Scan barcode
A review by emrodav
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
4.0
4.5 stars!
I thought I knew quite a bit about Scientology after seeing Leah Remini's show The Aftermath, but it turns out I still had plenty to learn!
Going Clear goes into a lot of depth (occasionally too much depth) about the history of L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology, its celebrity members, its scandals, and more. I'm glad I chose to listen to the audiobook instead of trying to read the book, because there's no way I would've been able to make it through some of the denser sections (like the biography of Hubbard) on my own.
The strongest, most interesting parts of the book for me were the sections where Wright explained why the church is so obsessed with its image and celebrity. The fact that it is a new religion, and the way other new religions have gone up in flames in the last 50 or so years, mean that their image is hugely important. It's something I never really understood before.
I also think Wright did a good job explaining why and how people join the church and end up staying in it even though so much of their beliefs sound insane to an outsider. When people join the church, they often think it's just for self-improvement. Eventually, though, through auditing they have revealed all their personal secrets, they have spent all their money, and all their friends are members of the church. People's lives are ruined if they leave. So they don't. It's another element of the Scientology I'd never really understood before, and I'm glad Going Clear helped me understand.
I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about Scientology. If you think you might have trouble with huge, long sections of biography and history, I'd also recommend the audiobook because it really helped me get through the book!
I thought I knew quite a bit about Scientology after seeing Leah Remini's show The Aftermath, but it turns out I still had plenty to learn!
Going Clear goes into a lot of depth (occasionally too much depth) about the history of L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology, its celebrity members, its scandals, and more. I'm glad I chose to listen to the audiobook instead of trying to read the book, because there's no way I would've been able to make it through some of the denser sections (like the biography of Hubbard) on my own.
The strongest, most interesting parts of the book for me were the sections where Wright explained why the church is so obsessed with its image and celebrity. The fact that it is a new religion, and the way other new religions have gone up in flames in the last 50 or so years, mean that their image is hugely important. It's something I never really understood before.
I also think Wright did a good job explaining why and how people join the church and end up staying in it even though so much of their beliefs sound insane to an outsider. When people join the church, they often think it's just for self-improvement. Eventually, though, through auditing they have revealed all their personal secrets, they have spent all their money, and all their friends are members of the church. People's lives are ruined if they leave. So they don't. It's another element of the Scientology I'd never really understood before, and I'm glad Going Clear helped me understand.
I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about Scientology. If you think you might have trouble with huge, long sections of biography and history, I'd also recommend the audiobook because it really helped me get through the book!