en-US Mon, 17 Feb 2025 07:46:36 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 16142053 the Looming Tower. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate (and legally acknowledged) religion; its vast, secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard.

At the book's center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard--whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era. And his successor, David Miscavige--tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults.

We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; about the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; about the Bridge to Total Freedom, through which members gain eternal life. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org, the church's clergy, whose members often enter as children, signing up with a billion-year contract and working with little pay in poor conditions. We meet men and women "disconnected" from friends and family by the church's policy of shunning critical voices. And we discover, through many firsthand stories, the violence that has long permeated the inner sanctum of the church.

In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observations, understanding, and synthesis, and his ability to shape a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate exposé and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.]]> 430 Lawrence Wright 0307700666 Colton 3 currently-reading
But... and this is a big but, it actually kind of gave me something to think on. It challenged how I viewed Scientology and questioned why it is the scapegoat of constant religious persecution when others are not. I am not a Scientology hater like most of the internet is, but I do not support it either. Like Wright alludes to, I view them the same as any Mormon or Amish community. I have a sudden... what's the word? Not appreciation, because that sounds like I appreciate the movement. Maybe a changed opinion? I suddenly don't see Scientology as a complete whack-o group. It's full of misgivings, maybe even crime. And is full to the brim of narcissists. But if the "religion" works for them, why shouldn't they have the ability to practice it freely? What religion doesn't have its own set of strange, nearly incomprehensible factors of belief? Is it because it is easily disproven? If that's so, isn't every religion easily disproven? Isn't that why it's called faith?

I feel so entirely different about the concept of Scientology than when I started this book. I just wish the narrative had flowed better and that the actual storytelling was more succinct. There's an incredible book here, but it just has to be found. ]]> 4.02 2013
author: Lawrence Wright
name: Colton
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:
One of the harder books I've reviewed here and is one of the few cases where I wish GR had half stars. I feel wildly torn on "Going Clear" for two simple reasons. For starters, the book is a narrative mess. It is not told in a linear, or sometimes, even understandable, order. The book jumps around wildly throwing out names of people who, until that point had not been heard of, only to elaborate on them further down the line. A story of a Scientologist "blowing" was inexplicably broken up by a breakdown of the meal preferences and day-to-day schedule of the Church's current leader, David Miscavige. The book reads almost like a checklist rather than a fluid narrative, checking off topics surrounding Scientology rather than actually telling it in a typically linear fashion.

But... and this is a big but, it actually kind of gave me something to think on. It challenged how I viewed Scientology and questioned why it is the scapegoat of constant religious persecution when others are not. I am not a Scientology hater like most of the internet is, but I do not support it either. Like Wright alludes to, I view them the same as any Mormon or Amish community. I have a sudden... what's the word? Not appreciation, because that sounds like I appreciate the movement. Maybe a changed opinion? I suddenly don't see Scientology as a complete whack-o group. It's full of misgivings, maybe even crime. And is full to the brim of narcissists. But if the "religion" works for them, why shouldn't they have the ability to practice it freely? What religion doesn't have its own set of strange, nearly incomprehensible factors of belief? Is it because it is easily disproven? If that's so, isn't every religion easily disproven? Isn't that why it's called faith?

I feel so entirely different about the concept of Scientology than when I started this book. I just wish the narrative had flowed better and that the actual storytelling was more succinct. There's an incredible book here, but it just has to be found.
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