I just finished reading A Billion Years by Mike Rinder and wanted to get my thoughts into a review while they are fresh and the book is widely available.
I as almost anyone who knows me knows spent twenty five years in Scientology and left in 2014. Since leaving I have spent many hundreds of hours reading about psychology, neuroscience, rhetoric, propaganda analysis, critical thinking and related topics to understand what happened in Scientology and why and how.
There are many books on cults that are useful in my opinion and the sub genre of the ex member who writes an autobiography is an abundant example. In fact there are a plethora of such books available and after one reads a few dozen the question becomes which ones to read and how many are beneficial? There are probably over a hundred such books out there now!
I have read and enjoyed many and have a few that I am looking forward to reading but the truth is after so many and so many biographies of cult leaders like Scientology founder Ronald Hubbard one can be aware that time is limited and if I want to learn something useful at some point I need to be selective.
I read A Billion Years thinking that it would give me useful information for my personal interests which include comparing the emotional aspects of the journey into Scientology through Scientology for decades and ultimately out of the group and out of the mindset that Hubbard was a genius and his doctrine is sacred, wise, profound and miraculous.
I took that same journey but have not been able to articulate it nearly as well as Mike Rinder has here, so I have a great reference to recommend to others who have never been in Scientology.
They often ask about what it was like and this in my opinion is the best representation in any writing or any form of media to explain it clearly to most people, people who were never in Scientology. That alone makes it a very valuable tool and well worth reading.
Additionally, Mike Rinder gives a great description in my opinion of the Sea Org, how David Miscavige is in person and how he runs the Sea Org. This is helpful for the layman but also for the ex members to fill in the blanks and get added perspective on what was going on with Scientology management and the leadership while the ex members were told and shown far less much of the time.
I have read a lot of books since leaving Scientology in the effort to understand it, at this point over fifty so I have to be practical and only recommend one or a few to most people if they ask about it, because if I recommend everything I have read they will be despondent and read nothing.
Knowing that, if someone asks for one book to explain "what is it like to be in Scientology?" or "what happens when you leave Scientology?" I can happily recommend this book because it is superb for these purposes.
For ex members I think a special experience can be had in seeing in what ways their own journey into and out of Scientology is different and what ways it's similar can be beneficial for self reflection and contemplation on what they are interested in exploring in the future regarding their own education and recovery. We have no one way to recover and no one silver bullet for recovery but I think a lot of people can benefit from reading this book.
I initially was unsure if I would read this book before seeing Mike Rinder in interviews explain what he tried to capture in the book regarding his journey and in particular his emotions and am glad I did.
I am not recommending against any other bios but the benefits and value of this book to me make it well worth reading if you want to understand what it's like emotionally to be a Scientologist then realize it's a fraud and if you were a Scientologist especially.
Even if you have read the biographies of Hubbard and many people I think this is the essential biography of a Scientologist.
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