Rating: 
Summary: Knowledge with understanding is close to wisdom ***
Review:
This book gets 5 stars for its research effort and zero for wisdom. The author spent a whole day interviewing Werner on Sept. 15, 1991. Too bad this lady author didn't publish her 7-hour taped conversation with Werner. May be her next book?
Interesting that another lady wrote a review on the 3rd anniversary of 911. May be like 911 the lady read the book too quickly and didn't notice that this lady author has already provided the answers to her question in the book.
The first 2 daughters retracted their story while the third one most probably with cohesion with her husband disappeared.
What I find funny is that Werner bothered to take a lie detector test before the March 3, 1991 CBS show. In reality even before the show Werner made preparation to leave the country & EST. The gift of that 60-minutes was to re-enforce the already started process of Werner leaving EST in the hands of the capable hands of his trained coaches that were to form Landmark & Forum.
Just like certain people can see the benefit of Dalai Lama forced to leave Tibet in order to spread the Tibetan version of Buddhism with all its mystical illusions.
As to why his own 3 out of 7 children proclaimed that their natural deserting daddy is a child molester on the 60-min show can be easily explained by Werner's 'own fall from heaven story' which is described in my review of "Werner Erhard Transformation of a man: the founding of EST". That is simple, 44 years later, cause and effect and an example of the pervasiveness of every one's own 'fall from heaven story' in one's own life.
Because of that gift, EST & FORUM can't be said to be cult, since the founder disbanded EST & is now only a researcher that's drawing his revenues from his rigidly crafted & copyrighted course design.
Only a few of the Forum attendees and even coaches bother to read Werner's biography or even heard of his name. By definition a cult must be around a central figure, like Bush's son or Reagan or Hitler, etc, who is supposedly providing central security and correctness for all participants while at the same time at war with all non-participants in the name of future equality and peace. Instead of present equality and peace.
I saw when I met Werner in Japan in 1996, he was being served food while his close attendants were sat with no food in front of them. This is the only thing I didn't like about the hierarchy of coaches vs. attendees or volunteers. There is no equality.
Although I do understand & appreciate that the coaches in 1996, now more to 50 of them according to LandmarkEducation, earned only a paltry $50k annual salary for their original effort and real contribution to humankind. I don't see any reason that they're treated as upper-class, like the apprenticeship for the very hierarchical Japan's Sumo wrestlers or Japan's own very untouchables Buraku sect or any royalty or upper-classmanship. That's feudalism not wisdom.
Werner by choosing Japan, without China. as its audience is making the same mistake as Gandhi. Gandhi chose to use his life energy of non-violence toward the English establishment and could have also chosen for breaking through India's more than 2,000 years tradition of inequality as preserved in the various sects from Brahman to Untouchables. A longer lasting & larger contribution to humankind.
Naturally although "equality" is the cry for emancipation of all revolutions from the Bastille to the US Declaration of Independence to the Communist revolutions the world over. Once the revolutions were over, there was no more mention of "equality"! Why? Is it to preserve the new status quo of a new upper class instead of what the revolution called for EQUALITY?
Rating: 
Summary: Brainwashed indeed...
Review: Although the author didn't intend it to be so, this is a fascinating look into the life of a megalomaniac, and how his mindless followers will excuse anything he ever said or did. Shouldn't a "great spiritual leader" avoid even the suggestion of improprieity at all times? Lets face it: If 60 minutes is knocking on your door it's not because you're getting a good citizen award. Now the latest incarnation of EST, Landmark Education, is no less controvertial. Rick Ross's website, and nummerous links therefrom, certainly has a plethora of past and present magazine and journal articles as well as a plethora of anecdotes submitted by individuals who characterize Landmark and/or EST in less than rosy terms to put it mildly. Dr. Singer, author of "Cults in Our Midst" and one of the most acknowledged cult experts in the country, had less than rosy things to say about large group awareness training like those common to EST, Landmark and similar. Yet even she admits that they don't fit the exact definition of a cult. That doesn't mean she and others endorse them! Yet as always, slippery-as-a-snake Landmark Education merely quotes Singer's single--completely out of context--sentence where she merely states that Landmark isn't a cult thereby potentially giving the impression that she endorses them when in fact she does exactly the opposite. Where is Landmark's "integrity" in such a case? They try to smeer Rick Ross, who is a widely respect cult expert, yet they apparently respect Singer enough to quote her out of context statement on their homepage despite the fact that Singer absolutely does not encourage anyone to do the Landmark Forum or similar at all. Obviously this author, Jane Self, is majorly pro Werner. I'd call that "Self" delusion. Spend your money elsewhere anywhere, and it will be better spent. Would you like to see the other side of the fence? Take a peek at the book "Outrageous Betrayal." It may be fair to say that it's just as biased in the opposite way against Werner, but when one considers the consistently negative reputation that EST and subsequently Landmark Education (Forum) has had for about 30 years, well...where there's smoke there's fire. How many times do we have to burn our hand before we realize that, yes indeed, fire is hot?! And don't be satisfied with a quick superficial websearch. That's what these kooks are hoping for. These losers have all kinds of people who have nothing to do with their lives but make pro-landmark websites that, curiously of late, seem to be the only ones to appear in the initial stages of a web metasearch. Whereas even though the anti-Landmark sites appeared right away in the past, now the anti-Landmark sites don't show up even after several screens. Many of these people clearly have nothing better to do than to seed the internet search field with completely biased sites masquerading as legitimate ones in an attempt to elbow out the anti-Landmark sites that they don't like. Much like the Trekies Shatner addressed, these forum freaks too need to get a life! Do a little digging. Trust me. It's worth it. The mind you save may be your own.
Rating: 
Summary: The life and times of John Rosenberg, I mean Werner Erhard..
Review: have been either celebrated by a fawning and uncritical Pro-Werner faction or excoriated by the anti-cultists. The truth itself is painfully hard to get at. The EST organization as I remember it was just about the smuggest, most self congratulatory, and secretive group I ever encountered. The "trainers" were alternately cruel, seductive, and relentlessly manipulative. However, the majority of the trainees liked the adrenaline rush of having their minds played with by these entertainer-preacher pseudo father figures. Films of Werner got excruciatingly messianic, with Werner photographed in soft focus that made him seem to glow, or radiate spiritual light, while his trainees were photographed with harsh, high focus light. Clearly the message was that Werner is on a different plane from ordinary mortals. It was a profound narcissism the the EST people took pains not to dispel, and covertly attached their own narcissistic thought processes to. Given the tragicomic dimensions of this circus, and also given that Werner and EST did bring something beneficial with them as well, the capacity for self examination and the will to move beyond one's "act" or life story, one might reasonbly conclude that Werner is a man of complex, if not contradictory, motivations. Realities being realities, not what acolytes would hope them to be, the downfall of Mr. Rosenberg was, as he himself might put it, "a catastrophe waiting to happen". Jane Self, Ph.D., I fear, cannot bring herself to acknowledge that Rosenberg's own personality was far more instrumental in the unfolding of this bizarre tale than the mere venality of television journalists or the machination of well connected Scientologists. They well may have taken advantage of what appeared to be the perfect opportunity to settle old scores, but it was his strugle to lose. Ultimately, Werner did Werner in. I lived near Mr. Erhard/Rosenberg in San Francisco and often recall passing by his house. I didn't know it was his house at the time, other than remembering there was something unsettling and offputting about its design. The vibe was alien and menacing. The place really gave me the creeps, but I was never able to settle on exactly why. When I saw the 60 minutes segment that "assassinated" (by the way, Jane, isn't using language like "assassinated" what Werner would decry as "making them wrong".... for those of you uninitiated in EST lingo, it is saturated with these quasi-philosophical catchphrases that sound deep and wise until you ask the trainer what they mean. Don't expect a coherent answer !) Rosneberg or Erhard or whoever He is these days, I immediately recognized that house and the pieces clicked together. That place, That person, no wonder. In closing, I feel that Werner betrayed the hopes and trust of his disciples, ran out on those who had given their lives and ideals to him, and never adequately "took responsibility for creating his reality". Nor do I feel that Dr. Self has managed that all important step of emotional disentaglement from a deeply troubled but powerfully inspirational man. She hasn't quite found the objective "space" outside of Werner's reality to put the bad and the good, the sublime and the ridiculous, the vainglorious and the transcendent, in their proper places, with the appropriate degee of emphasis, to fully understand this man or the fate that befell him.
Rating:
Summary: Brainwash warning!
Review: How can anyone, not being completely brainwashed by Est and Forum, believe that Werner Erhard is "the good guy" being mistreated by a scientology based media conspiracy?! Werner Erhard's Est- and Forum movement (through multinational Landmark Education and others) is a clear cut destructive psycological sect, just as the Scientologist belong to a similar destructive sect. The reason behind the Sci's hating the Est's is that Mr Erhard has "borrowed" most of his est-techniques and ideas from the Church of Scientology. Ideas and techniques easily transformed into cash and personal cult. If anyone doubts this - please go see for yourself! But before you go, please learn more about Werner Erhard, est, the Forum, Landmark Education, the Hunger Project, etc, etc. I am sorry, but it's all 'bout the money...
Rating:
Summary: A story left half explored
Review: I never met Werner Erhard, but I assisted briefly at est's "Area Center" in New York in the 80s. I saw more open-hearted, committed people humiliated and verbally abused there in those few months than I have in all my years since. I was therefore stunned by Jane Self's breezy dismissal of the anger, sadness and sense of betrayal Werner's former employees have expressed. A good part of Self's book focuses on Erhard's daughters recanting the claims of child sexual abuse they made on 60 Minutes. Self blames the daughter's drug use and Werner's ex-wife Ellen for poisoning the children's minds. Okay, so they recanted the stories. Fine. But what Self never asks is, "What was going on in that house that someone who was supposed to be one of the world's leading guides to enlightenment and integrity was raising a pack of drug-addicted liars?" Late in the book, Self leaves us with Werner saying that he has "taken responsibility" for what happened within his family. Forgive me, but-- so what? Self wants us to see what happened to Werner as an enormous injustice. I want to know what happened to those children first. And if they lived every day what I experienced working briefly at the Area Center, I'm surprised they didn't do worse. That said, the book DOES succeed in portraying the sinister side of Scientology, and for that reason it's worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth
Review: If ever a truer book was ever written about Werner Erhard and Scientology this is it. The sad thing is Scientology's leadership succeeded in eliminating him as a competitor. The good thing is, he was planning to leave anyway. Jane Self is a writer with the courage to fully investigate a story and to leave no stone unturned. As someone who worked inside Werner Erhard's organization, and was around when the events of this book occurred, I attest to its accuracy and honesty. Why am I writing this anonymously? I don't want them coming after me like they went after Werner Erhard.
Rating:
Summary: Self book is Self-deluded
Review: If you want to hear what the pro Werner/Est/Landmark Forum groupies have to say, then this book is an excellent resource for doing exactly that. In that regard it is quite interesting and highly instructive and just a bit disturbing.
However, if you'd like to help yourself for free, with no strings attached and without having to spill your guts in front of a bunch of strangers then I highly recommnend the book "Feeling Good," by Dr. David Burns instead.
No blind faith or mindless belief required. You can test and verify the methods yourself, in the the privacy of your own home with no one pressuring you to buy any more books, attend more seminars or to sign up all your friends, coworkers and relatives.
Check out its Amazon reviews, for they're far more eloquent than anything I've written about it. While it's true that many sing the praises of those est/forum/landmark things many others have a far different story to tell and are at least as passionate about it.
See:
"Outrageous Betrayal," by Stephan Pressman
"Cults in Our Midst," 1995 edition by, Dr. Margaret Singer
Rickross.com
Rating: 
Summary: Look who's laughing now ...
Review: In 1992 Jane Self's impeccable research told the sordid tale - so impossibly hard to fathom by those who love Werner and discover so much in his seminars - of how Werner's alleged abuse of his children, tax evasion, and brutal treatment of his staff was a complex premeditated plot by an ex-wife, disgruntled ex-employees, and the Church of Scientology to discredit Werner for reasons that even twelve years later are still unclear. What is clear, however, is that directly or indirectly as a result of the "assassination", Werner went into exile.
Today, over a decade after this book was written, the IRS has recanted it's charges against Werner (settling, instead by paying Werner $200,000 in damages), the daughter who originally made claims of abuse has publicly recanted, and the work Werner started and subsequently sold to Landmark Education Corporation thrives around the world, "Landmark Education" having now become a brand name almost as well known as "Xerox" says Time magazine.
Interestingly enough, the media chose to completely ignore this vindication of Werner's integrity. It is, indeed, a sorry reflection on all of us when a firestorm of publicity can erupt based on lies, conjecture, and salacious claims and can ruin a man's reputation. Yet when the truth emerges, no one in the media stands up to correct or to apologize for the damage caused.
The information in this book is now dated. However, it is must read reading for anyone interested in how the media can fan shreds of disinformation into cataclysmic proportions with devastating and sad results.
Rating:
Summary: Look who's laughing now ...
Review: In 1992 Jane Self's impeccable research told the sordid tale - so impossibly hard to fathom by those who loved Werner and discovered so much in his seminars - of how Werner's alleged abuse of his children, tax evasion, and brutal treatment of his staff was a complex premeditated plot by an ex-wife, disgruntled ex-employees, and the Church of Scientology to discredit Werner for reasons that even eight years later are still unclear. What is clear, however, is that directly or indirectly as a result of the "assassination", Werner went into exile. Today, nearly a decade after this book was written, the IRS has recanted it's charges against Werner (settling, instead by paying Werner $200,000 in damages), the daughter who originally made claims of abuse has publicly recanted, and the work Werner started and subsequently sold to Landmark Education Corporation thrives around the world, Landmark Education Corporation having now become a brand name almost as well known as "Xerox" says Time magazine. The information in this book is now dated. However, it is "must read" reading for anyone interested in how the media can fan shreds of disinformation into cataclysmic proportions with devastating and sad results.
Rating:
Summary: why try so hard?
Review: It amazes me no end how hard the cultists of cultism work to try to bad-mouth the est Training & Werner Erhard and the new Landmark Education Forum, as in a few reviews below. I did the est Training in 1978 and have been using the technology of transformation in my life every day since, something the cultists cannot fathom. And that is so even when I'm not able to participate in Landmark courses, such as the multi-week seminars. I saw a redneck bigot give up his bigotry in a weekend during the CAP Course, and that was not even a covered topic -- the man moved from racial slurs to asking to hug the 250-pound black man that he had offended the day before. I honor Werner Erhard and the est/Landmark technology because it happens to work quite well when applied to one's life. Didn't work for a reviewer below? Maybe because he needs a reason for his life not working... My life might be full of tribulation, but applying the Landmark technology turns things around every time.
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