their own), and disgust for the leadership that reap all the rewards (re: money).
Any additional comments?
Excellent book on Scientology. It doesn't belabor Hubbard's early years like some of the other texts out there, but gives you just enough background to understand the "church" today. It's very comprehensive. This book, as any good research book should be, is told in a matter-of-fact way.
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- aussieGeorge68
- 14-04-13
Some good sections but largely tedious.
All in all there are some good sections of this book, but this is one of rare times I would recommend getting the book in text form and not in audio form. My first reason for this is the narrator, while Contessa Brewer voice is understandable, I find her voice annoying and not up to the standard of other narrators of non-fiction works such as Walter Dixon and Sandy Rustin. When Contessa changes her voice when quoting other people like Hubbard, her voice become even more annoying and comical. Reading will allow skimming of parts of the book uninteresting to the reader.
The large majority of this book is about "what is a religion in the 21st century" and "Scientology's complex journey to becoming a religion".
I did find Mr Urban's catalog of the early history of Hubbard and his various organisations interesting and informative and also the sections on the tactics used by the origination such as "Fair Game" to stop or attempt to stop critics and the leak of "Religious Information" interesting. The battle with the IRS for religious status was also interesting but was presented in a very verbose fashion overly long fashion in my opinion.
As the Author himself admitted a lot of information of the organisation has been left out for legal and other reasons, after listening to the compelling book "Beyond Belief" I was particularly interested in the organisation after Hubbard died and the takeover by David Miscavige, but there is little about this here.
I can't help feeling that this book has just been bulked up to reach a certain size for whatever reason. The first chapters are full of "In the later chapters I will show" statements and little else. In the later chapters some information is endlessly repeated. Its written almost like a text book.
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- Cheeye
- 15-09-14
WASTE OF TIME
What disappointed you about The Church of Scientology?
It's Stupid and ridiculous principals, why do people even take Hubby seriously?
What was most disappointing about Hugh B. Urban’s story?
The fact she didn't beat up any of her elders.
Have you listened to any of Contessa Brewer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Can't remember, but the narration was great.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Disgust.
Any additional comments?
I hope people don't listen to this unless they are planning to leave the stupid organisation. It's an insult to call it a church. Can Hubby be compared people like St. Francis?
0 of 4 people found this review helpful