Customer Reviews

Building Your Cult: Power, Politics and People

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first book of Mr. Jones's that I've read, and I will certainly be buying more. He's truly one of the foremost (if not THE top) expert on this subject, and goes into great detail on the specifics: what make these strange organizations tick?

His style here is a barrage of information, without filler. Every single page contains numerous tactics and strategies for building organizations of this nature. And he goes so far as to share one of the most subtle, insidious and powerful secrets of all, something you won't see in any other book on the subject.

Only buy this book if you're the kind of person who actually follows through and gets things done-- it's designed to be read and used.

Cults are all around us. You probably belong to more than one. What Mr. Jones is doing here is giving away the keys to the castle, and it wouldn't surprise me to see this book taken off the market or censored because of his no-holds-barred delivery.

This book would also be of great interest to cult deprogrammers and to people who have lost loved ones to cults. These organizations are on the rise and forewarned is forearmed.

If I could offer one criticism, it would be that there's just so much information here, and that he's letting some cats out of the bag that should perhaps be better left in there. I question whether it's such a good thing to have this information widely available because it might get into the hands of people who would abuse it.

And we wouldn't want that. Would we now?

If you are building your brand, business, or rebuilding your life, Building Your Cult, by Dantalion Jones is a must read.

Dantalion doesn't just focus on "cult building" as a tactical process, he begins where it matters - with getting your inner game together.

I give this book 5 solid gold stars, because Mr Jones presents what is needed in personal development, tactical structuring, and day to day work to do what it takes, to build your brand, business or rebuild your life.

The Cult Building focus of the book is simply a great bonus.

An absolute must read!

Mr Twenty Twenty
Exhostage turned professional visionary.

Imagine an "Invisible Cult" -- on page 11 of this book, you're introduced to the Invisible Cult that is "unseen or unrecognized as a cult yet it incorporates many of the aspects engendered by other cults: loyalty, an elitist attitude, a brotherly bond among its followers . . . by maintaining happy and compliant followers they avoid the scrutiny of the media and contribute to the world while its leadership silently prospers." On page 17, the author warns of how a potential downfall "can come from excesses of self acceptance and love in the form of narcissistic egotism." And, on page 74, the author guides you in the ways of "Personal Propaganda." The power of author Dantalion Jones is that he has no hesitation to "tell you the unvarnished truth" (as he sees it). This book will likely make a number of people angry. But other readers will take this information and do something good -- for themselves and their followers (customers, friends and others). Knowledge is potential. Action is power. Would you like more power? Get this book.

Tom Marcoux
America's Communication Coach
Author of
Truth No One Will Tell You: How to Feed Your Soul, Save a Business, or Get a Job During an Economic Crisis
and
Be Heard and Be Trusted: How You Can Use Secrets of the Greatest Communicators to Get What You Want
and
Nothing Can Stop You This Year!: How to Unleash Your Hidden Power to Persuade Well, Get More Done, Gain Sudden Profits, Command Intuition and Feel Great

If you want to start a cult, this may be the only book you'll need.

However, that's not why I read this book, or what impressed me. In fact, if your only goal is to build a cult, you might miss some of the vital, life-improving ideas in "Building Your Cult."

This book is about passion, and the qualities that make someone stand out in the crowd. It's about becoming a charismatic person whom others want to be around, emulate, or even follow, in any community or professional context.

Author Dantalion Jones takes cult-related concepts that I'm familiar with (from books by Steve Hassan, Robert Jay Lifton, and Robert Cialdini) but reframes them in a very positive and dynamic context.

Though some of the material in this book could be used in destructive ways -- and I have mixed feelings about the author revealing that basic "recipe" -- this information is most powerful (and enduring) when it's applied to projects that will make the world a better place.

"Building Your Cult" is an intense book. In a little over 100 pages, Jones surveys almost every essential ingredient necessary to manipulate power, politics and people. Many readers will want to research those elements further, but they'll be starting with a well-rounded understanding of power and politics.

The information in this book is highly concentrated. As a result, it is not easy reading. I like that. These tactics should not be attempted by anyone who's only casually interested in this subject. (However, if you're reading this book to immunize yourself from cultic practices, it's a good overview.)

In the wrong hands, this information could be scary. However, for most people, this is a good addition to the fields of self-help, business management and success.

Building Your Cult is a fascinating and thought-provoking book. It is about far more than building a cult---it is about getting clear on what you want from life, building yourself into the person you want to be, and achieving your goals.

"Cult" is defined as "a smaller group of people with a set of beliefs that is different from the culture at large." A cult can be Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners, or a multi-level marketing group. The word is not used in this book to mean "bizarre" or dangerous." One could use the information in this book to build a business; the cult could be either the employees or the customers. Or, one could use the information to surround oneself with like-minded friends, or simply to have a more fulfilling life or to be a better person.

The book excels in conciseness. Many self-help books contain pages of fluff and a few major points that could be condensed into an article. Succinct and well-organized, this book spares you the tedium of winnowing out bits of information from piles of chaff. However, this virtue is carried to a fault. I sometimes found myself wanting more detail, or a story or example. Jones' book, How to Get What You Want would be a good companion book, as it goes into more detail on some topics.

The ethical tone of the book is generally high. The leader is encouraged to control emotions, treat cult members kindly and respectfully, and generally to work to be a superior human being.

I have read several of Jones' books, and generally find them to be a refreshing alternative to some of the wordy and overly idealistic books on the market.

There are not as many useful tips in here as I was hoping for (regarding politics, etc.), but I could have overlooked that if there weren't between five and thirty typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc. on every single page. It is absolutely the lowest quality text I have ever laid eyes on. The author is in SERIOUS need of editorial help, and I would recommend shopping around rather than purchasing anything Dantalion Jones has attempted to write.

This guy writes a lot of really cool and interesting books. His style is pretty easy to follow and he makes his point clearly. This book is a good insight into how people build loyal and devoted followers.It breaks down the mechanics of how to get people to buy in to whatever it is your selling.It is all very interesting stuff and worth the read.I will be buying more books by this author in the future.You might also want to look into NLP(Neuro-Linguistic Programming)as a method of persuading people to begin to see things "your way".This NLP stuff is the modern day equivalent of the "Jedi Mind Trick"

While I don't plan to start a cult, I do plan on starting my own business someday. I had heard of Dantalion Jones before somewhere, so the name looked familiar to me. When I began reading this book I was actually excited, surprised, and impressed! This is not your typical self help book. Dantalion says things in this book that I have never seen before in any other self help books or books on persuasion. I read quite a lot of stuff on the mind and persuasion. It's a fascination with me. Jones makes some key points in this book that are unique, and communicates the ideas in such a way that the concepts are immediately relatable and usable in our lives.

This book is special and phenomenal for many reasons in my honest opinion, which is why the reference in the book to one of his web sites caught my interest. I found audio products at [...] that utilize hypnosis and his knowledge of human behavior and motivation to help people- those who would like to learn how to improve their understanding of themselves and the people in the world around them. I decided to order based on the very tangible feeling of connection I got from reading this book. This author has his finger on the important elements which go to the core of human motivation and what keeps us from being more than we can be. That's critical for this kind of training and learning.

I wanted to mention something about the title and nature of the content for those who may feel uncomfortable with it. Yes, the author does actually speak about creating cults, but it's not exactly what you may expect. It's true that some may take this information and begin unethical practices. That can happen with any tool, especially if said tool is powerful. Jones makes it very clear that the one should use the advice within this book to do good. The reasoning for this is not only a moral or ethical position- it's also a very practical one. The author explains that when persuasion and the key elements outlined in this text are used to oppress, throw guilt, create fear, etc, it may work in the beginning, but in the long term those same tactics will create the very seeds of anger, resentment, and ego-driven behavior which cause the spectacular crash and burns we see all over the TV today. Of much more lasting impact is the use of these tools to make people happy and content- and burning with passion to do and be better. THAT is why I love this book. Any tool of great power can be used for evil. Of course. This book IS a tool of great power, without a doubt. YOU must choose HOW to use it yourself.

Building your Cult provides a strategy to help you get what you want out of life. It teaches you how to surround yourself with like minded people in order to increase the probability of you achieving your goals. The book may be somewhat misleading by its title but and the author talks about that particular issue but this book is a refreshing way to think about how to make things happen for yourself. Get your copy, it's worth the read.

It might be the first book of it's kind(?). Straight forward & to the point. BUT. like I said in the title...THE MAN NEEDS A PROOF READER! But the info is good. Happy reading. :>)