From: bruce@cco.caltech.edu (Bruce James Bell)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: recent FAQ postings
Message-ID: <1991Sep16.021003.2946@cco.caltech.edu>
Date: 16 Sep 91 02:10:03 GMT
References: <1991Sep11.043723.25441@cco.caltech.edu> <CHRISTIR.91Sep14211216@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 35

christir@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Christi) writes:

>In article <1991Sep11.043723.25441@cco.caltech.edu> bruce@cco.caltech.edu (Bruce James Bell) writes:

>   I would also like a list of references to books written by scientology
>   survivors, skeptical researchers, etc.

>what sort of books are you interested in?  hubbard's son wrote one
>book along with bent corydon...  there's also a book out by jon atack.
>the former is a bit slanted.  it's more of an attack on the people
>than on their actions.  i've been told that atack's book is very good.
>cooper's book is only so-so.  some of her information is incorrect,
>which i found disappointing.

I am interested in any book that would provide insight into the workings and
sociology of Scientology, whether a skeptical or scholarly type or
a true-confessions type.  Highly slanted books are less desirable, but
could be interesting if only for the reaction of the person who wrote it.

Also, an indication of how to find these books might be useful.  I vaguely
remember reading that Scientologists like to find and destroy library books
that show them in a bad light, and there are a number of Scientology outlets
in the area where I live.  Can anybody tell me if this is actually the
case (book vandalism) and provide references?  I really hate to propagate
inaccurate information...

I did read the recent article in Time and some of the (less recent) articles
in the LA Times (if you don't live in the LA area, you might want to see if
you can find them on microfilm at your local library).

I am especially interested in any reliable information on how the Church
is shaping up not that LRH has retired to writing bad science-fiction
books :-)

Bruce J. Bell                        bruce@tybalt.caltech.edu