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My favourite books

jodie

Patron with Honors
Recommended recovery reading:

1. Sagan, Carl. 1996. The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark. London: Headline. http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469

2. Corydon, Bent. 1992. L.Ron Hubbard, messiah or madman? NJ. Barrocade Books, Inc. http://www.amazon.com/L-Ron-Hubbard-Messiah-Madman/dp/0942637577

3. Atack, Jon. 1990. A piece of blue sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L.Ron Hubbard exposed. NY. Carol Publishing. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/102-5982007-0851366?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jon+atack&x=12&y=23

4. Hassan, Steve. 1990. Combatting cult mind control. Vermont. Park Street Press. http://www.amazon.com/Combatting-Cult-Mind-Control-Best-selling/dp/0892813113

5. Cialdini, Robert B. 1993. Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York. Quill. http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psy...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199287662&sr=1-1

6. Goleman, Daniel. 1998. Vital lies, simple truths: the psychology of self-deception. London. Bloomsbury. http://www.amazon.com/Vital-Simple-...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199287711&sr=1-10

Online books:

Penny, Robert. Social control in Scientology: a look at the methods of entrapment. URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/scs.html

Pignotti, Monica: My nine lives in Scientology. URL: http://skull.piratehaven.org/~atman/factnet/monica2.txt

Wakefield, Margery: The Road to Xenu. URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/


That's just for starters, that is a lot out there. These are the ones that contributed the most to my own healing and integration of the experience.

- jodie
 
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jodie

Patron with Honors
Originally Posted by jodie
5. Cialdini, Robert B. 1993. Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York. Quill.

An absolute must-read IMO.

Yes. I liked the way he identifies the whole range of vulnerabilities that we have as humans, and all the techniques used to persuade. Robert Penny's is a good one to read in juxtaposition with this, as it homes in on the microcosm that is Scientology, while Cialdini gives the macrocosmic overview of society at large. It helps one connect the dots.

- jodie
 

Zinjifar

Silver Meritorious Sponsor
Marshall McLuhan

"The Mechanical Bride"
http://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Bride-Folklore-Industrial-Man/dp/1584230509

This is a fantastic, simple and effective book from '51. I first ran into it in the late '60s, and, although I never credited it at the time, it may have been, or certainly was, considerably influential in keeping me from falling for any number of scams and cults I was exposed to at the time.

Using fairly standard magazine advertisements, McLuhan reverse engineers their 'message' to expose the underlying intention. What seems like a simple exercise in critical thinking becomes profound when applied to 'current' persuasion.

Zinj
 

jodie

Patron with Honors
"The Mechanical Bride"
http://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Bride-Folklore-Industrial-Man/dp/1584230509

This is a fantastic, simple and effective book from '51. I first ran into it in the late '60s, and, although I never credited it at the time, it may have been, or certainly was, considerably influential in keeping me from falling for any number of scams and cults I was exposed to at the time.

Using fairly standard magazine advertisements, McLuhan reverse engineers their 'message' to expose the underlying intention. What seems like a simple exercise in critical thinking becomes profound when applied to 'current' persuasion.

Zinj

Wow, thanks, had not come across that one before. Will definitely check it out.

They should teach critical thinking in schools, but of course, they don't want kids thinking critically, they want them buying and consuming and working blindly without question. But that is a whole other story.

That is why I love Carl Sagan's book so much - if they taught kids nothing other than the chapter entitled "The fine art of baloney detection", this entire world would be a better, saner place. Oh wait, wasn't that what Scn promised........?

- jodie
 

Alanzo

Bardo Tulpa
Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer"

"....Hoffer doesn't dance around the subject like a behavioral therapist billing by the hour. He assumes, in a very straight forward fashion, that frustration with one's life is a peculiarity of fanatics, and assumes that this mindset is necessary for techniques of conversion to achieve their deepest penetration and most desirable results with regard to the fanatic's twisted adherence to his new faith."...
 

Voltaire's Child

Fool on the Hill
I guess I'm kind of a lightweight. I do read some non fiction but really have been reading mostly fiction.

Sometimes I do read my Scn books and books on Buddhism...just started doing that, but most of the time it's good ol' escapism for me.

Some sci fi books I read pretty recently and really liked:

The Electric Church
Air

J and I also really like White Wolf books. White Wolf is a gaming company that puts out novels about the characters. They have a mage sub series, several vampire ones, werewolf, wraith, even some faeries. And there's continuity amongst them...so the vamps sometimes meet the werewolves.

One I liked in that series was Pomegranates, Full and Fine.

I like thrillers, too, if not too dry. Not for me the Tom Clancies and Frederick Forsythes...

I like Lee Child, F. Paul Wilson (who also wrote some sci fi), Stephen Hunter- a great deal.

Mark Schorr used to have a series about an insane private eye. A guy who did not have a good homelife and was a cab driver and all he cared about was his "pulps" which he collected. One day he comes home and his wife sold all of them. So he has a breakdown and thinks he's Red Diamond, Private Eye, and is always looking for a dame named Fifi.

I liked those books a lot and was excited when I saw that Mark Schorr wrote a new book recently, though not in that series, but I disliked the book.

Also like humorous fantasy by Tom Holt, Douglas Adams...

The "Wilt" books by Tom Sharpe (more British humor) that came out in the late 70's/early 80s were very funny.

another really cool book I read about a year or so ago was Life of Pi.

My taste has been evolving. I used to read almost any mystery novel. I read some that I'd not touch now...like "cutesie-poo has a bake off and solves a mystery!"

Nowadays, I'm bored out of my mind by anything like that.

I want grit. I want people lowered into pits full of pit bulls....(LA Rex is a novel where that took place)--I want scandal, I want noir.

For noir, Megan Abbott is good. She writes nowadays and her novels are set in the 50s and are very hardboiled. Lots of dames and palookas and scandals and stuff like that.

Awesome.

I really like Patricia McKillip (well, most of her books. One or two- not so much) for fantasy. Her stuff's very ethereal without being cutesie.

For cutesie fantasy, though, Esther Friesner's fun.

I like some historical novels as long as romance is either not present or is soft pedaled. Phillippa Gregory's books are very good.

Robin Hobb is a fantasy writer I also enjoy.

A really good fantasy novel was Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton in which a society of sentient dragons is set up like a Victorian society and, indeed, she makes many parallels. The book is more like social commentary, even though it's a novel.
 

ExScnDude

Patron with Honors
There doesn't seem to be much of a demand for the history genre on this site, but for those that enjoy histories I highly recommend the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson.

I read the first one, An Army at Dawn, which came out several years ago. This is a very detailed history of the invasion of North Africa by the Allied forces in 1942 - 1943.

The second volume, The Day of Battle, was released a few months ago and I'm 75% of the way through it. This volume covers the invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943-1944.

The books contain lots of anecdotes from the people who were actually there. Many history books that detail battles can be quite dry - you know, the 44th battalion was here and then they went there etc.... But these books, really describe the events covered, and are very readable and informative.
 

ExScnDude

Patron with Honors
I really jump around from genre to genre and have been a dedicated reader for many years.

One group of authors that have always fascinated me are the Victorian novelists. For example, Henry James.

A good James novel to start with would be Washington Square first published in 1870. The novel is a character portrait of an American girl, Catherine Sloper, who lives with her incredibly suppressive father who can never quite conceal his disdain for her.

The novel is only about 100 pages and can be read in one sitting.

James is a total expert at imparting to the reader what his characters are thinking and how they react internally to what occurs in their lives.

You could say that Henry James is the master of the "figure-figure" to use a bit of Scientologese.
 

hartley

Patron with Honors
J and I also really like White Wolf books.
Now you've surprised me again.
White Wolf merged with CCP, the Icelandic company that runs Eve, my online game which is distopian space opera. The logic was unavoidable, both games are dark and gritty and cuteness is banned.
I haven't played WW, though I have run vampire campaigns and I'm currently dusting ass as, um, Deidre the Vampire Slayer...

Phillippa Gregory's books are very good
Aren't they. Before she became Famous she wrote a column in The Guardian about being newly married city raised mum living on the Yorkshire Moors which was hilarious.

A really good fantasy novel was Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton in which a society of sentient dragons is set up like a Victorian society and, indeed, she makes many parallels. The book is more like social commentary, even though it's a novel.
Marcus Rowland is working on a game based on that.

I'm a sucker for long series - I don't want one good novel, I want a dozen! I used to read lots of Fantasy and SF, not so much now more pop Science and History.
 

Mick Wenlock

Admin Emeritus (retired)
Wow, thanks, had not come across that one before. Will definitely check it out.

They should teach critical thinking in schools, but of course, they don't want kids thinking critically, they want them buying and consuming and working blindly without question. But that is a whole other story.

That is why I love Carl Sagan's book so much - if they taught kids nothing other than the chapter entitled "The fine art of baloney detection", this entire world would be a better, saner place. Oh wait, wasn't that what Scn promised........?

- jodie

Yeeesss... nothin but net!!!

Critical thinking is the key both to not getting suckered in in the first place and helping extricate yourself afterwards.

Just like an efficient computer virus the first thing manipulative cults do is persuade the mark to switch off whatever protection they have running.

Personally I think the best reading to do (and it should be done starting at 1:55PM every Thursday) is the Onion. Absolutely the first Thursday after you get out of Scientology (and particularly the SO) you should pick up The Onion at 1:55, head to a local bar and for the next two hours indulge yourself with a few beers, some peanuts and pretzels and a good relaxing laugh.

Then move on to studying Logic, Argumentation Rhetoric and Critical Thinking. Then you can go to the bar on Thursdays at 1:55Pm and laugh yourself sick spotting all the logical fallacies in Hubbards stuff.
 

Voltaire's Child

Fool on the Hill
Hi, Hartley,

We got intro'd to White Wolf when we got into Nancy Collins' books...she's pubbed by them...then we found out what a fantastic series it is.

I'm not into games myself, but John is. Right now, he's hooked on Neverwhere Nights or something like that...that's based on the Forgotten Realms Universe...he's been reading those novels, too.

That's really interesting about Phillippa Gregory. I really like her writing.

Books, books, wonderful books!
 
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