Karakorum
Ron is the source that will lead you to grief
It is a very good podcast series, I like it more than the Aftermath perhaps because it is more information and less entertainment than the Aftermath show. I feel it is also more geared towards ex-cult members and less geared towards the general public.Obv, Scientology: Fair Game with Leah Remini and Mike Rinder, I've listened to most of the episodes. Yes, sometimes learning about and hearing about all of the fucked up shit a group you were a part of commits, or the ways in which it can emotionally ruin a person can be triggering and difficult. It's all about going slow, take breaks when and if you need to, and also realizing that you are not the group.
Never listed to that one, but I will now. Wonder what's their take on the old man.Behind The Bastards from iHeartRadio has a 3 part series on LRH that is hilarious and sometimes hard to listen to (when you realize what a sociopath he is, ughhhh). They don't have a lot of sympathy for the man, understandably. So just be aware they can seem harsh, though I feel it is due
I heard interviews with ex-members of her cult, the similarities that strike me are the "magical thinking&new age vibes" common to both her and scn, as well as the fact that the guru is obviously a narcissist.The Gateway: Teal Swan from Gizmodo. I don't know what to say about Teal. I feel this is relevant because these movements (cult-y spiritual movements) are still happening in real time, and the personalities of the people who do this type of thing are worth noting and knowing. As well as their methods of recruitment, and trains of "logic" for why they do what they do. Teal is still active.
Granted, Hubbard did not appear to be of entirely sound mind himself, but he still appears less emotionally unhinged than Teal. With Hubbard we all can legitimately ask questions "Was he primarily just a conman, just a true believer or simply insane?"
With Teal I think it is clear that she is primarily insane.
It is a good book, the issues I have with it are strictly personal - Leah and me just seem to have exactly the opposite personalities and exactly the opposite philosophies of life. So I always find it very hard to relate to her, it is an "ARC issue" if you want to call it thatTroublemaker by Leah Remini (I read this in like 3 days. Have I mentioned I love her?)
At the same time, I also find it encouraging to see that two such different people can arrive at the same conclusions based on their experiences within the cult.
To your list of books, I would strongly suggest the following 3:
Janis Grady's: "Commodore's Messenger: A Child Adrift in the Scientology Sea Organization".
Janis describes her life as a kid raised by a scientology family and then being a young teen on the Apollo. She has a very no-nonsense, level-headed approach to it all. Her description of Hubbard to me appears to be the most unbiased of all of them, I think she's exactly the sort of person who can detach from her subjective emotional experiences and describe it in a factual, grounded manner. Amazing book... and also a hard read for me, being ex-SO goon myself.
John Duignan's : "The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology".
available online for free here (from Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine)
This is probably the least known and most underrated of all the great books about Scientology. John joined the SO in the mid 80s and left in the mid 2000s. This is the best book about the "modern SO", he describes some of the things I know from personal experience and I can confirm that he "tells it how it is". He's also a very good writer and even the parts about his pre-SO life read like a breeze and feel like a very good autobiography judged on its own merits.
Marc Headley's Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology
This one is a classic and very rightfully so. Marc was at Gold and describes that side of the corporate structure very well, he has very good memory and brings up details about SO training that I myself forgot about. Also he is the guy who escaped the base on a motorcycle being chased by an scn van that pushed him off the road - that first hand account is amazing itself.
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