Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
SCIENTOLOGY - The Cult of Greed Paperback – December 12, 2014
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length72 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateDecember 12, 2014
- Dimensions6 x 0.17 x 9 inches
- ISBN-10150549012X
- ISBN-13978-1505490121
Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book informative and packed with essential information about Scientology. They describe it as concise, easy to read, and well-written.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book has many interesting tidbits and is an excellent resource on Scientology. They say it's packed with essential information a person needs to know about the cult. Readers also mention the book is the culmination of countless hours of research and scholarship. They also say it would be an excellent introduction for people thinking about joining the cult.
"This short, concise book is the culmination of countless hours of research and scholarship and is a must read!..." Read more
"...The details of the cult of Scientology are presented well which is not easy given the number of acronyms and divisions within the organisation that..." Read more
"great book,alas, to short" Read more
"...It would be an excellent introduction for people thinking about joining this cult...." Read more
Customers find the book concise, easy to read, and well-written. They also say it's a quick read and worth looking at.
"This short, concise book is the culmination of countless hours of research and scholarship and is a must read!..." Read more
"...This makes it manageable, understandable." Read more
"...Hence, just one star. But still, worth a look." Read more
"...That book is about 350 pages and incredibly well written...." Read more
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2014
Jon should be a professor at Oxford and hopefully one day will be. He is a scholar and I am am in his debt. Janet Reitman, Lawrence Wright, Russell Miller all depended heavily on the work on Jon Atack. Read this book and you will not be disappointed.
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2015
A great read but a sad story
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2014
The book is essential because the scam is so vast ("the rabbit hole") that folks often OD and just turn off about it due to information overload.
This makes it manageable, understandable.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2015
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2014
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2015
Top reviews from other countries
5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written conscice analysis of Scientology
Reviewed in Canada on December 13, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars A compact yet fact-filled treasure trove of What is Wrong with Scientology
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2014
The scientology organisation likes to market itself as a religion that is compatible with all religions. This book by the exceptionally well informed ex member Jon Atack demonstrates just how wrong that claim is. Described by the author as "based on a talk" this book reads like expanded notes from a lecture with the added benefit that the endnotes give well researched and to the point references.
Being known as a religion, described by L Ron Hubbard as "entirely a matter for accountants and solicitors," serves the scientology organisation in a number of ways. One way is to attempt to frame any discussion of its activities as a discussion about beliefs, thereby colouring criticism as a difference of opinion about beliefs. Jon Atack's work counters this brilliantly in two ways. Firstly by showing the actual religious beliefs behind the veil of "compatibility" - regurgitated Satanism appropriated from Aleister Crowley. Secondly by showing that the scientology organisation is about so much more than the beliefs - it's mainly about the criminal actions and about the way in which members have their personalities changed.
The criminal actions of the scientology organisation, from abusing the human rights of its members to perpetrating the largest infiltration of the government of the United States, are described in some detail (although given the length of this book - or lack thereof - this must necessarily be a "worst of" series of highlights). The organisation itself has been convicted of crimes on several occasions, two of these (criminal libel against judge Hill in Toronto in 1995 and organised criminal fraud in Paris 2009 - 2014) are described in some detail.
The ways in which the personalities are changed in the scientology organisation is discussed in much detail in this book. Jon Atack describes the means used against the members in some detail, speaking from copious experience and subsequent study. The organisation moulds its members by catching outsiders with a passing euphoric "high" from processes described by Jon Atack as hypnotic and proceeds to enveloping the members in a coercive environment (entirely secluded from the rest of the world in the case of the "Sea Org"). The members are also taught to be manipulative of others with regards to the subject of scientology - a good example of this is the public expressions to the press of famous scientology members as contrasted to their private expressions as evinced by internal videos...
In summary, while this book does not set out to somehow be without an opinion it is, in my reasonably well informed opinion, a very fair and first of all impeccably researched introduction to the whole of the topic of scientology. Everyone who has only heard of the organisation from the propaganda piece "What Is Scientology?" owes it to themselves to read and understand this work before they venture to express an opinion. L Ron Hubbard himself has (secretly, of course) expressed his expectation of public awareness like this : "Incredulity of our data and validity. This is our finest asset and gives us more protection than any other single thing." Jon Atack's works serves as one of the foremost means of raising awareness of the whole of the story behind this so called church.
In closing, two very minor criticisms : there is no Table of Content visible as such to the Kindle version, although that part of the book does have functioning links. Also, one of the more controversial pieces of L Ron Hubbard's doctrines, the so called OT VIII materials, have been described by some ex members as being consistent with the version given here and by other ex members as having been changed during a few decades (to something dramatically less outrageous); only the most controversial version is given in this book.





