The Truth About Scientology

Recommended Reading

TAS : Recommended Reading

Here are some books and other materials that provide additional information about Scientology.

Essays Reconnection The Aberree Dianotes Books Discussion Boards Newsgroups

Essays

My Karma Ran Over My Dogma

An Enlightenment Critique of Scientology, by a lifetime member

The Org's Grades Are Out

This essay, The Org's Grades Are Out by "The Pilot," summarizes ways in which Scientology organization constantly demonstrates having its grades out.

The Unindoctrinate Hat

Several people have indicated that the Unindoctrinate Hat essay was very helpful to them. It says, in part:

As a Scientologist, one has no business accepting *any* data without having evaluated it thoroughly, critically, and entirely to one's satisfaction. Yet we all end up doing exactly this. The only difference amongst us is that some of us do it more or less than others.

The Forbidden Side of Scientology, by "Murray Luther"

A series of essays offering one long-time Scientologist's thoughts and perspectives on the taboo side of the church.

In and Out of Scientology, by Peter Forde

Reconnection

New on July 5, 2004: Following the expulsions and departures of many highly-trained, longstanding, dedicated Scientologists in the early 80s, hundreds of these Scientologists grappled with practicing Scientology outside the official organization; their feelings about the ugly downturn within the church; and the freedom to communicate with one another about topics that had been discouraged in the past. Reconnection, a newsletter published in the United Kingdom, chronicles many of those discussions.

The Aberree

New on April 1, 2003: I have uploaded the complete text of The Aberree, "the non-serious voice of Scientology," to The Compleat Aberree There are over 2000 pages of information about the early days of Scientology, featuring information about new techniques as they were being released, news about the ever-changing structure of various Scientology organizations, and articles by many of the early leading lights in Scientology. View the brief introduction, or just jump right into the first issue!

Dianotes

New September 2006: Dianotes was a newsletter published by Minneapolis Dianetics, Inc., in the 1950s. Less irreverent than The Aberree, Dianotes contains articles about the theory and practice of early Dianetics. I have not yet had time to copyedit the OCR output, so I have uploaded PDFs. The 39 editions in the current collection include every issue from number 16 to number 53, plus issue 60.

Books

Inside Scientology, by Robert Kaufman Kaufman wrote this book in 1972. He later revised it extensively and, in 1995, authorized its publication on the Internet. He was involved in Scientology in the late 60's. Read it online or in PDF. Note: This book contains some information about the upper levels. Kaufman also wrote an interesting article about the e-meter, "Scientology Auditing and its Offshoots."

Discussion Boards

Beliefnet hosts three Scientology discussion boards - one for those just learning about Scientology, one for Scientologists to talk with one another, and one for respectful debates about Scientology. These discussions are moderated, meaning that inappropriate postings are excluded.

Newsgroups

There are two major English-language Usenet newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology and alt.clearing.technology.

Like most Usenet news groups, they can be full of flamewars, petty sniping, personal attacks, and misinformation. However, if you can weed through the useless articles, you may find a lot of material that interests you. If you decide to read one or both on a regular basis, you will probably want to investigate your newsreading software's killfile features - killfiles let you ignore the writers and subjects you don't care about so you can focus on the good stuff.

Google's Groups feature makes it possible to search for old discussions about things that interest you. Here are some search examples:

on alt.clearing.technology:

discussions about alterations
discussions about outpoints
discussions about data evaluation

on alt.religion.scientology:

discussions about the Davis mission
discussions about the finance police
discussions about confidentiality of folders

You can also use Google Groups to focus on individual writers. I don't read alt.clearing.technology often enough to know the posters well, but I've listed a few of my favorite alt.religion.scientology posters. (Note that this is not a complete list - there are lots of people on a.r.s. whose articles I read avidly.)

Cerridwen: Cerridwen has posted extensive completions lists, the basis for the Truth About Scientology statistics project. She often has reports from Scientology events and mailings and lots of other interesting things to say.
Claire Swayze: Claire has been expelled from CoS for communicating with critics, but she still practices Scientology and considers herself a Scientologist. She has written that the Creed is senior to policy and indicated that it's out-tech to declare someone for communicating with critics. Claire is opinionated, funny, and quick to jump on hypocrisy wherever she sees it. She is willing to learn and grow in the public eye. She's definitely a poster to watch.
ladayla: Ladayla got involved in Scientology way back when and knows a lot of stories about all kinds of things, including the infiltration of the California Association of Dianetic Auditors, of which she was a member.
Tory Bezazian (Magoo): Tory was involved in Scientology for 30 years and had reached OT VII. The LA New Times wrote a story about her contact with Andreas Heldal-Lund and subsequent wrestling with her continuing membership in Scientology. I have had the pleasure of picketing with Tory - she's as exuberant and delightful in person as she is on a.r.s.
Mike O'Connor: Mike is one of my all-time favorite a.r.s. posters. He asks good questions and tries to involve others in calm, rational, intelligent, respectful dialog. He also started the Today in Scientology History archive, which I currently maintain.

There are lots and lots of materials about Scientology on the net. If you're looking for a particular topic or have a recommendation for this list, please e-mail me at info@truthaboutscientology.com.

This page was last updated on August 3, 2007 by Kristi Wachter.