Customer Reviews

The book of est

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I have taken the Forum and have had many additional breakthroughs from reading this book. This book is much more focused on opening up to your experiences the the Forum was. This re-creation of an EST event is more harsh then the Forum with the leader addressing people as A-Hole directly. I had a racket (Est/Landmark jargan) about this at first but then I got the distinction made in the book. An A-Hole is someone who thinks he/she is not a machine (more Est/Forum jargan) and resists in the name of their so called freedom. They do not take responsibility for their experience and this keeps them small. A non-A-Hole is someone who gets they are a machine, accepts it, rolls with it, observs it, and is free as a result. When the arguments between participants and the leader were recreated I felt like I was back in my forum all over again. One of the most powerful breakthroughs for me when reading this book was that I stop resisting and I Take What I Get and I Don't Take What I Don't Get. I was no longer resisting. Resisting what you may ask? Feelings, stories, experiences, being present to others, etc... By not resisting and taking what I get, I feel so much lighter. This is such an important concept as for one, what you resist will persist and number two, if you experience something to its fullest, it will disapear and that is a very freeing feeling. Concepts from the Landmark Advanced course are also covered yet with a different spin, such as the Ultimate test for knowing what is Real. The Forum states that Physicallness is the ultimate test for reality yet the focus in this EST book is that experience is really what reality is. It is all how you experience it. One quick example from the book is if you are hit by a bus and you don't know its a bus because your eyes were closed, AND (big "and" here) you experience it as being run over by GOD, then to you it was "really" GOD that hit you. You created your experience and it was real for you. Incedentally, since you create your own experience and are responsible for creating all of your experiences, this makes you a God as well. The paradox that is pointed out in this book is that not only are you a God but you are also a machine as you are not in controll of your thoughts all of the time. Simply close your eyes and try to think of nothing for over 3 minutes and you will probably find this imposible. No matter how much you will it, want it, try for it, controll it, thoughts will still pop up and so you are not in controll. What you are left with is the power to Choose freely. Often, I have found myself having to put this book down so I can apply what I have read to my life or just observe the distinctions created happening out in my life. It is definitly a different flavor of the Forum so if you have taken the Forum and want to get a wider scope of freeing and enlightening perspectives, this book is well worth the price.

This book was facinating. The reviews...even more so!!
My goodness are people cynical, skeptical and frighteningly mistrustful.
Landmark Education is yes, a buisness... how awful!...owned and operated by its employees. Its mission, to bring peace to individuals, relationships and society as a whole. The nerve of them!!!!
Are those involved enuthsiastic?? Absolutely, because the results one gets from participating in the work of this education are nothing short of extraordinary... why? because of what the people who participate are willing to own up to, let go of, and forgive with those whom they know and love...and sometimes those they don't love. Thereby leaving room for relationships to get real, and more satisfying and fulfilling then they might be otherwise. Landmark education does not take credit for that. It gives credit where credit is due: To human beings and what we are cabable of being and doing.
So, there is nothing cult like, absurd, devilish, or manipulating about EST or Landmark Education. People need to chill out. Anything that causes people to reconsider whether they are who they think they are will always be the target of cynicism and fear.
By the way, its a legitimate company doing great work with large well known companies (Nike), govermental agencies (the UN)and every day people (like me, a wife, mother of a 11 month old beautiful baby girl, and hospice social work).

I read this book from cover to cover. It thouroughly engaged me. I had done the Land Mark Education "Forum" program, and this book helped me re- live that program. It did much more than that for me. I was reminded to be vulnerable and to completely be with an upset I was experiencing. I completely gave up my concern about survival and sat with my upset. I remember feeling scared as I sat with my upset and chose to be present to that fear and see what turned up. After a couple of significant memories, I found myself in early childhood experiencing the identical upset. Tears flowed and flowed. Now when I get that upset I am present to it`s origin and experience freedom enough to make choices where in the past I would have been emersed in a sense of helplessness. This book transformed not only me but also helped me develope a commitment to my family and friends and this in turn created a space or opportunity for their own transformations. These days, I hug my parents, my children and past spouses. And guess what they hug me. My adolescent children tell me they love me.

I had the opportunity of doing the est Training 25 years ago, and this book is the best example of what went on inside the training room. It is an account of one person's experience and everytime I read the book I can "get" the training all over again.

What would it be like to give up all the silly games you play while you flit through life and to experience life as it happens? Luke Rhinehart does a wonderful job of relating his experience of going through the 'est' seminar; and in doing so, shows that it is possible to give up the games and expeience life. He has condensed the seminar expeience into a format that reads like a superior novel. At the end of the book he goes through the effectiveness and the history of some of the ideas brought forth during the seminar. I would have enjoyed this book if it didn't have anything to teach but from my viewpoint it is the best self help book ever written.

I am now 60 years old...when I was about 35 I read this book. It REALLY transformed my life ! I learned so much about myself and put it to good use. It took me from an envious, relatively immature person to someone who realized that I, alone, am responsible for my life. Once I "GOT IT" I did take control and my whole life changed for the better. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone interested in gaining control of his or her own life.

This is basically a play-by-play story of an est transformational weekend. Written in third person. Knowing how the Landmark Forum is run today, it's interesting to see what conversations still persist today, and what pieces have been cut out. If you are a fan of transformation, I recommend this book.

This book is the real deal. It's more hardcore than the Landmark Forum, but it does contain many of the distinctions that are at the core of what makes the Landmark Forum so effective. I am dismayed, however, by those reviews that use the context of a book review to opine on something they have no clue about. Landmark Education is a for-profit business; yes, it has programs to sell; no, it doesn't hide that fact. I can tell you that Landmark Education operates with the highest integrity. Yes, its representatives believe that its programs are the best. Many business professionals believe totally in what they sell. As for the guy who said that est and Werner ruined his life and his life, I say "BS." He ruined his own life, if he could only take some responsibility for his participation. As I wrote in a similar review, read the reviews and then make up your own mind.

The Book of est is like attending the Landmark forum. I found it to be a great reminder of what I got out of the course I attend in 1999. I got something different reading this book than attending the forum. It really can be stated from my experience that it is an opening, a clear slate, an observing viewpoint to experience and see events unfold and not be the at the controlling force of people or events.

You can review many of the topics of how you create your own experience of life, how to discover what is behind some issues that you struggle with and how to get beyond those issues or transform your approach to issues in your daily experience. You will still struggle with things in your life. This book does not fix you, you are not broken.

This is a must read for anyone that finds themselves stuck and is looking for a new point of view and breaking through self-imposed barriers.

Some people have problems with Landmark. I myself do not like the experience of the marketing but as they say "take what you get" what I got from the training I would have paid for it again.

I took the est training and the Landmark Forum currently being offered. This book is the best in giving one a sense of what takes place. I would suggest that one take the current program before reading the book and using it to help relive the experience. It's more fun if you don't know what the magician is up to before seeing the show - though you'll still "get it" anyway in the parlance used. Since the book is so rare to find, this probably won't be much of a problem for most anyway.