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Scientology: A to Xenu: An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is All About Paperback – December 24, 2015

by Chris Shelton (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 233 ratings
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What is Scientology really? Behind the glossy logos and sleek advertisements and South Park parodies, what do Scientologists really believe and practice? Is it really a religion? Who was L. Ron Hubbard and why did he start it in the first place? Is their "technology" for real or just so much New Age pseudoscience?

Former insider Chris Shelton grew up in Scientology and worked for it for 25 years. This critical analysis covers the key aspects of its beliefs, practices and structure from the bottom to the top, including not just the confidential Xenu story but details all of the upper level scriptures. Chris goes into detail about what goes on inside Scientology churches, why their members get involved in the first place and what it takes to get out should someone decide to leave.

An informative guide for anyone who has been involved with Scientology in the past as well as anyone who wants to understand what it's really all about.

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  1. Print length
    362 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    December 24, 2015
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.82 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1522879323
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1522879329
  7. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
233 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book very informative, detailed, and interesting. They describe it as a good read and a companion to Chris Shelton's excellent current explanatory book. Readers also mention the book is well-written and easy to grasp complex ideas.

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Information qualityReadabilityReadable style
35 customers mention "Information quality"35 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's information quality good. They say it provides a detailed overview that really seems to hit the main points from A to Z. Readers also mention the appendices are chock-full of interesting stuff. In addition, they say the author has an ability to explain complex ideas in simple, easy-to-grasp terms.

"...Chris has done a good job of making it understandable, and showing how intelligent and successful people can get sucked in along with the hopeless..." Read more

"...The appendices are chock full of interesting stuff, such as private affirmations from LRH and a full glossary that will help you make sense out of..." Read more

"...I thought this book was really interesting and laid out very well...." Read more

"...He's a natural educator and public speaker. He has a way of communicating complex ideas that I think is rare and necessary for someone that delves..." Read more

22 customers mention "Readability"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable. They say it's a good companion to Chris Shelton's excellent current explanatory book. Readers also mention the book is fun to read and a great place to begin their reading. In addition, they say it flows well and keeps their interest throughout.

"...might experience reading this book, but I think they would find it very valuable...." Read more

"...A very worthwhile read if you're interested in an insider's perspective on the CoS." Read more

"...This is a great read for non Scientologists like me that never run out of questions and fascination with this cult!..." Read more

"...thinking skills shines through in this book and makes it a very worthwhile read." Read more

13 customers mention "Readable style"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written, easy to read, and grasp complex ideas in simple terms. They also say it's laid out very well and that the author is a natural educator and public speaker. Readers mention the book is straightforward and the most straightforward explanation of Scientology.

"Factual, very readable. As a fellow former insider I found very little to quibble with on his factual presentation...." Read more

"...I thought this book was really interesting and laid out very well...." Read more

"...He's a natural educator and public speaker...." Read more

"...The author writes in a very friendly manner that makes you feel you are listening to a good buddy sharing his experiences...." Read more

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Five Stars
An excellent book to share the truth about this vicious and destructive cult
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Top reviews from the United States

Bruce Ploetz
5.0 out of 5 stars One stop shop for those interested in Scientology
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
Factual, very readable. As a fellow former insider I found very little to quibble with on his factual presentation. It has enough detail to convey the facts without getting bogged down too much in unnecessary side excursions. As a fellow recovering Scientologist I found his chapter on getting free from Scientology to be invaluable.

It is hard to get outside myself and imagine what someone completely new to the subject might experience reading this book, but I think they would find it very valuable. There is even a brief section on how to help your friends or relatives that are trapped in the cult. If you read that, and follow up with reading some of the references you could help someone quite a lot.

Finally, why Scientology? Why not read about warm puppies or sunsets instead? Factually Scientology is a tiny footnote in the history of obscure religious excesses and would not be long for the world if the criminal justice system was a little more active. Next year it may be even less. But the flaws in the human psyche that made Scientology possible, and which also drive far more active and dangerous movements, are still with us and will probably always be with us. We can read about the silly things Scientologists believe and laugh, but belief in silly things is not what makes them dangerous. It is what they do, the damage they cause in their ignorance and fanaticism, the terrible cost in human lives and sanity, that makes them worthy of study.

Chris has done a good job of making it understandable, and showing how intelligent and successful people can get sucked in along with the hopeless losers.
73 people found this helpful
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Seeker
5.0 out of 5 stars A factual and well considered summary - from an insider
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
This book is not a Scientology celebrity ‘tell-all’. Nor is it a former cult member’s story of surviving bizarre practices/abuses, and eventually making a narrow escape. This book, as the title implies, attempts to clearly outline the central workings and principals of a complex and evolving group. Chris had 25 years of firsthand experience working within Scientology to draw upon. Since leaving, he has done an admirable job of ‘housecleaning’ the cult’s extensive mental influences on his thinking, and thus is able to provide many well considered answers to what Scientology is really all about. What motivated L. Ron Hubbard in starting Scientology? What are the actual (secret) Scientology fundamental doctrines? Did Hubbard believe in what he wrote, or was it just a scam? Why do people join Scientology? Is there anything good and beneficial? Is it really all just about money? Why do people stay in? What motivates the current leader of Scientology now that L. Ron Hubbard is dead? How long will Scientology last?

Any religion or cult is messy and multifaceted, and Scientology ranks among the most confounding. No book of just 362 pages will tell the whole story, but Chris manages to build a comprehensible model of how this man Hubbard struggled to overcome his ample human foibles. The ‘Affirmations of L. Ron Hubbard’ in appendix 2 is a must read, as Hubbard penned his most inner anxieties, and the positive suggestions with which he hoped to purge anxieties.

Evidently this method was unsuccessful, as were the later techniques of Dianetics and the endless trail of new procedures under the banner of Scientology. Hubbard died with his anxieties intact, convinced they stemmed from the ‘body thetans’ that cluster upon all earthlings. We find out in the book that ridding oneself of body thetans is central to the secret upper level doctrines of Scientology.

So why would any reasonable person suspend reason and drink from the fountain of body thetan Kool-Aid? No simple answer here, but Chris does paint a picture of narcissistic affirmations to reward the faithful, and a vengeful totalitarian control structure to dissuade thoughts of leaving. This is what Scientology has evolved into. And since Hubbard died, the train of new procedures has been parked on the tracks, leaving the faithful with nowhere to go, and wondering if they will ever make it to the promised land of super powers. So, for now, they go to Scientology fundraisers and suck up the lavish admiration bestowed for writing checks. And Scientology assets accrue to billions, and the number of faithful shrink to less than 30,000.

The question that not even Chris can answer is, how does it end?
62 people found this helpful
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Michael Griffin
4.0 out of 5 stars CoS Laid Bare
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2016
Verified Purchase
I just recently became more interested in the history of Scientology, and stumbled across Chris Shelton's YouTube channel a few months back. I've been all over the Internet (sites like Operation Clambake, the Scientology subreddit, etc.) and was looking for a title that gives details on an insider's life in the CoS. Chris brings a lot of interesting information to the table in this book. He breaks down the organization from top to bottom, and talks at length about LRH's motives in starting Scientology, and also how it changed when taken over by Miscavige. If you are a fan of his YouTube channel, you'll recognize certain bits and pieces, as he has been more than willing to share a lot of his experience already in a public forum. However, this does not detract from the book's value in any way, as there is substantial information throughout. The appendices are chock full of interesting stuff, such as private affirmations from LRH and a full glossary that will help you make sense out of Scientology-Specific language. I only knock off one star for editing, as it does contain a few errors - but this does not at all detract from the readability of the book. A very worthwhile read if you're interested in an insider's perspective on the CoS.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

GuyBanff
5.0 out of 5 stars A Waypoint on a long journey
Reviewed in Canada on April 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
Chris Shelton has a YouTube channel, The Critical Thinker, which I have enjoyed occasionally for years. The difference in Chris's thoughts, beliefs, and judgements could hardly have changed more since he left the exploitative cult of Scientology. This book was written soon after he left the destructive cult and demonstrates how he has continued to grow even since leaving. Chris has remarried and has talked about his relationships with his family on his channel, and after reading this account of his former church you can't help but take vicarious satisfaction from Chris's warm relationships, and all the small joys of life Chris now enjoys which Scientology robbed him of for years.

I urge you to read this book, if you, or your family is trapped in a Multi Level Marketing scam, religion, or other group that is isolating and monopolizing the resources of a person to their detriment.

Thank you again Chris for informing and entertaining me like you do on your channel.
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i-Betty
5.0 out of 5 stars A thorough and detailed memoir
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2016
Verified Purchase
Scientology: A to Xenu is an intelligent and absorbing treatise about the American "religion to the stars", Scientology. Written by a man who devoted his life to the "Sea Org" - the cult's paramilitary clergy who sign the infamous billion year contract to return lifetime after lifetime in service to deceased science fiction writer and inventor of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard - Chris Shelton began to wake up around 3 years ago from the thought-stopping that had kept him imprisoned for much of his life; what he saw horrified him and thus began his escape from the religion his parents had introduced him to as a teenager.

Shelton is an expert in Scientology's "technology" so he is in a strong position to critique what Tom Cruise describes in hushed awe as "the tech". But he is interested in telling the reader about more than just his experiences in the Sea Org or its prison detail, the Rehabilitation Project Force. What he succeeds so well in doing is providing a guide to the ideas and policies and history of Scientology that will be useful to the outsider.

I found the book hard to put down. That a totalitarian regime such as Scientology can exist in modern America is in itself astonishing. Shelton's book stands as a logically structured reference work that anyone with an interest in mind-controlled groups should study in order to understand cult concepts.

Highly recommended.
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FlickBishop
5.0 out of 5 stars A personal and experiential approach to the innermost experience of Scientology
Reviewed in Australia on May 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is an immensely readable book, taking a personal and experiential approach to the innermost experience of Scientology. There are a great number of books on Scientology, by journalists and ex-members, and each contribute to the genre. However, Chris adds a personal dimension, combined with a thorough understanding of the baroque complexities of this absurd 'religion', to create a compelling and clear vision of what it is like to be an intelligent person trapped within a cult. He also makes excellent youtube videos, and has a podcast, all worth pursuing also. Highly recommended reading.
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Ian W.
5.0 out of 5 stars I wish there was like a scientology bible
Reviewed in Canada on June 23, 2017
Verified Purchase
I wish there was like a scientology bible, but there isnt, and probably never will be and this book is a great substitute.
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antfan
5.0 out of 5 stars whether it's because your tempted to take a Scientology course or you have a friend or relative involved in it whom you are worried about it Shelton does a good job; not just of critiquing the cult
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
Chris Shelton draws on his own personal experience as a Scientologist with this critical examination of the 'church' As the title suggests, the book examines all the key aspects of Scientology, covering everything from it's history, beliefs, practices, organisation, and controversies. The book is well researched and well written Anyone who is interested in Scientology would do well to read this book; whether it's because your tempted to take a Scientology course or you have a friend or relative involved in it whom you are worried about it Shelton does a good job; not just of critiquing the cult, but by also explaining why Scientology actually is a cult The author also makes highly informative videos on Youtube where he covers most, if not all of the questions you might want to ask
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